Furrington, wise Jesus, and the bloodthirsty Scowler. Soon Ry is forced to defend himself by resurrecting a trio of imaginary childhood protectors: kindly Mr. Then a meteorite falls from the sky, bringing with it not only a fragment from another world but also the arrival of a ruthless man intent on destroying the entire family.

Ry wishes for anything to distract him from the grim memories of his father’s physical and emotional abuse.

Nineteen-year-old Ry Burke, his mother, and little sister scrape by for a living on their dying family farm. Would that mean there are monsters inside you, too? Library copy read for the 2013 Cybils.Publication Date: March 12th 2013 by Delacorte Books for Young Readersīook Summary: Imagine your father is a monster. Recommended for mature horror readers who are looking for a good bridge book to adult titles. The book has literary quality for sure, which isn’t what all readers of horror are looking for. Those who want a whip-fast pace will be slightly less thrilled with the book’s meticulous attention to detail. Fans of horror novels that take their time and set the scene will find something here to love.

Unrelenting and sort of brutal, this isn’t a title that is going to work for all readers. This is enough to lend the novel its tension, but the countdown to the meteorite crash and the subsequent terror of the return of his father ramps up the suspense. He’s constantly haunted by the abuse his family suffered, and he feels trapped as the man of the house. Ryan’s life is pretty crappy, even now that his horrendous, psychopathic and violent father is locked up. Still, it’s a successfully scary story.ĭefinitely on the weird side, this story doesn’t pull any punches.

A weird, mostly compelling story about a boy coming-of-age with the very real fear that he is a monster like his father, this one is overly long and gets bogged down in its own attention to detail. Furrington, Jesus, and Scowler.ĭaniel Kraus’s novel is a taut, tense horror novel that will either entrap readers or scare them away. Ry uses his childhood totems to help defend himself against the evil threatening to take his family away: Mr. Ry can’t escape the horrible memories of his father’s abuse, and when a meteorite falls, change is inevitable, and danger is near. Meanwhile, Ry, his mother, and his little sister are struggling to eek out a living on their failing farm. That’s why he’s rotting away in some prison, far away from their home.

Scowler book