Bad Blood

From the author of the Hex trilogy comes a thriller/horror story for mid to late teen readers who like a bit of a shiver.

When Peter and Harriet marry, each brings two children to the marriage and expects them to bond into one family unit. The two argumentative daughters, both preferring to be called Cat, ensure that the bond will never stick.

Names become an issue and never more so than when the four children holiday in The Lake District and find that having the right name is a matter of life or death in the never sated, evil game into which they are unwillingly drawn. This is a twisted game started by three girls in the 70s who ‘…invented their own imaginary world but that wasn’t enough for them so they tried to make it real…’

The layers of mystery build up very engrossingly but by the last third the tale had become putdownable. However, sticking with it paid off at the very climactic ending where all the vividly realised spooks show their true potential for mayhem and potent malevolence.