Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (2004)

This part of the city slept, as much as it ever did. A few people still swirled across the Miami landscape: tourists who’d had too much Cuban coffee and couldn’t sleep. People from Iowa looking for a gas station. Foreigners looking for South Beach. And the predators, of course–thugs, robbers, crack-heads; vampires, ghouls, and assorted monsters like me (p 85).

I’m happy to find I enjoy reading about Dexter as much as I enjoy watching him on Showtime. Of course, the clever premise is consistent. Dexter, a serial killer of serial killers, was taught to control his Dark Passenger by Harry, his sagacious foster-father. Harry, a former cop now long dead, was the best instructor for a killer like Dex. He gave Dexter a code to live by methods to avoid getting caught. Chop up the bad guys, Dexter. Don’t chop up your sister (p 278).

Then a new killer comes to town, leaving carefully hacked body parts bloodless and gift wrapped just for Dexter. Who is this artist and why does he want to play with Dexter? The answer will challenge the code Dexter has lived by.

I was surprised to learn LaGuerta died in this first volume! She is such an instigator in the TV series, so colorful and complex. I was also shocked that Deb learned all about Dexter’s murderous desires. So much of the series hinged on her ignorance. Wow. Just wow. So now I’d anxious to see where this goes. Dearly Devoted Dexter is next!

Top 10 Characters in 2011

Confessions of a Bookaholic is hosting a Top Ten of 2011 Blog Event. Today, I list my Top 10 Characters in 2011. I listed my top ten boyfriends yesterday so I won’t repeat those characters.

1. Dr. Pellinore Warthrop – The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey: Hands down, the best character of the year. I’m in love with the doctor. It goes beyond ‘boyfriend.’ It’s sick and twisted and glorious.
2. Uncle Potluck - Hound Dog True by Linda Urban: A secondary character who almost upstaged the protagonist.
3. Connor – A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness: … just perfection.
4. Bear – I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen: This bear of few words is my hero. mwa ha ha ha!
5. Rebecca – Bigger Than a Breadbox by Laurel Snyder: Just a really well-developed character.
6. Jack Gantos – Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos: Oh, Cheesus Crust!
7. Tyrion Lannister – A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin: He is so damn fun.
8. The Penderwick Girls – The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall
9. Percy Jackson – The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan: A fun, humorous character I enjoy reading about (keep ‘em coming Rick!).
10. Clementine – Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sarah Pennypacker: My favorite female character for young readers.

The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey (2011)

Admittance to the Locked Room was restricted to only two classes of organisms–those that posed the highest risk to human life and those fools who would pursue them (p 122).

Dr. Pellinore Warthrop is in the business of hunting the organisms that pose the highest risk to humanity. He is the Monstrumologist and thirteen-year-old Will Henry is his assistant. Then the opportunity to hunt the top prize, the Faceless One, arrives in the form of a prank. John Kearns sends Warthrop the nidus ex magnificum - the nest of the Magnificum – by way of one Mr Kendall. One touch of the nidus leads to infection. Infection to Oculus Dei (the eyes of God) and henceforth to death. Mr Kendall, the curious delivery man, becomes one of many victims in the race to find the Magnificum.

“It will be a seminal moment in the history of science , Will Henry, the finding of the magnificum, and not without some ancillary benefit to me personally. If I succeed, it will bring nothing short of immortality–well, the only concept of immortality that I am prepared to accept. But if I do succeed, the space between us the ineffable will shrink a little more. It is what we strive for as scientists, and what we dread as human beings. There is something in us that longs for the indescribable, the unattainable, the thing that cannot be seen” (p 147).

Yancey, once again, delivers a riveting story full of horror, suspense, and excellent character development, as well as an exploration of the human psyche. The most surprising and satisfying developments belonged to Will Henry. His transformation from assistant to apprentice, from witness to catalyst is extraordinary. Let me tantalize you with the following passage from Will Henry’s folio:

I suppose we cannot help it. We are all hunters. We are, for lack of a better word, monstrumologists. Our prey varies depending on our age, sex, interests, energy. Some hunt the simplest or silliest of things–the latest electronic device or the next promotion or the best-looking boy or girl in school. Others hunt fame, power, wealth. Some nobler souls chase the divine or knowledge or the betterment of humankind. In the winter of 1889, I stalked a human being. You might think I mean Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, I do not. That person was me (p 172).

Meanwhile, Yancey paints Warthrop as vividly as ever. The reader will be sucked into his sphere along with Will Henry and at the conclusion, all three come face-to-face with the Magnificum.

Is it any wonder the power this man held over me–this man who did not run from his demons like most of us do, but embraced them as his own, clutching them to his heart in a choke hold grip. He did not try to escape them by denying them or drugging them or bargaining with them. He met them where they lived, in secret places most of us keep hidden. Warthrop was Warthrop down to the marrow of his bones, for his demons defined him; they breathed the breath of life into him; and without them, he would go down,as most of us do, into that purgatorial fog of a life unrealized (p 420).

If there is one book you read this year, it should be The Isle of Blood. Assuming, of course, you have read The Monstrumologist and The Curse of the Wendigo. And if you have already read these first two books in the series, I’m sure you have already picked up The Isle of Blood and need no urging from me. Then we will all face the horror of waiting for the fourth installment.

Read other reviews:
A Chair, a Fireplace and a Teacozy
Book Smugglers
Reading Rants
In Review

Library copy (print) | September 13, 2011 | Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers | 560 pages | ISBN: 978-1416984528 | Ages 14 and up | $18.99

Miles from Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams (2011)

I let my breath out in a slow puff. Real careful I opened the window a little just so I could hear the call of the frogs. I moved the curtain some so it hid what I had done. Then I went back to cooking (p 15).

From the start, readers will recognize something is not quite right with Lacey’s life. Her granddaddy hangs over Lacey and her mother, ever watchful. His presence in their closed house is suffocating and it is left to Lacey to care for her mother.

The brilliance of this novel is in its mood, which sustains an almost uninterrupted though subtle intensity and foreshadowing that will have readers holding their breath, and its veracity. Lacey is completely formed and believable. What begins as realistic fiction crescendos to horror.

The pacing is perfect. I hate when a story withholds information as its only method of building suspense. Miles from Ordinary reveals its secrets slowly but steadily, building in complexity. An excellent and quick read.

Miles from Ordinary has received a starred review in Kirkus.

I also recommend:

The Devouring: Fearscape by Simon Holt (2010)

Vours were the essence of fear, and their methods were straighforward, if the stuff of horror movies: On Sorry Night, the night of the winter solstice, they could enter a human’s mind and inhabit his or her body, sending their victim’s consciousness to a place called a fearscape. Like snowflakes – if snowflakes were twisted and demonic – all fearscapes were unique, landscapes crafted from a victim’s deepest, darkest feears. Here the victim would live in torment, while the Vour lived a human life in the human world, with no one the wiser (p 4).

Fearscape is the third and final book in the Devouring series, picking up where Solstice left off. Reggie’s talent for defeating Vours by entering a victim’s fearscape is tested again and again by Dr. Unger, her captor. In a Vour infested ‘hospital’ Reggie is held against her will. But what is Dr. Unger’s end game and why is he, a human, assisting the Vours?

Aaron, meanwhile, trains with ex-Tracer Machen, shedding his geek status, and hunts for Reggie. What he finds is Reggie’s estranged mother and the chilling presence of a Vour.

Quinn, formerly possessed by a Vour, has flashbacks he can’t make any sense of, flashbacks of Reggie and Aaron. He is looking for answers and soon joins Aaron in his fight against the Vours.

The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey (2010)

I want to show you something. There is no name for it; it has no human symbol. It is old and its memory is long. It knew the world before we named it.
It knows everything. It knows me and it knows you.
And I will show it to you.
I will show you (p 4-5).

Will Henry once again narrates a thrilling tale abound with monsters, those that hunt us and those we harbor. Hard on the heels of Will Henry’s encounter with the Anthropophagi, an attractive woman requests the doctor’s aid in recovering her missing husband, John. It is clear from this first interview there is a history between the Dr. Warthrop and this siren, Muriel, whose call the doctor cannot ignore, though he denies her at first.

The real story is that of Warthrop, Muriel, and John. It unfolds against a backdrop of horror, as John returns a changed man.

It has a dozen names in a dozen lands, and it is older than the hills, Will Henry. It feeds, and the more it feeds, the hungrier it becomes. It starves even as it gorges. It is the hunger that cannot be satisfied. In the Algonquin tongue its name literally means ‘the one who devours mankind’ (p 53-54).

The Curse of the Wendigo is every bit as impressive as its predecessor, a Printz honor award winner. The characterization is so impressive. Add to that the chilling but realistic style of storytelling acting metaphorically to raise questions about the darker side of humanity and it is a gripping saga whose final installment I eagerly anticipate reading.

Discussion Questions

1. What is Will Henry refering to when he writes “God’s temple” on page 4? Why do you think he chose this turn of phrase?
2. On page 148, what is Will Henry saying about his service with the doctor? What do you make of this?
3. The Monstrumologist comments that “routine is a kind of death” (p 274). Do you agree? Does this apply to Will Henry?
4. Why do you think Will Henry is so committed to the Monstrumologist? How do other characters define their relationship? How does he characterize his relationship?
5. What is the curse of the Wendigo? Is it an actual monster, as Von Helrung asserts, or do you subscribe to Dr. Pellinore Warthop’s explanations? How do you explain John’s behavior? Why do you think Yancy leaves room for ambiguity?

Definitions:

culvert (prologue xvii), metronomic, discordant, offal (p 4), despotic (p 5), colloquium (p 6), scintilla  (p 7), tripe, disquisition (p 8), ceresin (p 13), profundity (p 15), sobriquet (p 22), obsequious (p 28), fecund (p 35), philocome (p 39), recalcitrance (p 41), convivial (p 49), umbrage (p 73), deputation (p 82), trammeled (p 106), rapacious (p 122), animus (p 127), suppurating (p 147), tonsured (p 152), contagion (p 185), sycophant (p 187), obsequiousness, malodorous (p 192), dolorous (p 194, 342), lugubriously (p 211), punctilious, quaintrelle, truncheon (p 212), inchoate (p 247), patina, archeronian (p 248), terminus (p 276), alacrity (p 232), proboscis (p 315), malefic (p 316), allegiant (p 340), presaged (p 367), tenebrous (p 401)

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancy (2009)

I hopped from the cart. Before me were the gates, and beyond those was the hill with its row upon row of markers marching upward to the summit, which was hidden behind the boughs of mature oak and ash and poplar. Behind me, completely gripped by fog, lay New Jerusalem, its inhabitants slumbering in sweet oblivion. Little did they know and less could they suspect that upon that elevated lay of land, the island of the dead rising from the sea of gentle spring mist embracing the living, dwelled a waking nightmare against which all sleep-born nightmares paled in comparison (p 50).

With the Monsrumologist, Rick Yancy has created an atmosphere so terrifying it stiffens the reader, just as the gruesome Anthropophagi inspire bone-freezing fear in their victims. Yet Yancy strings those fears into a chaplet of beautiful horrors that will keep you turning the page, though your will trembles to do it.

Do not read this book at night. You will have nightmares. It is by far the scariest book I have read. It is also one of the most beautifully written YA books I have read. This is the sytle of writing I would give the Printz Award to… but it walked away with a Printz Honor Award so I must be satisfied.

If your nerve can handle it. If your imagination needs to be balanced… forget those wimpy lovey-dovey vampires and the illusion of ferocity. Yancy delivers the real man-eaters.

Darkwood by M.E. Breen (2009)

The sun sets so quickly in Howland that the people who live there have no word for evening. One minute the sky is blue or cloud gray, the next minute it is black, as though someone has thrown a heavy  blanket over the earth (p 1).

Night is something all the people, especially the children, of Howland fear. The night belongs to the kinderstalk – large black creatures that can eat a gown man, leaving only shoes behind.

Darkwood follows an orphan girl named Annie whose older sister, Page, has recently died, leaving her alone with her brutish Uncle Jock and cowering Aunt Prim. As children in the neighborhood disappear, Annie fears she may be next. Then she overhears Uncle Jock arranging to sell her to the Drop (a mine where children toil on ropes at night). She flees her home for the forest, the only shelter available. As Annie makes her way to the palace, she encounters many different people and creatures, slowly unraveling the truth surrounding Page’s ‘death’ and the kinderstalk.

I thought this would read like The Forest of Hands and Teeth but for kids. Not quite but author (this is her first novel) could take the story to dark places…

This author has a lot of potential. While many of the characters gained only superficial dimension, others were full-bodied and interesting. There were some good plot points (it grips you early on and the villains were clever and cruel) and good writing. There was also some awkward transitioning between past and present. It just didn’t come together gracefully or fully. I assume there will be a sequel and look forward to seeing this world expand.

Malice by Chris Wooding (2009)

I took one look at the cover of this book (it protrudes) and knew it would be an easy sell to middle-grade readers but I also immediately underestimated its content, writing it off as all show and no substance. I was delightfully proven wrong.

The opening grabs the reader immediately, with an urban legend scenario. First, a black feather. Second, a twig. Third, a knot of cat fur… The fourth ingredient was a tear (p 7).

When Luke performs the ritual, completed with the words “Tall Jake, take me away,” he is shortly taken away by the cover boy to the land of Malice. The terrors of Malice make it to our world in the form of a comic book. When Seth and Kady, Luke’s best friends, track down the elusive comic, they learn of Luke fate.

Seth longs for an unexplored world. According to Seth:

It was as if there were two worlds for adults, divided by an invisible barrier: the world of the Living and the world of the Dead, The Living dressed up and looked good, and they went out and did things like go to the theater and eat in restaurants. They laughed and sparkled. The Dead drifted back from their jobs every day and sat in front of the TV, and every day they got a bit pudgier and duller, and they only bought cheap, functional clothes because there was no point looking good when you never went out.

Seth looked at his parents, and he was afraid. He was afraid that he was a child of the Dead, and nothing he could do would stop him from turning into one of them (p 37).

Angered by Luke’s end and mesmerized by the possibilities of Malice, he soon summons Tall Jake. It is part prose, part comic book (though the art was the weakest part of the book), this would be an easy sell to Wimpy Kid readers.

This is more than just a good horror (if you liked The Devouring, you’ll love Malice). It is a layered story. Jake only comes for those who believe, those who think they are ready. Some make it out alive. Some die. Some don’t want to leave. I’m already clamoring for the sequel, Havoc.

Soulstice: The Devouring (Book 2)

This follow up to The Devouring did not disappoint. I’m only surprised that more teens at my library aren’t checking it out. I just love the cover art!

Reggie is an anomaly. With her ability to enter fearscapes and free tortured souls from Vours, she becomes a target of both the Vours and the Hunters (of which Eden is a member). It ends on a chilling note and I’m very interested to see where Holt takes the series.

I found that I didn’t recall some of the details from book one (it’s been over a year) but I found that it didn’t really matter. I got the gist and this book is about the fear, the terror. I like that Holt brought the story into the realm of science. It made it more believable.