New York : Tor Teen, a Tom Doherty associates book, 2016.
302 p. ; 22 cm.
This was an exciting, creative, and very readable paranormal, horror novel. The hero of this tale, Becket, unwittingly becomes the bridge to a portal to evil forces, allowing them to enter the regular world and wreak havoc in Philadelphia. At sunset inanimate objects come to life inflicting injury and death on anyone caught outside. People are safe from these terrifying "constructs" as long as they are indoors, but some of the people caught outside become Nightstrucks - accomplices to the forces violence and mayhem taking over the city at night - and they can enter homes and do violence.
The novel builds in horror and suspense as it goes on, claiming surprising victims and pitting the hero of the novel against her best friend who has become one of the Nightstruck. The hero also gets to find romance in this terrible time, so all is not bad...
However, the novel has a few problems, that remain unanswered. The above mentioned best friend is unlikable before her transformation, and absolutely horrid afterward - and yet the hero of the novel just can't seem to fully reject her. Also one has to wonder why the supernatural horror is limited to the boundaries of Philadelphia?
Problems aside, the novel is exciting and keeps one's attention. Its ending is pretty surprising and clearly invites a sequel. The reviews of the sequel are not very good, and I started it and had to agree that the first few pages were pretty bad. Maybe the author should have let it end at one installment, but my guess is that she was under pressure to drag it out into at least a trilogy and maybe more, which is too bad.
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