cover image RAVEN'S POINT

RAVEN'S POINT

Melinda D. Metz, . . HarperCollins, $15.99 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-06-052371-8

Metz (the Roswell High series) imports a number of horror-novel conventions for this dark, violent potboiler about an age-old evil coming to life on a small New England island. Character introductions come fast and furious in the opening chapters: high school sophomore Jane; her big brother, Elijah, who has just awoken from a coma; Tavia, whom Elijah dated before the accident that put him in the hospital; Seth, the bulimic star athlete whom Jane likes; Andrea, who also likes Seth; plus embattled parents, creepy nurses and an unsettling school custodian. Strange things begin happening almost immediately: Tavia discovers that she can summon animals, Seth sees the ghost of a boy he accidentally killed, and Jane time-travels. A mother plots to kill her daughter, first trying out her weapon on her own wrist, and a father takes gasoline and match to his house and family in order to rid them of a rank odor that only he can smell. Slowly the author lays out the connection between these events and witch trials held on the island centuries ago. There is an almost constant onslaught of gory imagery and gratuitously disturbing themes—cannibalism, animal torture, gang rape, more. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)