Hunted

September 1, 2011

Short and atmospheric, this first in a projected trilogy follows a boy who can see ghosts and the cruel, hungry creature that hunts him.

Callum lives in a cottage with his no-nonsense Gran in Nether Marlock, a mostly abandoned village separated from the small English town of Marlock by a deep, dark Wood. He has always been able to see ghosts, but as the story opens, Callum senses a more sinister presence. As he begins having gruesome premonitions and psychic nightmares, Callum attracts the interest of "that ridiculous New Age girl, Melissa Roper," a schoolmate with henna tattoos and protective crucifix necklaces, and the two team up to fight both mundane bullies and supernatural evil. Meanwhile, the Hunter seeks its prey, and short chapters from its point of view express both its hunger and the chilling delight it takes in hunting its victims. Though tension pervades, the plot sometimes feels bare-bones, and a few key shifts in the action happen too quickly to be entirely believed.

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December 1, 2011

Gr 7-10-Callum Scott sees dead people. He has kept his "Luck"-the teen's self-described ability to see otherworldly beings and happenings-a secret from his sensible Gran and the kids at his small-town British school for as long as he can remember. But lately, he is seeing gruesome images in his dreams-the murdered, brutalized bodies of people his age. When these visions become realities, Callum learns some startling truths about his family and realizes that he himself is being hunted. In an author's note, Slater states that he possesses "an unhealthy love of horror films," and it shows-with plenty of bloodshed and ghastly imagery. This book certainly isn't for the squeamish. Well-paced scenes of nightmarish pursuit set in wooded lanes and deserted graveyards create a deliciously scary mood that is sustained from the story's outset to its suspenseful ending.-Sam Bloom, Groesbeck Branch Library, Cincinnati, OH

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