Kirkus Reviews QR Code
DREAD LOCKS by Neal Shusterman

DREAD LOCKS

Dark Fusion: Book 1

by Neal Shusterman

Pub Date: May 1st, 2005
ISBN: 0-525-47554-0
Publisher: Dutton

Goldilocks and the Three Bears doesn’t blend well with the story of Medusa, but suspense keeps this thriller going until the end. Ultra-rich Parker Baer has everything he could ever want, except an escape from ennui. Perhaps new neighbor Tara will provide some excitement. Tara Herpecheveux, whose head is covered with glowing, golden, dreadlock-like curls of hair, wants Parker to introduce her to kids all over school. Oddly, the students who are granted Tara’s attention become lethargic, gray and apathetic. Tara seems to be sucking the life from them, even while she grants new energy and charisma—and curls of hair like her own—to Parker. Parker’s new snakelike coiffure gives him power, but also gives him a terrible vampiric hunger for human life. Though there’s nothing appealing about the thoroughly flat characters, the tension-filled climax puts a fascinating twist on the traditional way to defeat a gorgon. (Fantasy. 11-14)