October 30, 2006
Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's tales of legendary monsters running amok under the streets of New England, Kiernan's fifth novel (after Low Red Moon
) to feature psychic sensitive Deacon Silvey and his supernaturally scarred family and friends is a hell-raising dark fantasy replete with ghouls, changelings and eerie intimations of a macabre otherworld. The story develops along two converging lines sketched in alternating chapters. In one, Deacon's adolescent daughter, Emmie, finds herself increasingly subject to weird presentiments and uncanny encounters that suggest she's more fey than mortal. In the other, a hard-boiled female demon-killer, Soldier, cuts a swath through Rhode Island's ghoul-infested underground on a vaguely defined mission that eventually brings her and Emmie together as partners. The complex plot springs abundant surprises involving forgotten cradle exchanges, mistaken identities and unexpected betrayals on its juggernaut roll to a memorable finale. Though more talky than Kiernan's usual, the story still manages an effective mix of atmosphere and action and resolves most of the major subplots.
December 15, 2006
The changeling Children of the Cuckoo have been stolen from their homes and raised by ghouls. Contact with humans is forbidden them, and they even hear a terrifying cautionary tale of a girl who tried to flaunt this interdiction. Yellow-eyed eight-year-old Emmy Silvey is about to cross paths with one of the ghouls' children, the woman named Soldier, a killer for the Bailiff, who works mostly with the Hounds of Cain (i.e., the ghouls). In a yellow house in Providence, Emmy and Soldier are doomed to learn the terrible truths about their lives. For Emmy, discovery begins when, on the train to visit her stepmother in New York, a strange woman tattooed with the seal of Solomon warns her to avoid horses. Soldier's enlightenment commences when she nearly dies in an attempted betrayal by her partner and starts getting really nasty jobs and partners who aren't particularly safe to work with. Kiernan's storytelling is stellar, and the misunderstandings and lies of stories within the main story evoke a satisfying tension in the characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)