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Book Review: The Devouring Light by Kat Ellis

Cover art for The Devouring Light by Kat Ellis

The Devouring Light by Kat Ellis

Harper Collins, 2025

ISBN: 9780063355248

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

Another entry in the growing field of horror/thrillers for the YA crowd, The Devouring Light does it right. It’s a good read for the young ‘uns, (this one would be about junior high to early high school level) but it’s also plenty of fun for adults. In other words, for parents that want books they could read and actually have fun TALKING about with their kids, this would be a good choice. It’s what you want– a good plot, quick pacing, and lightweight enough that it can work with the short attention spans of kids today.

 

Despite being an adult herself, author Ellis has a good grasp on how to write younger characters, as the book’s protagonists are ones that kids can easily relate to. Here, they are constantly relying on their phones (until they have little choice), concerned about their social media feeds, worrying about what to post next, etc. The book is about a group of five young wannabe rock stars (well, four, and one who actually is one) riding the tour bus to their next show. The bus gets waylaid and crashes, and the characters find themselves taking shelter in a house in a swamp called the Light, which is one of those urban legends that everyone has heard of, yet of course no one has any first hand experience with. The story is written in the present tense, which seems to be one that again, younger readers prefer (older grouches like me have a tougher time with that format). It does seem to work for the story, though.

 

So… they are stuck in the house, with no contact with the outside world, and weird things happen. Eventually the mystery of the house starts to unfold, complete with nice, straightforward plot devices that don’t need to rely on a gory mess: some creaking sounds, weird footprints appearing, creepy mannequins, and so forth. Nothing really new, but it’s stuff that still works well, so why try to reinvent the wheel? The story’s narrative is nicely intercut throughout, with chapters that consist of police interview transcripts and transcripts of recovered video footage that do a nice job of providing the backstory for the plot. Splitting the narrative into different formats will work well with today’s young readers, the variety keeps it from being uniform. Again, it’s about appealing to your target audience. There’s enough depth to the characters, and enough happening that the younger crowd should easily stay interested in this to the end, and it will work for adults too. The characters do occasionally demonstrate a lack of deductive reasoning that adult readers will consider foolish, but it doesn’t detract from the quality of the story. The ending is a nice wrap up, that ends with a good bang, and it is a rather clever way of stopping the house from devouring all the characters. Chances are, the majority of readers won’t guess it, and that’s what you want in a mystery.

 

Bottom line here: it’s good for all ages, starting with junior high school aged readers, and is certainly a good choice for parents and teachers trying to find some way to keep kids off their phones, even if it’s only a few short hours. Recommended.

 

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on December 28, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: The Kidnapping of Alice Ingold by Cate Holahan

The Kidnapping of Alice Ingold cover art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kidnapping of Alice Ingold by Cate Holahan

Thomas & Mercer, 2025

ISBN: 9781662529764

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

If you want to know how to turn an old plotline into something entirely new that no one has thought of, author Cate Holahan is clearly a good person to ask. Here, it’s the old ‘kidnap a rich couple’s kid for ransom’ shtick. The idea has been tweaked before, with the old Mel Gibson film Ransom coming to mind, where Mel offered the demanded ransom payment as a bounty on the kidnappers instead. Not only has Holahan come up with something much wilder (and written it very well, I might add) she also manages to use this country’s current obsession with artificial intelligence as part of the plot’s backbone. If you like mystery/thrillers, this is a must-get.

 

I’ll try to give the basics without spoiling it. Catherine and Brian Ingold fill in the rich couple role, Brian is kind of like the Elon Musk of AI– very driven, very wealthy… and, perhaps, a bit nutty. Their 19 year old daughter, Alice, is kidnapped. Here’s where it gets fun, and the plot rides off on a brand new track. The kidnappers make no ransom demands, but instead send riddles to solve, leading the family, the cops, and the FBI all over the country. The notes are made available to the public, as the kidnappers demand, and it turns the hunt for Alice into the craziest version of a nationwide scavenger hunt.

 

What makes this so great is that Holahan, with her plotting, is always two steps ahead of the reader, and she excels at going to unexpected places. Example: when the mystery of the kidnapping is solved, you would expect that to be the final climax of the book, right? Not even close– it’s only about the halfway point of the book! The story zips off on a new thread that still relates to the old one, but you’ll never see it coming. The twists and turns continue right to the end, Hitchcock himself would be proud of this one. The difference is, the pacing in this is much faster than the pacing ol’ Hitch used in his films.

 

The way the author uses the whole concept of A.I. in the book deserves mention also. As my fans (all two or three of them) know, I dislike tying in novels to current day events, the tendency of people to do that and try to make every book a statement really irks me. In this case, I’ll make an exception. The whole idea of A.I. and where it is taking us as a society is a big part of the idea behind the book, but, key point: it’s part of the plot. This isn’t a book written just to prove a point. Instead, through the actions and opinions of the characters in the book, the author asks some very good questions about where the whole thing is headed, and whether or not it is worth it. It’s a smart author that can get readers to think about these things, yet avoid preaching their own personal opinion, whatever that may be. Both the pro and con sides of the idea help define the actions of the book characters, and it may cause you to start asking questions yourself.

 

The bottom line is: don’t miss this one, just pony up the dough and get it. You won’t regret it. The only thing I would change is the cover art, it’s a clunker. After reading this, the real mystery to me is: how the hell have I not heard of this author before? I’m not making that mistake again! Highly recommended.

 

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on December 23, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: Nematodes by David Smith

Nematodes by David Smith

Temple Dark Books, 2026

ISBN: 9781068250729

Available: Hardcover

Buy:  Temple Dark Books (pre-order, available in January)

 

 

If you thought Lord of the Flies and its premise of “kids running wild amid societal  breakdown” was a cool concept, but wanted a version that was light on philosophy and heavy on excitement (with plenty of gunfire) then you will love Nematodes. The basic idea is taken and amped up way past the redline, and includes the author’s own original twists to the idea in the narrative.

 

The setting is rural America, in the town of Paradise, a year after nematodes (microscopic worms that are part of our ecosystem) have killed almost all of the adults in America, turning them into flesh-eating, raving lunatics that soon die from the effects. If you saw that old movie  The Crazies, the adults are kinda like that. Only kids, age 15 and under, are left. The author does an excellent job portraying Paradise and its inhabitants.

 

Here, a rough social order has emerged, run by the strong, and force is the only law. The children are shown as you might expect– petty, extremely cruel, lying constantly to save themselves, and willing to turn on each other whenever necessary. Oh, and very foul-mouthed, of course! It’s a nice job showing what is likely to actually happen, as opposed to trying to portray the kids as suddenly maturing and acting like adults. Some readers might nit-pick about the lack of detail concerning how the kids managed to survive for over a year with no electricity and running water, (cooking and toilet problems come to mind) but this isn’t written like Verne’s The Mysterious Island, where every little survival detail is provided. In this case, doing so would have slowed the narrative, and the intent here is clear: provide a high-speed story that doesn’t ever let up.

 

It never does, and that’s why it works. Early on, the story revolves around Ben and his younger siblings, and their clashes with Caleb and his slimy brothers Rikki and Marcus, who run the town. Partway through, a couple of surviving adults are introduced, and the scope of the narrative expands to include some areas outside of Paradise, as well as a BIG twist to the plotline, it shifts from being just “survival of the fittest” to “will humans survive, in the face of what they learn about the nematode infestation?” The reason given might seem a little wacky for some readers, and really changes the narrative, but I thought it showed good creativity by shifting away from where the reader expects the story to go. This also allowed the author to have the kids forge new alliances among themselves, which again, does a nice job of keeping the reader guessing, and elevating interest.

 

Even if the author had made the plot more predictable, this is easily worth reading for the high-octane pacing. Someone is always being hunted for a reason, and that keeps the tension high throughout, wondering if one of the children will survive into the next chapter. There’s enough character development that readers will hurt when some of the characters are killed off, especially considering how heartless some of the murderous kids are. You thought the Children of the Corn were bad news? They are bush-league amateurs compared to Caleb and his gang. Paradise is truly a “take no prisoners” world, and it can be a bit tough to read at times, but it makes for a real page-turner of a story.

 

Bottom line here is: if you want to see an ugly, ultra-violent world where the kids are every parent’s worst nightmare, you don’t want to miss this. Definitely recommended!

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on December 23, 2025 by , Reply
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