GROOSHAM GRANGE

Twelve-year-old David has exasperated his parents with his underachieving ways for the last time. As a lucky coincidence, they receive a letter inviting David to attend Groosham Grange just as he is expelled from another school. They’re thrilled, especially since Groosham touts its reputation for straightening out malcontents like David. He and two others he meets on the train there are immediately suspicious of it, however. The school’s pupils are eerily, vacantly adoring of the sinister old building and its creepy staff. The mystery deepens one night when David awakens to see them all trooping off into the library, where they vanish. Bursts of dark slapstick humor (such as David’s dad accidentally stabbing his mom in the opening chapter) mix oddly with its light horror plot, and unsubtle foreshadowing stunts the suspense. Fans of Horowitz will form a natural readership for what looks to be the first in a new series, but whether they will find this as satisfying as his more carefully developed works is questionable. (Horror. 9-12)