THE SOCIETY OF DREAD

Theo Wickland may have foiled the evildoers operating as the Society of Good Works (The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance, 2009), but a new evil is lurking deep in the tunnels: Dr. Pyre, who extinguished the original Candle Man years ago, has returned to re-ignite his reign of fear. When Chloe is kidnapped by the gelatinous crelp, Theo bands together with his former enemies to form the Society of Dread and extinguish Dr. Pyre before he can complete his evil scheme. Theo’s guileless and appealing naïveté is as strong as ever, and the freedom from cynicism makes a refreshing read. His adversaries have acquired a much-needed edge from a plot standpoint; the crelp are especially creepy, with their polite requests for disembowelment and odd sentence structure, while Dr. Pyre’s commitment to world destruction is cold-blooded and passionate. The time period remains partly indefinite, creating a slight discomfort that pokes at the narrative flow slightly. Despite that small flaw, the pounding action and dramatic revelations keep the pages turning, and the Candle Man’s appeal burns as brightly as before. (Fantasy. 10-14)