THE FRIGHTENERS by Pete Johnson
Corgi Yearling (Transworld) UK - 2001
ISBN: 0440864372 - Paperback
Juvenile, Ages8-11 / Horror / British

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
Buy a UK Copy

Chloe is used to living in London so life in a small village is new to her - and when she starts school she soon finds that she is the odd one out. But then so is the mysterious Aidan whom everybody else seems frightened of and even placates with bars of chocolate to keep on his good side! For he is the master of the Frighteners, and Chloe is about to learn all about them the hard way…

This is award-winning author Pete Johnson's latest spooky novel, out just in time for Halloween. As with The Creeper (also reviewed here) there is plenty of imagination employed here of a spooky kind - all the more so as it deals with the same power that a witch doctor has, and maybe Aidan's power is partly based on psychology, which makes it seem more real and therefore scarier. There are plenty if issues being dealt with here too - bullying, being different, problems with parents being different to the norm, and the power of belief. When the last page was read I felt I would have liked to have found out what happened next, as surely the hostility to outsiders won't just go away but maybe that is part of the book's spell; its power to stay in the mind afterwards and get young imaginations working. One again I can see why Pete Johnson wins awards for his work.