Shadow Grave

Marina Cohen's Shadow Grave is a creepy, twisty mystery for 10 year olds about a boy who's scared of almost everything, and who ends up somewhere very wrong.

What happens

Arlo is twelve and anxious. His mum was very ill last year, and even though she's better now, he can't stop worrying about her. She's taking him and his little sister Lola to the East Coast for Thanksgiving, and she refuses to use the main roads.

On a lonely road in New Hampshire, something huge jumps out of the woods. The car hits it, then a tree. When Arlo comes round it's the dead of night, there's no phone signal, and his mum's ankle is badly broken.

So they limp towards the only sign, for a town called Livermore. There's a covered bridge, eleven houses and not a single light on. Nobody there owns a car, and there isn't a telephone in the place. The first woman who opens her door tells them they've come to the wrong place.

It's beautifully creepy. Once they reach the town, it's all little things that feel off. Homemade bread that doesn't taste sweet. A doctor with milky eyes and a bottle of ether in his bag. A little girl who's very pleased to have 'new blood' in town (brr!).

Arlo is a lovely hero because he isn't brave in the usual way. He's scared of fire and zombie shows, and he still does every first-aid step he can remember, because his mum needs him to. Lola is the opposite, almost nine and scared of nothing, and their bickering is really funny.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

The crash is quite vivid, and when Arlo sees the bone showing in his mum's ankle, he's sick. Memories of her treatment (the wig, the drip, the nurse) are threaded all through, which could hit hard for a child whose family has been through something similar. Later on, the town's secret puts the family in real danger.

If your reader likes to be properly spooked, and isn't a worrier about illness, this is a great pick for this shelf.

What to read next

For another crash with something unexplained in the woods, try The Stone Child. Eddie's family is moving house when their car hits a creature his dad insists was a bear, and the town they arrive in turns out to be where Eddie's favourite horror writer disappeared.