Fear Ground (Dread Wood, Book 2)

By Author / Illustrator

Jennifer Killick

Genre

Horror

Age range(s)

Publisher

HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN

9780755504626

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

01-09-2022

Synopsis

The brand new must-read middle-grade novel from the author of Crater Lake. Perfect for 9+ fans of R.L.Stine's Goosebumps.

There's a new craze at Dread Wood High. Flinch is a game of fear. The more you scare your friends, the more points on the app you get. At first it's fun, but soon fun is replaced by fear. And Angelo and his friends notice that everyone is behaving more and more strangely every day - almost as if something is taking over their brains... With the fair arriving in town, adrenaline and excitement levels are high. But who are the people behind the super-creepy clown masks? With fights breaking out and Flinch in full force, it's time for the final showdown at the Fear Ground. Let the REAL games begin!

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Reviews

Let me start with a disclaimer - I hate scary books. As a child, I lost countless nights of sleep whilst lying paralysed with fear waiting for monsters, aliens and/or ghosts to come and claim me as their victim (R.L. Stine has a lot to answer for)! Therefore, I avoid horror like the plague - no scary movies, no fright nights and definitely no creepy books! I found myself in a quandary, therefore, upon the release of Jennifer Killick's first voyage into the horror genre, Crater Lake. My class and I had loved the Alex Sparrow series and Jennifer herself is one of our all-time favourite in-person authors. It was inevitable: I was going to have to break my ban and dive headfirst into horror. And boy am I glad I did! I devoured her first series and Dread Wood is without a doubt one of my favourite books this year.

Would Fear Ground live up to the lofty heights I had set for it? As usual, Jennifer met and surpassed all expectations. Fear Ground is a genuinely frightening tale (I had to ban myself from reading it before bed) but it's offset beautifully by her trademark comedy. Her narrative voice is superb and the character development is as good as it gets.

Jennifer's ability to create believable and hyper realistic teenage characters is unrivalled in children's fiction, in my opinion. Her baddies are truly very bad (and epically menacing) whilst her heroes are multifaceted with flaws and individual personalities. So many children will be able to see themselves reflected in this story, which makes it a powerful addition to any classroom bookshelf.

Fear Ground is an absolute triumph - Killick has smashed it again. She's quickly carving out her own niche and I know her latest release will be one of the first with a waiting list on my classroom bookshelf. This book is perfect for pupils in Year 6 (ages 10+) and beyond and I recommend it without reservation.

368 pages / Reviewed by Linda Canning, teacher