• AnnisEditorial Services
  • Anniseed’s Attic
  • About Me
  • Policies

The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

Tag Archives: Serial Killers

Monsters by Emerald Fennell

10 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by Anniseed in Young Adult Fiction Review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Abuse, Childhood, Crime, Murder, Serial Killers, Thriller

Sometimes murder is child’s play….

I read this in one sitting last night and my skin is still crawling – my mind feels slightly disconnected, altered somehow. Don’t let the Blyton-esque cover fool you. This is a dark, deeply disturbing portrait of childhood gone wrong, in the vein of The Wasp Factory and We Need to Talk About Kevin – not for the easily perturbed.monsters

The nameless narrator is a twelve-year-old girl whose parents “got smushed to death in a boating accident when I was nine. Don’t worry – I’m not that sad about it.” Sent to live with her true-crime-obsessed Grandma, the girl develops an unhealthy interest in serial killers. Spending the summer with her aunt and uncle who run a crappy hotel in Fowey, Cornwall,  that interest will spiral out of control.

Two exciting things happen that summer. Firstly, the body of a naked woman is hauled out of the sea. Secondly, a thirteen-year-old boy called Miles comes to stay in the hotel. Completely dominated by his vile mother, Miles is unlike other boys, and the girl becomes Miles’s first friend. They quickly discover they share a passion for the macabre, and deciding to investigate the murder (as the police, they agree, are hopeless), the pair show the reader the underside of Fowey – not so much picturesque fishing village, as Royston Vasey by the sea. They also enjoy passing time playing the “murder game”, in which Miles attempts to strangle or drown the girl – a game which hints at the darker turn the story will inevitably take. As their friendship develops, and it becomes clear that a real serial killer is on the prowl, the pressure builds and builds until the children’s repressed emotions break free.

The narration is superb – the girl’s voice is as clear as crystal and utterly compelling. And through her narration we see the truth of things – yes, the children are monstrous, but so are the adults that surround them, who turn blind eyes to the children’s trauma and saturate them with shame. It is little wonder that things turn out the way they do. This is a portrait of how children turn bad, and how society likes to pretend that it happens in isolation – the children must have been “born evil”. The truth is far more disturbing.

Monsters is not for the faint-hearted – it’s ending is very shocking and the themes that it explores are uncomfortable in the extreme. But it’s brave and original, and lingers long in the mind. I really couldn’t put it down – it’s exceptional.

Aimed at a young adult audience, I would recommend this for 14+ to adult; and I think it’s definitely a novel adults should read, as it raises a dark mirror to the way we raise (or fail to raise) our children.

Hot Key Books, 2015, ISBN 9781471404627

Books of delight

12 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by Anniseed in Childrens Book Review, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Adolescence, Adventure, Crime, Cults, Fantasy, Folklore, Horror, Humour, Serial Killers, Suicide, Thriller, Young Adult Fiction

Well, it’s been a crazy six months, but I’m finally back where I belong, working as a children’s specialist. Over the past month I’ve been knee-deep in books for children and young adults, which has been a pure delight. So much to read, and so few hours in the day! But the world of children’s publishing just gets stronger and stronger. So here are a few of the books I’ve particularly enjoyed over the past month…

I confess to always being a little sceptical when a celebrity turns to writing books for young people, but Simon Mayo has got it right in Itch, the first in a new series of action adventure novels. We start with Itchingham Lofte (Itch) having lost his eyebrows; he burnt them off by accident when he blew up his bedroom, experimenting with phosphorus. But that’s the least of his worries when his obsession with the chemical elements leads him to acquire a rock which is radioactive. His sleazy teacher in particular is very keen to get hold of it. With governments and gangsters on his tail, will he manage to get the rock somewhere safe, save his sister’s life and not die of radiation poisoning? It’s not looking good for our hero… This is genuinely tense stuff, with our protagonist in very real danger. Mayo isn’t afraid to portray serious threat and doesn’t talk down to his audience, making this a compulsive read. (Corgi, 2012, ISBN 978-0552565509).

Meanwhile my passion for spooky horror was very well met by Alex Bell’s Frozen Charlotte. Sophie and Jay download a Ouija board app and suddenly everything gets spooky – and by the next day, Jay is dead. Sophie is convinced that the spirit of her dead cousin Rebecca is responsible, so visits her remaining cousins on the Isle of Skye to find out the truth. Cameron, Piper and Lilias are seriously weird, and claim that a collection of tiny dolls called the Charlottes are possessing frozen charlotteBthem…  What’s really going on in that spooky house and are the dolls really capable of driving people to murder? This is a truly creepy story with some shockingly violent moments. Not to be read before bedtime! If you find dolls scary like me, this will freak you out. Just my sort of thing! (Stripes Publishing, 2015, ISBN 978-1847154538).

Tension of a different, but equally disturbing kind, is the theme of Becca Fitzpatrick’s Black ice, one for older readers. Britt thinks that one way to get over her broken heart is to go backpacking over the mountains with her best friend Korbie. She didn’t count on her ex, Calvin (Korbie’s brother), tagging along too. But before the girls get to the cabin on the mountains, a snowstorm forces them to abandon their car and take refuge in another cabin, where they meet handsome Shaun and Mason. Something’s not right about these guys… and suddenly the girls are taken hostage. black iceBBritt convinces them she knows the mountains well and is their only hope of escaping whatever it is they’re running from. But forced outside, she has to fight to survive, and figures her only chance is to build a bond with Mason. But can he be trusted? Britt has to use every ounce of ingenuity as she tries to outwit her kidnappers, but when she’s falling for one of them, it’s harder to see the truth… Very tense story which I couldn’t put down, with a shocking twist in the tale – I did see it coming, but it was still utterly compelling and in no way spoilt the ending. (Simon & Schuster, 2015, ISBN 978-1471118166).

seedBSeed by Lisa Heathfield is one of those stories that makes your skin crawl. Pearl lives a simple life at Seed and is looking forward to the day she’ll become a companion to Papa S. But then newcomers come, and Pearl feels an attraction to one of them, a boy called Ellis. He tells her that Seed is wrong, is evil, and that she must escape – but surely Papa S wants the best for all of them, even though he sends her to the Punishment Room…. A disturbing tale of life in a cult, with a horrifying ending. Not for the faint-hearted! (Electric Monkey, 2015, ISBN 978-1405275385).

Tim Bowler is a stalwart of young adult literature and Game changer is another excellent, gripping story. Mikey lives in his wardrobe. It’s safer there. Especially since the last time he dared to venture out, and saw something terrible. But now they know where he is and he can’t escape the flood of text messages threatening to kill him. Even at school he’s not safe. But then they take his sister Meggie, and Mikey is forced to confront his worst fears to try and save her. Gripping thriller that gives you a tense feeling right in your gut, as you wonder if Mikey and Meggie will survive… Impossible to put down, and like Mayo, Bowler does not shrink from putting his characters in very scary situations. (OUP, 2015, ISBN 978-0192794154).

Taking a totally different tack from the books above, Jasmine Warga’s My heart and other black holes is a tear-jerker. Aysel (pronounced Uh-sell) wants to end it all, but doesn’t want to do it alone. She meets a boy online who is also looking for someone to help him, and before long she and Roman have made a pact to commit suicide on April 6th. But in spite of herself, she starts falling for him – and realises that she has far more to live for than she ever imagined. But will she convince Roman in time? Very moving story that makes you cry, yet also makes you realise how precious life is; Warga’s story tackles a difficult subject with sensitivity and insight. (Hodder, 2015, ISBN 978-1444791532).

Margo Lanaghan in The Brides of Rollrock Island delves into folklore, another staple ingredient in children’s literature. Misskaella doesn’t look like the other pretty girls on Rollrock Island and is teased and bullied by them. But Misskaella has a secret – she can charm the seals on the shores into shedding their skins and becoming human. bridesBTo get her revenge on the girls who look down on her, she gives each young man a beautiful seal wife – for a price. But the selkies pine for the sea, and the strange, enchanting seal women of Rollrock Island will find a way to return to the water… A beautifully told tale, quite a challenging read, but if you are enchanted by fairy and folk tales this unusual story will capture your imagination just as Misskaella captures the seal women. (David Fickling, 2013, ISBN 978-1849921121).

Melissa Marr is one of my favourite young adult authors and her latest is Made for you. Eva’s the queen bee at school, with a coterie of loyal friends and a handsome boyfriend. Then she’s nearly killed by a hit and run driver. Not only scarred, she discovers that when someone touches her, she has a vision of their death, and not just that – she’s having visions of her friends being murdered. When the visions start to come true, she realises that the hit and run driver was a serial killer – and now he’s obsessed with Eva, and killing her friends to get closer to her. But can Eva’s visions save everyone she loves? And is the killer closer than she thinks? A very disturbing tale about love gone wrong, with adult content. (HarperCollins, 2015, ISBN 978-0007584208).

Kim Slater’s Smart is for fans of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time. Kieran is a little bit different, which means that his stepfather Tony and stepbrother Ryan hate him. He spends his time down at the Embankment where he befriends homeless Jean, but when another homeless person is found dead in the river, he resolves to play detective and find out what happened. His investigations will lead him to fall foul of Tony and Ryan even more…  But Kieran is different, not stupid, and his quirky view on life sees more than anyone realises. Moving and satisfying story, very heartwarming. (Macmillan, 2015, ISBN 978-1447236672).

Another delightful spooky tale: Frances Hardinge’s The Lie Tree. In Victorian times, girls weren’t supposed to be clever – and Faith’s a clever girl, who takes after her scientist father. No one listens to her though, especially not her father. But then he then dies in mysterious circumstances, and Faith is convinced he was murdered. lie treeBShe discovers that her father had acquired a rare plant, which feeds on lies, and rewards the liar with visions revealing the truth of things. She starts to tell lies, big, dangerous lies, in the hope that she’ll find out who killed her father; but telling lies changes you. As Faith falls further in darkness, will she find the truth she seeks, and will it be too late to save herself? An unusual thriller with an unearthly twist; I really got lost in this one. (Macmillan, 2015, ISBN 978-1447264101).

And one for younger readers which I thoroughly enjoyed: Stitch Head: The beast of Grubbers Nubbin by Guy Bass. Stitch Head is a small, gentle monster living in the spooky Castle Grotteskew with lots of other monsters created by mad scientist, Professor Erasmus. Looking after a horde of hungry orphans is no easy task for the monsters; their attempts at cookery aren’t too successful to say the least! So they hatch a plan to steal the villagers’ food, food that’s being saved for the feast of Guzzlin’ Day, but they didn’t reckon on a wild and scary beast getting in their way… Mad and hilarious adventures with Stitch Head ensue! There is a whole series of these and they are a delight. (Stripes Publishing, 2015, ISBN 978-1847156099).beastB

Navigate around The Tangled Leaves

  • AnnisEditorial Services
  • Anniseed’s Attic
  • About Me
  • Policies

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 242 other followers

Anniseed on Twitter

  • RT @DrJessTaylor: How come women need a tonne of evidence, DNA, photos, confession in blood and a full psych assessment when they say they’… 2 days ago
  • RT @whatSFSaid: Words matter. Truth matters. Poetry matters. These things change lives; they change the fate of nations. We saw it today.… 3 days ago
  • RT @whatSFSaid: Books matter. Stories matter. And the stories we tell young people matter most of all. "You’re finding out something as yo… 3 days ago
  • Explaining the inauguration to my 8 yr old and the "swearing in" - she asks "is that when he calls Trump a f*cking… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 days ago
  • RT @whatSFSaid: I really do believe every child can be a reader. Whoever you are, whatever you love, there's a book for you out there. So i… 4 days ago

The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

Welcome to the world of Anniseed, bibliofiend and librarian, chaos gardener and allotmenteer, who sometimes finds caterpillars in her hair. This is my blog – what I’m reading and what I think about it, plus commentary on the world of books, and occasional rambles into the garden.

Search The Tangled Leaves of Anniseed

Previous Posts

All content ©Tangled Leaves of Anniseed. You can quote me for non-commercial purposes providing you cite your source (proper librarian-stuff there); if in doubt, or for any other use of my content, please e-mail me at jo@anniseed.com. (I’m quite generous towards people who ask nicely.)

Anniseed's Categories

Book News Book Review Campaigning Childrens Book Review Creative writing DVD Review Interview Musings Non-Fiction Publishing Uncategorized Young Adult Fiction Review

Anniseed’s Cloud

1970s Abuse Action Adolescence Adventure Angels Anniseed Apocalyptic Fiction Authors Biography Book trailer Campaigning Campaigns Childhood Children Christianity Classic television Conferences Creative writing Crime Detective Detectives Drugs DVD Dystopia E-readers Events Faery Families Fantasy Friendship Ghosts Graphic Novel Historical Horror Humour Libraries Literary Fiction Love Magic Monsters Murder Mystery Paganism Paranormal Paranormal Romance Politics Prisons Psychological Thriller Public libraries Publishers Publishing Reading Relationships Religion Research Romance Science Fiction Self-Publishing Serial Killers Short stories Supernatural Technology Thriller Tragedy True Crime TV Twenties Vampires Victorians Volunteers War Witchcraft Writing Young Adult Fiction

Anniseed

Anniseed

Anniseed

Bibliofiend, blogger and chaos gardener

View Full Profile →

Parajunkee Design
www.fictionfeedback.co.uk

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy