The Boy Who Drew Monsters
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
"Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier,10-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to venture outdoors. Refusing to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine, Jack Peter spends his time drawing monsters. When those drawings take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the terror they inspire. His mother, Holly, begins to hear strange sounds in the night coming from the ocean, and she seeks answers from the local Catholic priest and his Japanese housekeeper who fill her head with stories of shipwrecks and ghosts. His father, Tim, wanders the beach, frantically searching for a strange apparition running wild in the dunes. And the boy's only friend, Nick, becomes helplessly entangled in the eerie power of the drawings. While those around Jack Peter are haunted by what they think they see, only he knows the truth behind the frightful occurrences as the outside world encroaches upon them all. In the tradition of The Turn of the Screw, Keith Donohue's The Boy Who Drew Monsters is a mesmerizing tale of psychological terror and imagination run wild, a perfectly creepy read for a dark night. - For readers of Neil Gaiman, Jason Mott, and Audrey Niffenegger"--
Reviews with the most likes.
I really enjoyed Donohue's previous novels, but found this one to be less successful. The ending alone is what pushed it into 3-star territory.
Fascinating and truly original idea that unfurls its secrets slowly. Bronson Pinchot's narration is absolutely superb.
After looking at the reviews for this, it seems to be a “love it or hate it” kind of book. I very much fall into the “love it” category. Donohue is talented at building up a creepy atmosphere without going overboard. It has the feel of a Japanese horror novel - the very wrong and scary existing in a very real and familiar everyday kind of world. Some complaints say that it's not scary and I'd agree - the monsters are not the scariest part of the novel. What Donohue does, though, is build up the tension between the characters and with their surrounding. A run of the mill New England snowfall is made terrifying when two people are left alone in the house and one doesn't trust the mental stability of the other, as an example. The last page contained such a gasp-out-loud realization for me that I had to go back and re-read the final lines to be sure I wasn't misunderstanding what happened. I was blown away and it was a brilliant twist I didn't see coming. (Disclaimer: other readers said they did, though, so maybe I'm just dull when it comes to foreshadowing?) This is a great read to pick up in the fall and even in the winter, on a snowy day when you can't leave the house.
