The Well

December 1, 2009
Gr 6-9-High school freshman Cooper Warner's stepfather makes his life miserable, and his English-teacher father only seems to care about how well he does on his "Hamlet" paper. But these problems pale in comparison with the biggest one of all: his mother is trying to kill him. At the beginning of the story, she pushes him into a slimy old well on the vineyard property owned by her new husband. As Cooper tries to escape, he begins to realize that a hideous creature is toying with him, hungry for his blood. Cooper makes it out of the well, but the creature is determined to hunt him down and force him to take its place, and it has enlisted the help of his stepfather and his seemingly possessed mother. Cooper tries to enlist his girlfriend's help, but when the creature abducts her, and then uses her and his brother as bait, Cooper realizes that he is intended to be a sacrifice for the continued fertility of the land and that he will have to confront the monster. The author claims to have been inspired by "Hamlet", but the connection with Shakespeare's play is tenuous at best. The story has a few good touches, as when the creature possesses Cooper's MySpace page, but there are too many plot holes and too much is left unexplained. The adult characters are clichés, and the numerous pop culture and product references guarantee that this book will date quickly."Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2009
Grades 6-9 Something is rotten in Maine, the setting for this propulsive horror yarn. Cooper has enough troubles: hes struggling with Hamlet in his own fathers English class, and life at home with his new stepfather could hardly be more tense. Even worse: his zomboid mother tosses him down a well. Worse still: inside the well is a slimy, laughing monster. Its an exciting, disorienting set-up that Whitten dives intoon page one, were there with Cooper trying to claw his way back to freedom. Whitten runs out of steam, though, as Cooper repeats the scenario of entering and escaping from the well, especially after his girlfriend goes mysteriously missing. The story does tap into the powerful youth fantasy of murderous parents, and gets a lot of mileage out of the gruesome details behind the creatures existence and Coopers mothers possession. The ties to Hamlet are thinan unwanted stepfather and the conflict over killing ones own family are about the extent of itbut fright fans will be plenty satisfied with the homicidal happenings.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)