The Dogs

July 1, 2015

Gr 7-10-Cameron and his mother have been on the run from Cameron's father for years. His mother's terror is palpable, but Cameron doesn't quite remember what his dad did to cause all this fear. That's not to say that the teen isn't haunted-when their latest move lands them in a creepy old farmhouse, Cameron's nightmares, irritable behavior, and his burgeoning friendship with a dead child who used to live on the farm point to either a sensitivity to the supernatural or a descent into mental illness. As the protagonist becomes more interested in the property's grisly past, he turns a blind eye to the terror and trauma of his own past, to a dangerous end. Cameron's earnest, straightforward narration takes some of the energy out of what should be, detail by detail, a satisfying horror story. It's only through Cameron's chilling phone conversations with his estranged father that readers will get that electric charge. The tone and structure of the novel indicate a younger readership, but the specifics of the story are fairly grim. VERDICT Psychological family horror for those not quite ready for Daniel Kraus's Scowler (Delacorte, 2013).-Beth McIntyre, Madison Public Library, WI

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