The Crooked Oak Mysteries (5) - The Creatures of Killburn Mine

By Author / Illustrator

Dan Smith, Chris King

Genre

Horror

Age range(s)

Publisher

Barrington Stoke

ISBN

9781800902503

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

04-01-2024

Synopsis

A meteorite harbouring an alien lifeform crashes to Earth with horrifying consequences in this gruesome and gripping tale from master of creepy sci-fi Dan Smith.

What's slithering about deep underground ...? When a meteorite crashes to Earth near Crooked Oak, Pete, Nancy and Krish are determined to find it. But they're not the only ones ...

After spotting one of their teachers up on the moor where the meteorite landed, they start to wonder if his strangely altered behaviour and appearance might be connected to the arrival from outer space. But nothing could prepare them for the horror they uncover deep down in Killburn Mine ...

Enjoy The Crooked Oak Series: The Invasion of Crooked Oak (book 1); The Beast of Harwood Forest (book 2); The Horror of Dunwick Farm (book 3); The Terror of Hilltop House (book 4); The Creatures of Killburn Mine (book 5)

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Reviews

The Creatures of Killburn Mine is the fifth installment in the spooky Crooked Oak series. School friends Pete, Nancy and Krish are excited when a meteor apparently crashes to Earth on a moor just outside Crooked Oak. But when they go to investigate, they find that the meteor might have brought something with it...

Pete and the gang have faced a variety of monstrous creatures in their previous adventures, but the extra-terrestrial critters they run into in this book may be the ickiest and most insidious yet. The Creatures of Killburn Mine is an excellent book for readers intrigued by the mysterious, the dark, the spooky and the downright gross. As in the previous books in the series, there are some truly gruesome moments and genuinely visceral scares.

The three main characters are likable and believable. They are sensible but daring - the sorts of people you would want to be friends with at school. The final confrontation of this book is action-packed and brilliantly descriptive, and the friends are up against sufficient threat that you can't be sure whether they will all make it out in one piece!

The excellent visual descriptions of the story make it easy to clearly imagine all of the horrible things that Pete, Krish and Nancy endure. The illustrations by Chris King are excellent, making it easy to picture everything, even the bits you might rather not!

As with the whole Crooked Oak series, this book features great horror content in a super easy-to-read format. It's a fantastic gateway to horror for young readers (I particularly enjoyed the many horror 'easter eggs' throughout). If you liked the previous stories in the Crooked Oak series, you'll love The Creatures of Killburn Mine - it might be the best yet!

120 pages / Reviewed by Rachael Cooper-Evans, school librarian