After Dark

by James Leck

Overview

Fifteen-year-old slacker Charlie Harker is stuck in the sleepy town of Rolling Hills for the summer, helping his mom renovate his great-grandfather’s creaky old inn. It’s not entirely dull, thanks to Charlie’s new neighbor Miles Van Helsing, who insists there’s paranormal activity happening in Rolling Hills. Charlie chalks it up to Miles being the town nutcase. But many townspeople are falling prey to a mysterious illness, and wisecracking Charlie quickly gets wise¬: there’s something sinister going on in Rolling Hills.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771385961
Publisher:	Kids Can Press
Publication date:	08/01/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

James Leck was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in 1973. He is a high school teacher who has spent a lot of time around teenagers, using their sardonic and offbeat voices in his writing. He is author of The Adventures of Jack Lime and After Dark.

Editorial Reviews

... Charlie's snarky narration and skewed outlook make this a solid choice. A great light read for graduates of John Kloepfer's The Zombie Chasers (2010).—Kirkus Reviews

Snappy dialogue, irreverent humour, and an almost transcendent understanding of what make a teenage boy tick ...—Quill & Quire

For those that enjoy quirky and wisecracking characters, Charlie Harker is your guy.—CM Magazine

From the Publisher

2015-04-29
Rolling Hills is a boring, little hick town…until sundown. Tenth-grader Charlie Harker leaves his expensive boarding school with visions of a summer break spent in Hawaii dancing in his head. He's crushed when his mother tells him that she, his twin sister, Lilith, and Charlie will be rehabbing an old family manse into a bed-and-breakfast instead. He's mortified to learn the family fortune—estranged Dad was a Tony Robbins-style self-help guru—is completely gone. Moments after waking in the driveway of the inn (after a monumental nap on the drive), Charlie is set upon by his shotgun-toting, deaf uncle Hal and local conspiracy theorist Miles Van Helsing. Trying at every turn to dodge actual work at the inn, even after the arrival of his TV-star brother, Johnny, Charlie is drawn into Miles' investigation of strange happenings at the neighbor's house. When the threat proves to be real, Charlie finds the only recourse is to run…but can he run fast enough? Leck's sarcastic thriller features a distinctive monster that's a fun twist on zombies…er…vampires. Given the final scene, a sequel is likely but not necessary. Scenes of Charlie and Co. fleeing "zompires" feels a bit like repetitive padding near the deus ex machina close, but Charlie's snarky narration and skewed outlook make this a solid choice. A great light read for graduates of John Kloepfer's The Zombie Chasers (2010). (Horror. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews