A Chilling Tale that Will Have You Turning On the Lights and Looking Under the Bed
Sorry Night comes but once a year and when Reggie discovers a strange journal describing monstrous beings called Vours that steal the bodies of the fearful on that night, she can't wait to scare herself. Reggie and her best friend Aaron have a fearful night, but it's Reggie's 8 year-old brother Henry who is really terrified. Henry believes in the Vours and that belief gives them power. Henry's fear, combined with Sorry Night, results in Reggie realizing that some monsters are real. And the Vours have taken her brother. Reggie lives for horror, but what happens when the horror becomes real life and Reggie must fight her deepest fears to save the person she loves most?
Reggie is a horror movie buff with an incredible love for her younger brother Henry. She is only 15, but after her mother walks out on her family, Reggie basically becomes Henry's mom. She does everything a mother and housewife would do, while attempting to maintain her own identity and be a teenager. The responsibility that is thrust at Reggie is too much for such a young girl to handle. Reggie is angry at her mother for leaving, but at the same time, she is absolutely desperate for her to return. Everyday, Reggie cries in the shower because she has to put on a brave face and be the strong one for Henry. Her only reprieve and outlet for a normal teenage life, comes in the form of Reggie's best friend Aaron. Aaron is a caffeine junkie who also has a love for anything to do with horror. They watch the movies, read the books, and their self-declared geekdom works for them. Together, they make quite the team and when they think they can save Henry from the Vour who has his body, Reggie's bravery and Aaron's wits are all they have to depend on.
The Vours have the ability to take over the body of the most fearful people. Henry is a naturally skittish child, so when Reggie reads from the journal, he is 100% convinced that Vours are real. The day after Sorry Night, Henry is no longer the sweet child that he once was and it soon becomes clear that he has been taken over. The Vours prey on a person's deepest, darkest fears and once they have you, your soul could be lost forever. Reggie is able to connect with Henry's soul through his body and she is thrust into his most potent fears. This place is called a fearscape and it could very well hold the secrets to saving Henry.
The Devouring seems to have gotten a lot of mixed reviews and I began reading it with no expectations at all. Let me just say that I was amazed. Simon Holt has created a fearful, bone-chilling story that could easily become a terrifying horror film. It also happens to have what may be the best prologue I have ever read. I was instantly sucked into the story and there was no letting up. The story is based on fear and supernatural creatures that lurk in the night, but it also focuses on the real, human issues that Reggie faces without her mother. Reggie would do anything to save her brother because she loves him.
At the heart, The Devouring is a blood-curdling YA horror novel. The story is quite graphic and that may turn many readers off, but it works so well here. The gore and the blood aren't overdone and they help to create a perfectly creepy atmosphere that will have you turning on every light and looking under the bed. The Devouring is a chilling tale with a piercing cold that tears the skin and penetrates the heart. The Devouring will shake you to the core and make you ask, 'what am I really afraid
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