The Dead of Winter

by Chris Priestley

Overview

When Michael's parents die, he is invited to stay with his guardian in a desolate country house. When Michael spots a woman out in the frozen mists on the day he arrives, he suspects something is not quite right. But little can prepare him for the solitude of the house itself. His guardian is rarely seen, and there's a malevolent force lurking in an old hallway mirror. Michael soon realises that the house and its grounds harbour many secrets, both dead and alive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599908212
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	01/31/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Chris Priestley is the author of the spine-tingling Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror,Tales of Terror from the Black Ship and Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth. Chris is also an illustrator, painter and cartoonist.
CHRIS PRIESTLEY's novels are inspired by the long-loved tradition of horror stories by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley. www.chrispriestley.blogspot.com

Chris Priestley lives in Cambridge with his wife and son. His novels are brilliantly original additions to a long tradition of horror stories by authors such as M.R. James and Edgar Allan Poe. Chris wrote one of the World Book Day books for 2011 and has been shortlisted for a variety of prestigious children's book awards. Catch up with Chris at www.chrispriestley.blogspot.com.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 7–10—In his first novel-length, gothic horror tale, Priestley pays homage to Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" and in the process crafts a taut thriller with a foreboding setting and appropriately creepy atmosphere. Like the classic, this story features an isolated, imposing manor house that produces an inexplicable sense of dread in the narrator. Hawton Mere, like Poe's titular mansion, is inhabited by a brother afflicted by a debilitating psychological condition and a sister. But unlike Poe's unnamed narrator, Michael Vyner is not a willing visitor. Recently orphaned, he discovers that he is now the ward of Sir Stephen, the lord of Hawton Mere. Michael's father gave his life saving Sir Stephen in battle in Afghanistan and he is repaying that debt by caring for the boy. Upon arrival, Michael is nearly overwhelmed by a sense of impending doom. He is also afflicted by apparitions and strange noises. He is soon thrust into the mystery of the death of Sir Stephen's late wife and the origins of the poltergeistlike spirit that terrorizes him and his guardian. Though the story begins like Rick Yancey's Monstrumologist (S & S, 2009), with a narrator writing years after the fact, Priestley stays truer to the traditional genre, focusing on atmospherics and psychology rather than blood and gore. Students who want a break from the graphic violence of modern horror stories will enjoy this short volume.—Anthony C. Doyle, Livingston High School, CA

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