The Devouring Book Review
Author: Simon Holt
Reggie and her best friend Aaron are fascinated by all things horror—movies, books, serial killers, legends—unlike Reggie’s eight-year-old brother who can hardly sleep in his bed alone, especially since their mom abandoned them.
Sorry Night
Reggie discovers an old journal with horrifying entries about creatures called Vours. Inside, she finds this rhyme:
"When dark creeps in and eats the light,
Bury your fears on Sorry Night.
For in the winter’s blackest hours
Comes the feasting of the Vours.
No one can see it, the life they stole,
Your body’s here but not your soul…"
According to the journal, on the Winter Solstice (December 22) the Vours can smell your fear. If you’re alone, they’ll find you, steal your soul and inhabit your body. Of course, it’s just a legend. Or so Reggie thinks.
A Change in Henry
In the days following the Winter Solstice, Reggie’s brother Henry acts strange. He’s not his usual loving, scaredy-cat self. Instead, he’s rude, distant and manipulative. At first Reggie thinks he’s going through a phase. But when she finds Henry’s beloved stuffed Koala ripped to shreds and his pet hamster drowned in the toilet, Reggie must face the truth.
Fearscape
Reggie, Aaron and Reggie’s boss investigate the truth about Vours, determined to prove that they’re just a legend. But when she comes face-to-face with evil itself, she must either accept that Henry’s gone or fight back. Swallowing her fear, Reggie dives into a hellish nightmare called a fearscape—the place where Henry’s soul is trapped. Somehow she must find Henry in a carnival full of rotting children, sharp-tooth babies, evil manikins and a hatchet-armed clown. Even though the creatures are the embodiment of fear, the wounds they inflict on Reggie are very, very real.
The Bottom Line
The Devouring will scare the pants off you! The characters face what seems like every fear imaginable: abandonment, spiders, demons, corpses, the dark, fire, drowning, freezing, clowns, severed heads, maggots, being buried alive, claustrophobia, elevators, being chased, being trapped, surgery, gargoyles and manikins…just to name a few. If you like the chill and thrill of horror books, then definitely check out The Devouring.
The Devouring Book Rating: 
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