Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 08/01/2018 *Starred Review* Things were already pretty spooky for Ollie after she rescued an antique book from a weeping, maniacal woman, but when the bus taking her and her classmates home from a school trip to a farm stalls in a dense bank of fog next to a field peppered with creepy scarecrows, it’s clear something otherworldly is going on. Heeding the advice appearing in her late mother’s digital watch—“RUN”—Ollie and a couple of classmates, Jamaican-born Brian and sensitive Coco, escape to the woods, trying to avoid the terrifying, animated scarecrows and find their way back to the farm, which has an eerie connection to the book, a story about a smiling man who makes deadly bargains. In spare, pithy, and evocative language, Arden skillfully cultivates a vivid sense of atmosphere, from Ollie’s cozy, welcoming house to the creeping dread of the kids' journey through the ominous, clattering forest. There are genuinely creepy elements here—scarecrows in relentless pursuit, ghostly beings lurking in abandoned houses, and a truly surprising villain at the center of it all—but Arden doesn’t skimp on character development either. Prickly Ollie, who’s dealing with the grief of losing her mother, softens toward Brian and Coco, who are each gradually rounded out as well. With a tantalizing pace and palpable suspense, all nicely grounded in realistic emotions, this well-wrought spine-tingler is destined to be a hit (just makes sure the lights stay on). - Copyright 2018 Booklist.