The smashed man of Dread End

When 13-year-old Noelle "Noe" Wiley's cued-white family moves to a new home across town, the first thing she notices is the ominous hand-altered sign marking their cul-de-sac "Dread End." She pays it little heed, however, until some neighborhood kids tell her, "Don't go into the basement of your house at night." And when Noe awakens from a sleepwalking episode in the basement, she discovers a terrifying two-dimensional figure, invisible to adults, that silently begins oozing out of the subterranean wall's cracks each time a child arrives to witness it. When Noe--whose sleepwalking once ended in her inadvertently hurting a friend--learns that her sister, three-year-old Len, has the same condition, she fears for their safety should they accidentally awaken in the basement. Finding that the siblings' resourceful, resilient neighbors also live in fear of the figure, following an incident with the previous owners of Noe's house, the kids collaborate to stop him before he can escape from the wall. Ocker (Death and Douglas) slowly builds the tension and atmosphere with this eerie tale, his villain a constant, unsettling presence, and the unawareness of well-meaning adults furthering the sense of alienation and danger. While the metaphysics of the story feel a little loosely defined at times, readers of this effectively spine-tingling piece of horror will find it hard to ignore their own dark corners. Ages 8--12. Agent: Alex Slater, Trident Media Group. (Aug.)

Noelle is excited about her family's new house--until she learns of the monster in the basement. Since Noe Wiley's night terrors led to a friendship-ending incident, she's glad to be moving. Right from the start, though, this place feels off, and the kids in the neighborhood tell her to stay out of her basement at night. A sleepwalking episode leads to her understanding the warning when she wakes up to see the Smashed Man oozing out of a crack in the wall. He can only come out after dark, and only children can see him. Noe slowly forms friendships with the neighborhood girls, Radiah, Ruthy, and Crystal, and they band together to learn more about the monster and how to defeat him once and for all. Vivid descriptions create a strong setting with plenty of tension and make scenes with the Smashed Man the stuff of nightmares. The girls are realistically portrayed, although their characterizations are lacking in depth. The pacing and plot get muddled in the middle as the overly complex paranormal world at large is explored and explained, but it's worth wading through to get to the exciting final confrontation with the Smashed Man. While the ending is satisfying, new reveals at the end signal possible sequels. The majority of the cast is assumed White; Radiah is implied Black. The imaginative and truly horrifying monster at its center makes this tale stand out. (Horror. 9-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.