Scarewaves by Trevor Henderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars rounded up **
The small town of Beacon Point has a long and lurid history of eerie local phenomena. People disappear on the regular and creepy creatures are sighted just as regularly.
The adult residents of the town prefer not to talk about these unpleasantries, so they tend to turn the other way, or sweep unsavory incidents under the proverbial rug.
Regardless of the adults lack of action. over the course of several increasingly scary nights, a group of the local kids are forced to work together to try to find out the truth about their town. They need to put a stop to the horrors, before the horrors put a stop to them.
With fast-paced, intense chapters following the kids, as well as excerpts from a local radio show relaying the past spooky history of the town, Scarewaves is a wildly-entertaining read!
I had the pleasure of listening to the audiobook for this one and cannot recommend it highly enough. The production is so well done. It had me giddy!
I particularly enjoyed the sections from the radio show. The narration of the show host, Alan Graves, was so convincing. I would frequently forget what I was listening to, it sounded so much like a creepy podcast. Also included, fantastic sound effects that made those parts extra fun.
I really enjoyed the initial set-up to this one as well. We have a new girl in town, a social outcast, and other kids becoming friends with a cause, and an urgency. They need to figure the mystery of their town out and they learn to rely on one another rather quickly because of that.
I was also so impressed with the horror imagery that Henderson brought to the page. I mean, I know I shouldn’t have been surprised by that, as it is what he does. If you are familiar with Henderson’s illustrations, you know he has an incredibly dark and vivid imagination. We love to see it!
As far as Middle Grade Horror goes, this definitely is top shelf work. There are legit scary moments in this. I would have been obsessed with this as a kid. Heck, I’m almost obsessed with it as an adult!
An absolute monster of a debut for Henderson. I definitely recommend if you are a fan of Spooky Middle Grade that you add this one to your TBR immediately.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Scholastic Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This was an darkly delightful read!