|
JUST when you
thought
it was safe to
go into the
bookshop, he's
back!
Having brought
his
Saga of Darren
Shan
to a
blood-curdling
end, Limerick's
own prince of
darkness returns
to haunt us with
a brand new
series of books
every bit as horrific
and depraved as
the last.
After trawling
the depths of
despair to
produce horror
after
horror for his
saga, one might
think Shan's
store of
gut-wrenching
blood-lust might
be drying up,
but if anything
the
terror has
intensified.
Teenager Grubbs
Grady is the
central
character this
time and
boy, is he in
for some
unpleasant
experiences.
Mind you,
Grubbs, or Grubitsch,
to give him his
full title,
is no
saint himself.
When his
sister earns his
displeasure by
grassing to
their parents
that he
has been
smoking, he gets
his
own back by
chopping up
rats'
entrails and
concealing them
in her
towel while
she's in the
shower,
so when she
opens her
eyes she finds
blood and guts
dripping down
her hair.
And that's only
the prequel to
the real horror.
Grubbs's whole
family meet an
exceptionally
nasty and
graphically-described
end, with enough
blood to keep a
vampire going
for years
(sorry,
no vampires in
this book
though).
And just who is
Lord Loss?
"A demon master.
One of the
many
supernatural
beings who
exist on the
edges of our
reality,
in magical
realms of their
own. We call
them Demonata.
Some meddle in
the ways of
humans,
most have
nothing to do
with us,
while a few —
like Lord Loss —
feed upon us."
A pretty nice
guy then, one
that you might
take home to
meet your
parents — that's
if he
hasn't already
slaughtered your
parents and
watched their
blood
drip down their
bedroom walls.
This book is
billed on its
cover
as "seriously
scary" and
that's a
serious
understatement.
It's also
recommended for
readers of
11-plus, which
is a bit on the
young side.
Yes, this type
of horror holds
an obvious
fascination for
teenagers,
even young ones,
as
anyone who has
hidden behind
the sofa yet
still feel
compelled to
watch scary
movies will
testify;
and yes, it does
encourage reluctant
boys to pick up
a book.
But this really
is grotesque,
stomach-churning
and quite disturbing
stuff which,
while written
for a teenage
market, is quite
adult in content
and leaves
little
to the
imagination.
And with Shan's
next book in
this Demonata
series, Demon
Thief
already in the
pipeline,
there's no end
to the blood-letting
in sight. |
