Draw the dark, by Ilsa J. Bick

by Ilsa J. Blick
Carolrhoda Lab
978-0-7613-5686-8

 

"The things I draw: They tend to die."

There are things the people of Winter, Wisconsin, would rather forget. The year the Nazis came to town, for one. That fire, for another. But what they'd really like to forget is Christian Cage.

Seventeen-year-old Christian's parents disappeared when he was a little boy. Ever since, he's drawn obsessively: his mother's face...her eyes...and what he calls "the sideways place," where he says his parents are trapped. Christian figures if he can just see through his mother's eyes, maybe he can get there somehow and save them.

But Christian also draws other things. Ugly things. Evil things. Dark things. Things like other people's fears and nightmares. Their pasts. Their destiny.


There's one more thing the people of Winter would like to forget: murder.

But Winter won't be able to forget the truth, no matter how hard it tries. Not as long as Christian draws the dark...

If you are looking for a good spooky/creepy/chilling story with more than a bit of mystery, this one should do the trick! The book begins with Christian waking from a bizarre dream and discovering that overnight he has not only apparently painted some strange things on the wall of his room, but over the entire side of a barn across town, which he has never even seen before. The pace and the strangeness do not slow down from here on out.
 
Christian has the ability to literally "draw out" people's deepest fears. After some early incidents ended in disaster, he tries to avoid using this ability, but is finding he no longer has any control of it. Toss in some good character development, historical tidbits we weren't aware of (we stopped in the middle to look up POW camps in America), and enough mysteries and twists to make your head spin, and you have something for everyone!
 
We give it a 5 out of 5.