ROUTE 666: Volume Two: Most Haunted

A successful mix of horror and humor, this collection follows the flight of Cassie Starkweather, a teenager who can see both dead people and monsters from Perdition who disguise themselves as human caregivers in order to harvest the souls of people they kill. The powers of darkness are pursuing Cassie to discover the secret of her talent, leaving a trail of mangled corpses along the way. The powers that be in this world are after her, too. Some are in league with Perdition, but most would rather blame Cassie for the murders because they can't bear to imagine that people they know are waiting for a chance to butcher them. It's difficult for Cassie to recruit allies, and the haven she finds in a circus sideshow turns out to be temporary when her mind is stripped of protective memories. The art is slightly strained and a bit off-kilter, but it's appropriate here. The pages dealing with the freak show inhabitants are elegant, and a brief scene in the Adversary's palace in Perdition where an unsuccessful agent reports his failure is especially imaginative. Bedard's writing keeps readers on edge, sometimes chuckling and shivering simultaneously. The story gets in some sly digs at readers' own complacency, too, as Cassie innocently accepts two disguised demons as her parents and they try to play those roles based on what they've seen on tv sitcoms, all the while desperately anxious to kill her. Route 666 deftly pushes an unsettling situation as far as it can while still remaining amusing. (Oct.)