CURSE OF THE WENDIGO

Book two of Yancey’s excitingly complex Monstrumologist series follows the inquisitively uncertain 12-year-old hero Will Henry and his Monstrumologist caregiver as they pursue the Wendigo, an elusive, yellow-eyed monster that slices and eats the skin of its human prey before violently devouring the internal organs. Their journey takes them on a perilous hike through Canadian wilderness to New York City, where the Wendigo now makes lunchmeat out of Lower East Side tenement inhabitants. Basing his creature on Native-American lore, the Printz Honor winner slam dunks the blend of horror with science and legend, creating a horrifically believable tale. Visceral gore runs amuck, and tensions between the Monstrumologist and his entourage mount alongside the body count. The narrative, flecked with the same surgical illustrations as the first installment, flows evenly through 19th-century turns of phrases and events, resulting in a page-turner of an historical horror that will simultaneously thrill readers and make them sick to their stomachs. (Horror. 12 & up)