THE GRIMMER

A high school student joins forces with an unconventional duo to battle against evil.

After spending two years at a Vancouver Island boarding school, 15-year-old Indian Canadian Vish Maurya is back in mainland British Columbia living with his parents—much to his annoyance. It’s 1996, and his psychiatrist father is recovering from an addiction to prescription pills. Vish resents his parents for sending him away to school while his father entered rehab and got clean. Although his insulated, overwhelmingly white boarding school wasn’t a paradise, Vish isn’t looking forward to an entire summer pretending his peers don’t know about his father’s struggles. When heavy metal fan Vish visits the local bookstore, he’s expecting to catch up on his favorite ghost stories, not become the target of a ghastly parasitic creature from German folklore who harvests souls. Vish soon realizes that magic is real and learns that more than 12,000 ravenous souls may be unleashed on his sleepy town of Kelowna. Together with bookstore owner Agastya and young bookstore employee Gisela, he’s drawn into a battle for survival. This briskly paced horror novel offers cinematic imagery and suspenseful intrigue. The narrative grounds the rules of magic in the laws of science, and details about identity and marginalization are thoughtfully incorporated while providing deeper insight into Vish’s worldview.

A satisfying supernatural tale centering a reluctant hero who discovers the universe’s time-bending secrets.