Five minutes to midnight

 

    Warning: don't give this book to younger children, and don't read it yourself if you're on your own, particularly in a large old country house, or are of a nervous disposition - it is truly scary!

    That said, I enjoyed The Hunting Ground by Cliff McNish very much and I raced through it as if I, too, were pursued by the ghostly presences of Glebe House. It has all the classic elements of the sinister, supernatural story, the big, crumbling house which has been shut up for years, a tragedy in the past, the pages of a diary found by the current occupants. It tells of Elliott and Ben moving into the ancient building while their father carries out restoration work there; although they otherwise have free run of the place, they may not enter the forbidding East Wing, long boarded up but holding a strange fascination for the boys. The huge and labyrinthine adjunct to the main building is not all that draws the youngsters, though, for throughout the house there are menacing portraits of a previous owner, the man who built the wing - always dressed in hunting attire, always holding a weapon and always with his prey at his feet. And then there's the estate graveyard close by ...

    As the saying goes, better the devil you know, etc., and true enough, when you're not sure who or what you're up against, exactly who your adversary is, then fear is limitless. That's where the first half of the book is particularly successful, for as the boys experience strange, unsettling happenings, and they seem to be in thrall to a power they cannot identify or understand, the book makes genuinely chilling reading. As it moves on, so the boys make discoveries which let the story open up for them, and for the reader, and it's here that the question of who - or what - they can trust becomes crucial.

    Fast-paced, thoroughly gripping with as many twists and turns and dead-ends as the dreadful East Wing itself, it's not out until May, but look for it then, and read it on a warm summer afternoon when you have plenty of company!

Comments

[Willa]

Sounds like a thrilling read!!

[Annabel]

Sounds wonderful. I read and enjoyed his teen novel Savannah Grey last year and it was quite different to all the usual black covered vampire infested teen books, so will look out for this one.

[Jo]

This sounds really good. I am gripped by your review already!