 Today we feature eight novels which I have read over the last couple of months. They are presented alphabetically and are a range of dark and genre fiction, rather than straight horror which, as usual, are in short supply. Some are traditional Young Adult (YA) fiction aimed at kids aimed 12/13 or older, whilst several others are aimed at younger children, at the top end of primary school, or Middle Grade in the USA. This collection is a slightly mixed bag with the strongest entries being The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker by Lauren James, Lorien Lawrence’s The Stitchers, The Project by Courtney Summers, and the superb Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters. Paige Dearth – My Final Breath  Amazon lists My Final Breath for ages 13-18, armed with the subtlety of a sledgehammer this is not a novel I would recommend to any teenager. Early in the action a twelve-year-old girl awakens in Limbo - after being slowly poisoned by her mother over a long period of time. The prologue lays the seeds for this with some of the mother’s backstory. Whilst in Limbo she is guided by a Holocaust victim to come to terms with her death and it blatantly obvious the mother was involved as the little girl looks down on her life, realising that the same thing might happen to her little sister. Abuse are tricky subjects to tackle in fiction, but I found this example clunky, obvious, and dull. There are no other hidden layers to the story and there are many better stories on the YA market which tackle both abuse and life after death. The Lovely Bones is still probably the best on the market with a dead child looking down on their family and their lives, this falls way short of that high standard. AGE 13/14+ Lauren James – The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker  Lauren James is five books into a highly impressive career, with The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker her first supernatural effort. Her previous stories have taken in first love, with her third novel The Loneliest Girl in the Universe (science fiction) and fourth The Quiet at the End of the World featuring a virus kills off most of the human race, particularly enjoyable reads. I love authors who confidently dance around the genres and few do it better than the highly versatile Lauren James. In the simplest of terms this latest novel is a confident splash into the supernatural world and her world-building after main character Harriet Stoker falls to her death in the opening pages is second to none. YA novels set in the ‘after-life’ are dime-a-dozen (see the underwhelming previous novel in this list as an example), but this effort was top loaded with engaging characters and a carefully thought out after-life eco-system which adds extra dimensions to the plot. It is much to easy to have dead teens observing those they have left behind, this novel throws that concept out the window and concentrates on the ‘being dead’ side of things and is all the better for it. Harriet lives with her grumbling grandmother and has just started a photography course at university, whilst exploring an abandoned building she falls to her death. When she wakes up, she does not realise she is death, but the moment of her demise sent a bolt of life energy around the building and reawakened all the other ghosts which inhabit the building. Why do so many ghosts ‘haunt’ this building? You will have to read it to find out. Although Harriet is the main character, the story is also seen from a few other ghosts, who have been there for varying lengths of time. Also, many of the chapters are elusively opened by an unnamed narrator who drops hints here and there of the bigger picture at play. There is a lot going on in this book, some great twists, including ghosts having unique special powers and the system in which ghosts exist within the house (which they could not leave) was outstanding. And watch out for the granny! This was a great book and a fine splash into the world of horror by Lauren James. AGE 13+ Lorien Lawrence – The Stitchers (Fright Watch)  If you are looking for a Middle Grade, top end of primary age 10 to 12 then The Stitchers was an entertaining read. It lacked the scares and depth of character to mix with out-and-out YA horror, but if pitched at the right age level has much to enjoy. The cover implies it to be the first book in the ‘Fright Watch’ series and seen as it finishes (not exactly with a cliff-hanger) there is plenty of scope for a second book with the horror film style mini-twist which comes in the final pages. The Stitchers main strength are the two main characters and their interactions with each other (and growing attraction) as the plot develops. It features a very engaging first-person narrative from Quinn Parker’s perspective and young readers will enjoy being in her head. Set in small-town America, the two best friends are future members of the ‘Scoobie-Gang’ who enjoy solving mysteries, fooling around, snooping on their neighbours, and in particular, “the Oldies” who live on Goodie Lane, close to where the two kids live. Whether the pair have an over-active imagination or not, when the action begins, they suspect the group of old people who live on Goodie Lane are either up to no good, or are hiding a deep dark secret. These old folks never seem to age, have liked there longer than anyone else can remember and as the snooping continues, “the Oldies” realise they are being watched. And, of course, they do have a secret. Some kids might find the supernatural story very slow to get going, but this is not a Goosebumps BOO! type of story and relies of strong characterisation, nice descriptions, and atmosphere rather than shock scares. I also thought it was very cool when it was revealed why the book was called The Stitchers. AGE 10+ Jason Price – Pleasant Grove  Adult readers who might stumble across Jason Price’s Pleasant Grove are undoubtedly going to think of Stephen King’s Under the Dome, as the story takes place within a town which is isolated from the rest of the world by a strange gigantic dome. Why is the town of ‘Pleasant Grove’ cut off? Good question, which main character twelve-year-old Agnes Goodwin asks of her parents, friends and teachers and never truly gets a straight answer. This is one of those novels where adults seem to sleepwalk through the story and do not do much of any interest. All Agnes is really told is that the outside world is dangerous and that the safest place to be is within the dome. However, once this sinks in Agnes wonders whether she wants to spend her entire life within a town where everybody knows everybody’s business and all the days are identical. Although Pleasant Grove was an entertaining enough read, it felt very long and at certain points became a slog, I felt it would have been stronger if it were significantly shorter. The town itself was deliberately bland, all the days blend into each other, and this was reflected in the writing which became repetitive and one wonders whether many kids would have the patience for it. However, there were lots of plus points and the author drops lots of breadcrumb style clues over what the bigger picture is; namely what is outside? Young teen readers, unless they find Agnes slightly immature, should enjoy spending time with her and her gang of friends and will be intrigued when she discovers a boy, with no memory, who seems to have come from outside and plays a big part in solving the developing mystery. Although the plot meanders, it has some nice twists and heads into slightly unexpected deep science fiction territory but simply takes far too long to get there. AGE 11/12+ Lily Sparks – Teen Killer Club  Teen Killer Club was one of those novels which I struggled to decide whether I liked or not, and in the end found it rather frustrating. Perhaps this was because at its core it is built around such an old idea, turning kids with problems into potential killers. Since the 1960s, and films like The Dirty Dozen this idea has been played out repeatedly, and more recently in kid’s books, probably aimed at those slightly younger than the teen audience of this. So instead of turning kids into spies like in Anthony Horowitz (Alex Ryder), Robert Muchamore (CHERUBS) or Mark Walden (HIVE) convicted teen killers are offered the change of freedom (with a kill switch) if they do 'messy' kill, so as to throw the suspicion away from the government and professional hits. I thought this whole idea was dumb and unconvincing. The main character is a confused (but engaging and one of the stronger features of the book) seventeen-year-old girl called Signal who has been convicted of killing her best friend, but her memory is foggy, and it is blatantly obvious she is innocent. Way too much time is spent in the training camp and I found this relatively dull and I am sure teen readers will too. There is limited action, all the characters are dysfunctional and the programme they followed was uninspiring. These killers are called 'Class A' and sadly there is another book already called 'Class A' which features teenage spies, so that was also similar. The action picks up when it moves away from camp, but it was little too late as Signal tackles a cult and a former Class A himself. It promises a sequel - which I will not be reading. I will be surprised if a teen audience connect with this book as it suffered from an identity crisis and most school librarians would struggle in figuring out who exactly it is aimed at. AGE 13/14+ Courtney Summers – The Project (PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 2021)  I’ve been a fan of Courtney Summers for a while and initially came across her with her excellent zombie novel This is not a Test (2012) and since then she has written some varied YA which seamlessly moves around the genres, whilst always staying on the dark side of things. Her latest thriller, The Project is no different, and is aimed at teenagers aged 14+ for its mature themes, older characters, and relatively slow pace. Aspiring journalist trainee, 19-year-old Lo, is looking for a scoop to climb the greasy pole of the magazine she writes for and after witnessing a suicide which she connects to The Unity Project she returns to a part of her life she thought was closed. Lo was a great character and I’m sure readers will tap into her anger when they realise she has personal reasons for investigating The Unity Project; her sister Bea, a member of the Project who she hasn’t seen for some time. I have read a lot of books about fictional cults and from an adult point of view The Project offered nothing new, but teen readers might be gripped and pulled into its inner workings, revealed via Bea’s narrative. I loved the clash of narrative styles and the voices were incredibly clear and distinct. This is a very mature, and slowly paced book, which is aimed at strong teen readers and carries convincing emotional whack. AGE 14+ CL Taylor – The Island  Billed at “Lost meets the Hunger Games” fans of that famous cult show (but does it have any relevance to teens of 2020?) and the huge selling dystopian series might find themselves slightly underwhelmed. CL Taylor has written numerous page-turning thrillers and horror novels and made a minor splash a few years ago with The Treatment which was also targeted at the YA market. The story is set on a remote island near Thailand which six teenagers visit for a week. After the first day the guide suffers a stroke and dies leaving the teens stranded as somebody has seemingly sabotaged their boat, their only way of returning to the mainland and the trip of a lifetime turns into a nightmare. The problem was that this ‘nightmare’ was rather boring, and the characters dull and unlikable. Written with a split narrative ‘Jessie’ who has issues connected to a serious accident the previous year and ‘Danny’ who is seriously possessive over his girlfriend, the outgoing Honor whom enjoys flirting with others. Early on strange things begin to happen and the story teeters along, not quite sure whether it wanted to be supernatural, weird or something else. In the end it fell between two posts and has a rather disappointing ending which I saw coming a mile off. This was undemanding stuff but young teens looking for an easy read might still enjoy it. AGE 12/13+ Erica Waters – Ghost Wood Song  The debut novel from Erica Waters, Ghost Wood Song, has a unique position in YA horror; the first I have ever read which features bluegrass music as a major theme. Hell, how many mid-teens even know what bluegrass is? I just asked my fifteen-year-old daughter and she responded with “that weird hillbilly banjo music that kid from Deliverance played” so perhaps a few might! Shady Grove is named after a famous bluegrass tune and longs to follow in her late father’s footsteps by playing old school bluegrass music and part of the conflict comes from the fact that the other members of her band, including Sarah (who Shady has a thing for), want to play more modern or mainstream tunes. Although Ghost Wood Song was terrific, I doubt it will transfer to the UK teen audience easily, with the combination of bluegrass, family problems and trailer park small town American life distant from our lives on this side of the pond. However, for older teens looking for a slow-burning drama with a strong musical theme and supernatural overtones there is much escapism to be had in these pages. Family dynamics play a key part of story after a death in the family, whilst Shady struggles to get over the death of her father, continually returning to one of his favourite songs. She believes that her father’s fiddle had the power to conjure up the dead and is set on finding it and although the supernatural story was interesting, I was more drawn to Shady’s relationships with Sarah and others. The music scenes genuinely sparkled, as they should in novels with this kind of vibe, and I thought Shady was very cool in sticking to her guns and not selling out. Ghost Wood Song also had an outstanding ending and although it will be too slow for some teens, those who enjoy a thoughtful read, with well-drawn characters are in for a treat. AGE 14+    |
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