by McNamee, Graham
School Library Journal
: Gr 9 Up—In this supernatural thriller set in a remote Canadian town in the dead of winter, four friends encounter a cannibalistic creature that is hunting and killing teens. Out late at night, Danny, the narrator, is stung by the terrible monster and it begins to stalk his nightmares. As he becomes increasingly and mysteriously ill, he realizes that his life is in danger. The foursome, after a failed attempt to involve law enforcement, decide to take on the behemoth with stolen dynamite and guns "borrowed" from their fathers. In addition to the main story line, the novel has Danny coming to terms with his mother's recent death and reconnecting with his father. Each of the friends comes across as an individual. Danny's love interest, Ash, a girl boxer who is half Ojibwa, is a particularly dynamic character (Danny's physical reaction to riding with her on her motorbike will ring true with hormonal teens). It is from Ash that Danny first hears stories about Windigos, "big, ugly things…with a chunk of ice for a heart." The unrelenting pace, short chapters, and the idea of teenagers taking on a monster with a large amount of weaponry will certainly appeal to fans of horror novels.—Caroline Tesauro, Radford Public Library, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms
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