Monster
The perfect boarding school thriller to keep you up all night
by C.J. Skuse
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Pub Date 24 Sep 2015 | Archive Date 30 Sep 2015
Description
Every girl at Bathory School has heard stories about The Beast. No one believed they were true.
Until Now.
'Grisly, nail-biting fun!' – Lovereading4kids.co.uk
At sixteen Nash thought that the fight to become Head Girl of prestigious boarding school Bathory would be the biggest battle she’d face. Until her brother’s disappearance leads to Nash being trapped at the school over Christmas with Bathory’s assorted misfits.
As a blizzard rages outside, strange things are afoot in the school’s hallways, and legends of the mysterious Beast of Bathory – a big cat rumoured to room the moors outside the school – run wild.
Yet when the girls’ Matron goes missing it’s clear that something altogether darker is to blame – and that they’ll have to stick together if they hope to survive.
A Note From the Publisher
‘It’s so good, I’d recommend it to people I don’t like’ – Kevin Brooks on Pretty Bad Things
‘A rip roaring story’ – Julia Eccleshare, The Guardian on Rockoholic
‘sharp, funny and knowing…’ – The Telegraph on Rockoholic
‘The tension and the comedy crack along with a heart-warming hilarity that is impossible to resist.’ - Amanda Craig, The Times on Dead Romantic.
Advance Praise
'CJ does it again, with a boarding school story packed with tension...Nobody captures the darkness of teenage nightmares quite like CJ Skuse.' - Sophia Bennett, author of The Look
'CJ does it again, with a boarding school story packed with tension...Nobody captures the darkness of teenage nightmares quite like CJ Skuse.' - Sophia Bennett, author of The Look
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9781474030984 |
| PRICE | £2.99 (GBP) |
Featured Reviews
Librarian 11534
I love C J Skuse! Totally different writing style that resonates well with teenagers today.
Liz W, Reviewer
Monster was a highly entertaining if slightly odd read in a lot of ways - the author I would think read a lot of boarding school stories (as did I) growing up and perhaps decided it was time to add some additional blood and guts and terror to the process...and it worked as well. Who would have thought it?
Monster is a genuinely engaging hybrid of jolly hocky sticks and ginger beer type shenanigans a la Enid Blyton and stalker/monster horror movie a la John Carpenter - a really quite heady mix as well it fairly rocks along. If Enid Blyton had decided to write a scary tale I imagine it might have looked something like "Monster" - that's a thought that will linger.
Anyway, so we are with Tash, who's brother is missing and on top of that has to stay behind at school over the Christmas holidays along with a rag tag bunch of other pupils and one adult. Meanwhile the area is being stalked by a strange beast that nobody can quite describe and she is all starry eyed over the boy from the local shop. Well kind of. She likes him anyway...
Then the snow starts, strange things occur and there they all are. Stuck. I mean what could possibly go wrong?
I love how the author has incorporated all the horror movie tropes in a very ironically clever way - yes really you DON'T need to be wandering the grounds late at night looking for Matron when it's perfectly obvious that this will only lead to disaster - and I do like that Tash actually has a modicum of sense. This allows for some truly edge of the seat moments rather than the reader shaking their head going "Really? You would REALLY do that?" and being taken out of the moment. Luckily the extended cast have quite enough stupidity between them that you don't miss it and the group ensemble works really well within the narrative as they all struggle to survive whilst bitching at each other.
There is a nice little analogy in the title too. There is the possibility of an actual monster of course, but C J Skuse plays with that idea mixing it up with the idea of the Monster inside - the one you don't recognise as such until it's too late. The resolution not being immediately obvious makes this all the more fun to read.
Overall I really enjoyed this - clever and a whole lot of fun. Recommended.
Happy Reading Folks!
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