Planet management Book

Maddy is home alone when she gets a few weird phone calls. For some reason she begins thinking of a Narragansett legend her grandmother had once told her about the Whisperer in the Dark, a monster that comes after you with its razor sharp claws. When her friend Roger comes over, they find that Maddy's dog has been attacked by the monster. The dog is okay, but they hear that other animals in the area have been attacked and killed. Suddenly the monster seems more and more real, and Maddy is certain it's after her.

There were a number of elements of this story that were really interesting. I loved the taxi driver, Mr. Patel, and I also loved the descriptions of Maddy's creepy old house. Maddy enjoys horror stories and talks about Anne Rice and Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, the latter two being local to Rhode Island. The local aspect of the story was also intriguing. I don't know how much of this Native American legend of the Whisperer in the Dark was true (or if it was totally made up) but it gave the story some interesting depth. Sometimes I felt the action moved a little too quickly and that a lot of background information was given unnecessarily (the information about Maddy's parents and her hand being crippled, for instance). This would be a good novel for a reluctant reader.