NIGHTMARYS

Read this work in the light of day, or Timothy July’s nightmares just might become your own. A series of seemingly random acts of creepiness opens the tale—bloody water rushing from a washing machine, visions of the dead, a monster in a swimming pool, an evil lunatic with a magic jawbone, evil ghost girls haunting Abigail and nightmares haunting Timothy. And who is that man in a gray overcoat who seems present at every evil occurrence? Surely there’s a connection among the events, and readers who hang in there as Timothy and his classmate Abigail figure out the mysterious proceedings will be rewarded with an exciting tale of mystery and horror. As in Poblocki’s first novel, The Stone Child (2009), the young sleuths uncover clues leading them to climactic scenes involving giant creatures, hideous evil and a blending of fantasy and reality. A good match with Rick Riordan’s The Red Pyramid (2010), another nonstop action tale with a boy and a girl joining hands to face the forces of chaos. (Horror. 9-12)