A sinister tale of suspense…
The graveyard in the dreary fictional town conceals some creepy secrets in Cates’s debut, a dark tale of suspense. The great graveyard is off limit as for as the children know, but Dalton, the teenager leader of Danger Seekers Club, seeks thrill more than anything. Malana, the ancient witch, needs help to fulfill an evil prophecy. Unaware of Malana’s sinister plan, Dalton decides to take the treasure map, agreeing to Malana’s condition of paying any price for the deal in the future. The members of Danger Seekers Club set on to find the hidden treasure with the help of the map unaware of the evil forces waiting ahead while Malana wants Dalton to pay his debt. The time period in the novel is ambiguous, creating an unsettling ambiance when combined with the story’s atmospheric setting as Cates’s uncanny descriptions of the fictional town turn it into a character in itself. The narrative seems to lose its threads at times with too much emphasis on nitty-gritty of characters’ daily lives, but the tension stays high with sinister twists and a regular dose of anticipation while the intriguing storyline successfully keeps the pages turning. Cates’s characterization is solid: Dalton’s gradual transformation is portrayed skillfully, the Danger Seekers Club’s adventure-filled missions surge with a prickly energy, and the dark forces in the narrative seem to be the stuff of bad dreams. Spooky and unsettling at times, the novel will please children (12 year or older) interested in dark fiction.
The Danger Seekers Club
by Bryan Cates
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Palmetto Publishing Group
Pub date October 23, 2019
ASIN B07ZS35MNJ
Price $5.47 (USD) Kindle edition, $14.21 Paperback
