The young protagonists in Mike Lucas’s new thriller remind me of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five – on steroids. This is a compliment.
When Charlotte (13), brother Jack (nine) and sister Emily (six), are suddenly orphaned, they leave their plush London home to live with a strange grandmother on an even stranger island off Cornwall, where they show they’re as smart as any super sleuths.
The first half of the story is beautifully paced with weird events building and multiplying in every chapter. Why are ravens watching their every move? Who is directing the paddleless rowboat?
When the trio reaches the spooky old house on top of Black Island, in the dead of night, plain oddities morph into full-blown monstrosities. In a key scene, the children endure a mass attack of creepy-crawlies. Like the broken playthings in Toy Story, spiders, flies and rats take revenge on their prey.
But why? What have the kids done to provoke the malevolence of their nutty ‘Grandma’ and human-like Black Island? It’s a back story that’s going to need a hell of an explanation: enter elderly mine owner, Mr Northmore, his story of the Black Prince and the children sent to their death 600 years before. Throw in the spirits’ desire for revenge, reincarnation – could Jack really be the Black Prince? – and black magic.
Although the ending is a little convoluted, this is an engaging read.
Reviewed by Jo Stubbings
Age Guide 12+
This review was supported by
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Lucas is an author of picture books and young adult novels. His YA fiction has been shortlisted for the Readings Book Prize, CBCA Book of the Year Awards and the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. His picture book Where is Cheeky Monster? won the 2025 Speech Pathology Award for children from birth to 3 years. Mike presents writing and poetry workshops at schools, owns a bookshop in Blackwood, South Australia, and works as a full-time engineer. He has very little time to sleep, but often thinks up a poem or two while he does.
0 Comments