Happy Book Birthday, Dagger Hill by Devon Taylor!

Welcome to Tuesday and a special 'hello' from Australia. The CBCA is coming up in a few days! To celebrate, writer Emi Bagshaw has done a special feature about kidlit on her popular blog. Guess what?

Bookworm for Kids is one of the showcased review sites!!! So, if you have a second, you might want to head on over here and see the top suggested kidlit books that every kid should read before they reach 13.

And now, it's time to head into a bit of science fiction mashed with a bit of thriller....

Dagger Hill

by Devon Taylor

Swoon Reads

YA Mystery, Paranormal

 

Stranger Things meets One of Us Is Lying in this creepy paranormal mystery about four friends who find themselves hunted by a malevolent presence in their sleepy hometown.

It knows your fear…

Summer, 1989. Four best friends—Gabe, Kimberly, Charlie, and Sonya—are preparing for their last summer together before senior year, after which they’ll all be splitting up to start college in different parts of the country. They make a promise to always find their way back to each other, no matter how far away from their sleepy Pennsylvania hometown they get.

But their plans are destroyed when a plane crashes right on top of their favorite hangout outside of town—and right on top of them.

In the catastrophic aftermath of the incident, Gabe, Sonya and Charlie are plagued by eerie visions and messages from an unknown watcher. They soon realize that the plane crash was no accident, and now they are being hunted by a sinister presence. And everyone is still searching for Kimberly, who has been missing ever since Gabe saw somebody wearing a gas mask carry her out of the woods the day the sky fell down on them…

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MY TIDBITS

To say that this one holds a few unexpected moments is an understatement.

Four friends vow to always find their way back to each other as they spend their last summer together before their last year in high school. When a storm rolls in during their get together on a hill, a plane comes out of nowhere and crashes right where they're standing. It's panic pure, and one of them is carried away by a masked survivor of the crash. When the three remaining friends wake up to find themselves in a hospital and under tight control, it's clear that something isn't right. And no one seems to know anything about the masked person who carried away their friend.

This one is a mix of science fiction, mystery, horror and paranormal. It's told from several points of view, and that works very well, since there is a lot going on and even more secrets behind those events. The beginning runs along a bit slow as the basis for each friend is, more or less, laid. It hopped around a bit too much for my taste as I didn't seem to really gain a connection to any of them before the weirdness sets in. Also, there are hints and bread crumbs in these first chapters, which weren't too hard to place. Still, it's definitely an intriguing, original read.

The science fiction elements fall in with a lovely dab between reality and imagination, making it hard to guess which direction the entire thing is really headed. And even this proves to be a surprise. The friends, as said, didn't gain enough depth for me to feel really connected to any of them, but that didn't hurt the plot as it twists and turns in sinister, unexpected or even strange directions. It's fun to try to guess where it's going, knowing that the outcome will still not be as expected. So, it's really intriguing on that front.  It's definitely enjoying to read.

And here he is...

 

Devon Taylor was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and two daughters. His day job consists of sneaking around the house with ninja-like stealth to avoid waking up his kids. When not writing, reading, or tediously typing out text messages with all the correct spelling and punctuation, he spends his time with his family. THE SOUL KEEPERS is his debut novel.

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