THE STONES OF MUNCASTER CATHEDRAL

A Cheshire steeplejack has a harrowing confrontation with diabolic forces entrenched in a tower. Joe Clarke's pride in being chosen for routine cathedral repairs turns to dismay as the evil he senses emanating from a gargoyle when he first mounts the tower escalates to real harm. His young son, lured toward the cathedral in a midnight trance, is interrupted in his journey and ends up in hospital; another child is not so lucky—and finding his body high on the roof so startles Joe's partner that both nearly plunge to their deaths. Joe, whose trade is a family tradition dating back generations, is an expertly realized character—steady, opinionated, with an authoritative knowledge of his craft and its history; a family man with an unreconstructed view of women, plus some sturdy prejudices toward the clergy that he reassesses after the Reverend Morris (a rather obnoxious ``Christian'' proselytizer) proves unexpectedly helpful in confronting the wicked power. A taut thriller, with a horrifically dramatic denouement as the ancient evil is explained and undone. (Fiction. 11+)