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Apr. 7th, 2024 12:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Welcome to Dread Wood High. It’s a scream …
Club Loser are celebrating Colette’s 13th birthday. Pizza, go-karting, escape room … it’s going to be the best night EVER!
But nothing ever quite goes to plan. The supposedly fake zombies are out for blood. Two sinister figures lurk in the shadows. And, worst of all, there are creatures on the loose. And, worst of all, there are creatures on the loose. Vicious, poisonous creatures straight from your nightmares!
It’s some time after DREAD WOOD - DEADLY DEEP and Club Loser has a lot to celebrate. Firstly, the Latchitt horror is over as the pair have finally been arrested and are currently locked up. Secondly, Colette is celebrating her 13th birthday and she and the other members of Club Loser (Angelo, Gus, Naira and Hallie) are going to the Neon Perch, which is the coolest hangout in town thanks to activities like crazy golf, go-karts, an arcade and best of all, a zombie-themed escape room.
Although Club Loser is determined to make the most of the money that Col’s mum and Mr C have given to them, Angelo has a nagging feeling that something’s wrong - especially when he sees two silhouettes at the Neon Perch that seem very familiar. But it isn’t until the make their way to the Project Z escape room that they have to face their biggest - and most deadly - challenge yet …
The 5th in Jennifer Killick’s comedy horror series for readers aged 9+ is another entertaining adventure that mixes out-loud laughs with some genuinely frightening moments. The friendship between the Club Loser members works really well and the budding romance between Angelo and Colette quite sweet. My one criticism is that although the horror elements are seriously chilling, the escape room formula is a little too formulaic and predictable.
I picked this up having not read DREAD WOOD - DEADLY DEEP so I was a little surprised to learn that the Latchitts had finally been arrested and locked up. One thing that I think Killick does really well with this series is show how Club Loser have been left fairly paranoid about their encounters with the Latchitts and in particular worry about who among their acquaintances are secretly Team Latchitt. Saying that, I do think that the conspiracy is a bit too pat at times, especially with regard to some of the Latchitt supporters and would like to see this either put more on the back burner or resolved once and for all in future books.
The other criticism I would make about this book is that although I understand why Killick went for the escape room format and she does make the most of it, racking up tension with the countdowns in the various locked rooms and raising the stakes as the games become more and more deadly, at the same time there isn’t really much doubt that Team Loser are going to find a way through. As such, it does reduce some of the jeopardy and that together with its formulaic nature - get into a room, get locked in, discover it could kill you, get out before the clock runs out - begins to get repetitive.
Criticisms aside, the horror works really well in this book. The creatures unleashed by the Latchitts in this book are genuinely chilling and the way Killick uses description ramps up the tension (a scene involving crawling through ceiling ducts is very tense and has some great nasty surprises). At the same time, she knows when to use humour to prevent events going too dark, which is particularly on display in a scene involving a toilet. I am not going to spoil it other than to say that Gus’s reaction is all too believable to something that I have to say is a personal horror of mine and made me laugh at the same time as feeling a lot of empathy for him. (Incidentally, Gus remains my MVP in this book due to his good humour and the way he casually talks about his stoma bag - something that I genuinely think is awesome to see in children’s books of any genre).
There is also a really interesting development in the final quarter of the book that creates the potential for a very interesting situation in the next book. My concerns aside, I do think this is a strong series if you have a budding horror fan and I would definitely be keen to read the next book.
The Verdict:
The 5th in Jennifer Killick’s comedy horror series for readers aged 9+ is another entertaining adventure that mixes out-loud laughs with some genuinely frightening moments. The friendship between the Club Loser members works really well and the budding romance between Angelo and Colette quite sweet. My one criticism is that although the horror elements are seriously chilling, the escape room formula is a little too formulaic and predictable.
DREAD WOOD - FRIGHT BITE was released in the United Kingdom on 18th January 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Club Loser are celebrating Colette’s 13th birthday. Pizza, go-karting, escape room … it’s going to be the best night EVER!
But nothing ever quite goes to plan. The supposedly fake zombies are out for blood. Two sinister figures lurk in the shadows. And, worst of all, there are creatures on the loose. And, worst of all, there are creatures on the loose. Vicious, poisonous creatures straight from your nightmares!
It’s some time after DREAD WOOD - DEADLY DEEP and Club Loser has a lot to celebrate. Firstly, the Latchitt horror is over as the pair have finally been arrested and are currently locked up. Secondly, Colette is celebrating her 13th birthday and she and the other members of Club Loser (Angelo, Gus, Naira and Hallie) are going to the Neon Perch, which is the coolest hangout in town thanks to activities like crazy golf, go-karts, an arcade and best of all, a zombie-themed escape room.
Although Club Loser is determined to make the most of the money that Col’s mum and Mr C have given to them, Angelo has a nagging feeling that something’s wrong - especially when he sees two silhouettes at the Neon Perch that seem very familiar. But it isn’t until the make their way to the Project Z escape room that they have to face their biggest - and most deadly - challenge yet …
The 5th in Jennifer Killick’s comedy horror series for readers aged 9+ is another entertaining adventure that mixes out-loud laughs with some genuinely frightening moments. The friendship between the Club Loser members works really well and the budding romance between Angelo and Colette quite sweet. My one criticism is that although the horror elements are seriously chilling, the escape room formula is a little too formulaic and predictable.
I picked this up having not read DREAD WOOD - DEADLY DEEP so I was a little surprised to learn that the Latchitts had finally been arrested and locked up. One thing that I think Killick does really well with this series is show how Club Loser have been left fairly paranoid about their encounters with the Latchitts and in particular worry about who among their acquaintances are secretly Team Latchitt. Saying that, I do think that the conspiracy is a bit too pat at times, especially with regard to some of the Latchitt supporters and would like to see this either put more on the back burner or resolved once and for all in future books.
The other criticism I would make about this book is that although I understand why Killick went for the escape room format and she does make the most of it, racking up tension with the countdowns in the various locked rooms and raising the stakes as the games become more and more deadly, at the same time there isn’t really much doubt that Team Loser are going to find a way through. As such, it does reduce some of the jeopardy and that together with its formulaic nature - get into a room, get locked in, discover it could kill you, get out before the clock runs out - begins to get repetitive.
Criticisms aside, the horror works really well in this book. The creatures unleashed by the Latchitts in this book are genuinely chilling and the way Killick uses description ramps up the tension (a scene involving crawling through ceiling ducts is very tense and has some great nasty surprises). At the same time, she knows when to use humour to prevent events going too dark, which is particularly on display in a scene involving a toilet. I am not going to spoil it other than to say that Gus’s reaction is all too believable to something that I have to say is a personal horror of mine and made me laugh at the same time as feeling a lot of empathy for him. (Incidentally, Gus remains my MVP in this book due to his good humour and the way he casually talks about his stoma bag - something that I genuinely think is awesome to see in children’s books of any genre).
There is also a really interesting development in the final quarter of the book that creates the potential for a very interesting situation in the next book. My concerns aside, I do think this is a strong series if you have a budding horror fan and I would definitely be keen to read the next book.
The Verdict:
The 5th in Jennifer Killick’s comedy horror series for readers aged 9+ is another entertaining adventure that mixes out-loud laughs with some genuinely frightening moments. The friendship between the Club Loser members works really well and the budding romance between Angelo and Colette quite sweet. My one criticism is that although the horror elements are seriously chilling, the escape room formula is a little too formulaic and predictable.
DREAD WOOD - FRIGHT BITE was released in the United Kingdom on 18th January 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
