The Mark of Cain

July 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Four years after the terrifying events of Long Lankin, Cora and Mimi inherit Guerdon Hall, returning to a scene of horror that is no less distressing after their father updates the property. What has been removed in the name of cleaning and remodeling is revealed to be just what has been protecting the family from the one who truly hates them, Aphra Rushes, a woman burned as a witch 400 years earlier. Aphra tells her painful tale of grief and obsession to readers as Cora's experience unfolds, and the mists and whispers of Guerdon take on a whole new dimension as the dark, sad secrets of the past are brought to light. This ghost story has a traditional feel, with tight prose that pulls readers in quick and holds them close, drawing them into the creepiness of a haunted house that becomes a character in its own right. Aphra and Lankin (from the previous novel), outcast and obsessed, still bear enough humanity to create a conflict in teens' minds as to the true extent of the evil in their tormented souls. VERDICT Stephen King and Neil Gaiman fans will be thrilled with this chilling tale, which is a companion to Long Lankin but can be read as a stand-alone.-Kerry Sutherland, Akron-Summit County Public Library, OH

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2016
Cora, Mimi, and Roger are back--back at Bryers Guerdon and in for another dose of mysterious, creeping horror in Barraclough's follow-up to Long Lankin (2012).Four years after the defeat of the centuries-old monster Cain Lankin, Cora and Mimi's dad has finally gotten them their inheritance: Auntie Ida's ramshackle mansion, their ancestral home. He's moved the girls and his girlfriend in before taking off back to what seems to be a life of petty crime. But nearly 400 years earlier, the witch Aphra Rushes cursed the Guerdons, and the return of the girls, the last of the family line, has awakened her malevolent spirit. Barraclough's writing crackles with tension, horror eked out amid dozens of period details vividly evoking rural 1960s England. Cora, now 15, is again the main character, sharing first-person narration with Aphra's spirit (whose back story fills the first 70 pages) and still-stalwart Roger. A true sequel, written for the already initiated, this never truly recaps the first volume but instead builds on it, even acknowledging the way the experience with Cain Lankin changed the children, particularly Mimi and Pete, Roger's nightmare-plagued brother. Convenient adults with stores of mystical knowledge and some inconsistencies of pacing can't detract from the creeping need to stay up all night hoping for a happy end.Literary, scary, and made to read with all the lights on. (Historical fantasy/horror. 12 & up)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.