Jennifer Killick - Crater Lake - Book Review - Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books

Dear Reader,

We warmly welcome you to this year's epic trip to CRATER LAKE, a brand new activity center built in an old volcanic crater, miles from anywhere. Please pack appropriately and be aware that you'll need to be prepared to run for your life. Please take plenty of rations as the food is pretty awful and the service is beyond belief. It is rated with no stars on Trip Advisor as no one has ever come out alive. Whatever you do, DONT. EVER. FALL. ASLEEP!

This thrilling preface is for Jennifer Killick's latest book CRATER LAKE.  It's a contemporary horror story aimed at middle-grade readers due to be published on the 19th March 2020 by Firefly Press. As you turn the bloodied pages, you'll need to strap yourselves in for a bumpy ride as a mysterious bloodstained man tries to stop the coach. This is the start of a rollercoaster adventure that is entertainingly bonkers full of wit and humour.  

Strange things happen to the children. No one turns up to meet them, and then a strange man serves them all only TOMATO SOUP for their tea. Something is definitely not RIGHT. As night arrives, things get much stranger and the nervous tension can be felt buzzing in the air. This is the year six school trip where your first day could be your last ...

The deeper you travel into the plotline, the more you become engrossed in a bizarre and surreal world where kids are fighting for survival against a strange swarm of enemies. The characters are all very well written. They each have secrets of their own especially the main character, Lance, who I thought was brilliant. The book explores the relationships and emotions between different characters in a fast-paced action horror story. It certainly glues the narrative together with human empathy in the face of fear and the unknown. It produces a very captivating and relatable story as they each work through this unusual situation. However, after some messing around and eating an abundance of sweets, the sugar levels get going and the kids become wise.

This is a book in which readers will sit up all night to read in one sitting. Mysteriously edgy, warm-hearted and full of many bouts of crazy action and eventful moments, it certainly keeps the reader on their scary toes as flying PHLEGM hits you full-on in the face. Remember the only way to survive is DON'T EVER FALL ASLEEP. So, pick up this book and give it a read; it might just save your life. I fully recommend it as it's pure fantasy OXYGEN.