There Will Be Lies Frozen Charlotte

Rescuing the inner child

Release Date: OUT NOW!

454 pages | Hardback/ ebook Author: Nick Lake Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s

After being run over

by a car and taken on the run by her over- protective mother, homeschooled teenager Shelby Cooper comes to realise just how much of her life is built on lies…

This YA story could be a straight- up coming- of- age tale, were it not for the presence of Coyote, the Native American trickster god. Shelby repeatedly enters “The Dreaming”, where Coyote tells her she has to rescue “the child” from “The Crone”. The parallels between Shelby’s life, in which she’s forced to come to terms with a family she never knew she had, and her quest to save a stolen child in the Dreaming are clear ( and possibly all too obvious). While the tale is well- constructed there’s a lack of emotional depth that makes it all feel ultimately unsatisfying. Miriam McDonald

An army of Annabelles

Release Date: OUT NOW!

354 pages | Paperback/ ebook Author: Alex Bell Publisher: Stripes Publishing

With sales of Ouija

boards on the up and panicking priests warning off potential dabblers, this YA horror – the first in new range Red Eye – is well timed.

When Sophie and Jay play with a Ouija app they accidentally unleash something nasty. Traumatised, Sophie goes to stay with her uncle in the country. It’s not a great move: he lives in a creepy old house with his weird kids and a collection of sinister dolls…

Annoyingly, the most intriguing idea here – the app – is left largely unexplored in favour of a grab- bag of horror tropes, some of which are more successful than others. Still, there are some satisfying ghost story scares and the dolls’ dialogue is fun. Horror fans will find it tame, but it makes for a solid entry- level shocker. Will Salmon