LARK

Brothers with a history of rescuing animals need rescuing themselves.

McGowan pulls his quartet of linked episodes together with a final, brilliant twist in this stand-alone series capper that follows Rook (2024). An easy day hike over a deserted Yorkshire moor in search of larks with Tina, their Jack Russell terrier, turns into a life-or-death struggle for Nicky and his developmentally disabled big brother, Kenny, after a sudden snowstorm drives them off the marked path, and Nicky breaks his leg in a fall. As river waters rise and night and the temperature begin to fall, Nicky forces his reluctant brother to set out for help. As in the previous outings, the close, loving bond between the brothers—one fiercely protective, the other kind and loyal to the core—shines out from Nicky’s simply phrased narrative. The boys demonstrate tender attentions to one another and have hilarious exchanges (such as about the consequences of peeing in freezing temperatures), and Nicky shares distracting yarns about a legendary shape-shifting monster of the moors and the time their dad tried to roast a whole, undressed pheasant. The story follows the boys’ agonizing efforts to move to a safer elevation, the onset of hypothermia, and the arrival of rescue workers, and it concludes with a bittersweet epilogue set 40 years later. Teens will be drawn in by the authentic, atmospheric storytelling in this series, designed to be accessible to reluctant and struggling readers. Main characters are cued white.

A strong, funny, wrenching series finish.