Harvest Cove is too small even to be a dot on the map, tucked away as it is in Canada’s Big Empty, “so big it could swallow you without a trace.” But it’s not only the vast land that threatens to swallow Danny Quinn; there’s a demon out there, what the Cree call Oskankaskatin, or “bone chiller,” a soul-stealer that has haunted this Ontario town for centuries. Now it’s after Danny, and he enlists three high-school friends to fight it. A fearsome monster, creepy nightmares, wild snowmobile chases, painful family memories and a romance with a beautiful female boxer make this a wild time for a young boy in a sleepy little town. The first-person, present-tense narration is taut, fast-paced and stylish, expertly weaving in deft characterizations and a strong sense of place—bitter cold emptiness compared to the Toronto heat of McNamee’s previous thriller, Acceleration (2003). Read this intense horror story in big gulps, and don’t forget to breathe. (Horror. 12 & up)
