VOYA - reviewed by Erin Kilby

"The Grubbster" grows up and out with his newly muscled physique and a clique of friends to go with it, but puberty equals the family were-curse, and although he is cool by day, Grubbs is sweating blood bullets by night. Rather than playing the innocent, Grubbs is a realistically flawed character with a huge relate-ability factor. Teens will see themselves when Grubbs fails to include his half-brother Bill-E Spleen in his new social circle that includes the school bully, Loch. Loch makes verbally bashing Bill-E an art form, and Grubbs's half-hearted attempts to defend Bill-E fall flat. The theme, while weak-kneed, comes through-be nice to those at the bottom of the food chain. In his defense, Grubbs suffers from intense night terrors that clearly indicate the presence of the were-curse. He thinks he is changing, and he suspects the Lambs are waiting to take him out at any moment with Uncle Dervish's blessing. When Uncle Dervish convinces Grubbs to lie about a mysterious death, Grubbs is clearly a teenager in angst going through tremendous changes with nowhere to turn. Readers will love the tantalizing hint of a possible connection to the character Bec from installment four of the Demonata series, but they will curse the cliffhanger ending that does more to create new questions than answer old ones in this fifth book. Loyal fans will be stoked for the next episode, but without the traditional sneak peek chapter, the wait will be a painful one.