Review by Booklist Review
Glennon and his mother and sister are spending the summer with his uncle, one of the lighthouse keepers on Isle Philippeaux, a tiny, isolated island in the middle of Lake Superior, while his father works abroad. Days before they're set to return home, a ship wrecks ashore, and the few survivors are acting oddly, talking about a mysterious event called The Waning. Glennon doesn't know what The Waning is, but he knows his family must escape before it comes. Brandt's atmospheric prose makes Isle Philippeaux feel alive--literally: "The windows of the Third Keeper's home at Graving Lighthouse quivered, restless in their frames as the wind outside crept against their edges and tried to sneak in." The book's slow, creeping pace matches the slow, creeping dread that fills both Glennon and the reader as the island's secrets unravel. A sense of unease and wrongness permeates every page of this story where the inhabitants of the island are all haunted by something, figuratively and literally. Hand this to fans of atmospheric horror tinged with hope and healing.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Thirteen-year-old Glennon McCue, his older sister Lee, and their mother are staying with their uncle Job, a lighthouse keeper, while their father attends a teaching fellowship overseas. When an accident leaves Job's previous post on Lake Superior's coast inhospitable, he is reassigned to the lighthouse on Isle Philippeaux, which is not accounted for on any maps. Over the course of their stay, Glennon and Lee encounter eerie rats, extreme and unprecedented weather, and terrifying ghosts, lending credence to their belief that the island's inhabitants are hiding something frightening. Days before their scheduled departure, the family realizes they can't find a way off Isle Philippeaux, and Glennon worries that supernatural forces are trapping them there. The McCue siblings exhibit signs of PTSD and, through Glennon's memories of his verbally abusive father and the island's immediate and engrossing mysteries, they tentatively confront their trauma. The supernatural and interpersonal story lines offer a hard-won tale of freeing oneself from both internal and external limitations. Brandt's (A Wilder Magic) writing is lyrical--the gale force wind almost feels like its own character--and the narrative atmosphere proves harrowing. Most characters cue as white. Ages 8--12. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Bradford Literary. (May)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5 Up--A deliciously spooky middle grade fantasy. Glennon is temporarily living with his uncle at Graving Lighthouse on Isle Philippeaux on Lake Superior with his mother and sister while his father is overseas on a teaching fellowship. His family is used to Glennon's overactive imagination, but something is just not quite right on Isle Philippeaux. One night three men are saved from a shipwreck; one of them has strange eyes that remind Glennon of his nightmares. Glennon only needs to survive three more days on the island, and then he, his sister, and his mother will be on their way home. But when the ferry that should take them off the island is damaged, and they realize that everyone there is a ghost, even Glennon's uncle, it becomes even more imperative that they escape. The question of who wrote the letter telling them to come in the first place, along with the discovery of zombie rats, makes for an exciting and desperate attempt to finally understand what is going on and how to get away. The island wants their lives, but in the end both living and dead stand together to defeat it. Underlying the story is the emotional abuse that Glennon's family has suffered at the hands of his father, and how they will learn to overcome it. Fans of ghost stories such as Mary Downing Hahn's All the Lovely Bad Ones will be intrigued by this suspenseful tale. VERDICT A ghostly tale of family secrets; recommended for general purchase.--Deanna McDaniel
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Glennon discovers the sinister reason why the Lake Superior island he's visiting isn't found on any map. Writing in a distinctly metaphorical vein, Brandt tells a tale that is chilling on more than one level. Accepting an invitation she claims she received, 13-year-old Glennon McCue's mother has brought him and his emotionally fragile sister, Leeunah, to stay with their Uncle Job, a lighthouse keeper, on remote Isle Philippeaux while their father is away for a fall semester fellowship. Readers will quickly cotton to the fact that all is not right--either on the island or in the McCue family--as, along with fogs, oddly localized gales, feelings of formless dread, frequent encounters with staring rats, and like atmospheric portents, both Glennon and Lee exhibit clear signs of PTSD. Brandt piles on further clues to what's going on: On the one hand, there are sightings of gruesomely disfigured specters and the ominous news that the island is completely cut off from the mainland, and on the other, there are Glennon's memories of years of his mercurial father's patronizing put-downs and sudden rages. In the wildly stormy climax, Glennon confronts multiple terrors as, to prevent him escaping with his family, the malign island attempts to sabotage his newfound determination through psychological means. The main cast defaults to White. Zombie rats and ghastly ghosts galore--but the haunting comes from more than the spectral cast. (map, author's note) (Paranormal. 10-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
