The Waking Dark

Starred review from July 29, 2013
Wasserman (The Book of Blood and Shadow) delivers an exceptional horror novel that will lead to inevitable (and deserved) Stephen King comparisons. In the isolated Kansas town of Oleander, five people suddenly go on murder sprees, with four of them committing suicide. A year later, five survivors are united when a storm (and later, soldiers) isolate the town: loner Daniel, closeted jock West, newly evangelical Ellie, outcast Jule, and Cassie—the one remaining murderer, who has no recollection of what she did or why. As the days pass, the five grow increasingly aware that everyone else in Oleander is starting to act strange. The characters’ own conflicts—Jule’s family deals meth, West’s parents are homophobic, etc.—help fuel the tension until the insanity really takes over. While the plot isn’t new (see either version of The Crazies), Wasserman juggles a huge cast, intense action, and some truly horrific moments with style and skill. The novel works just as well as mainstream horror as YA, and the ending is both effective and brutal. Ages 14–up. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary.

July 15, 2013
All the kids want out of Oleander, Kan.; few will make it alive. The small, isolated town has horrors in its past. The citizens begin a slow return to the surface on "the day of the killing," when five people with little in common go on a killing spree, and then four of them kill themselves. Teenager Cass, the only surviving murderer, is quickly institutionalized. Just as the town creeps back toward normalcy, an EF5 tornado whips through and destroys a quarter of the buildings and a nearby secret research facility. The U.S. government places the town under quarantine, with complete autonomy within it, and the citizens all begin to act out their worst impulses. As the adults slip into insanity and grab for power (when not killing each other), a small band of teens--gay footballer West, daughter of meth dealers Jule and struggling street-preacher's kid Daniel--fights to survive. When Cass returns to reveal the truth of their situation, they fight to escape. Wasserman's horror/science-fiction blend is ultraviolent in places, ludicrous in others and snooze-inducing in still others. It's a mess of an attempt at Stephen King-style small-town horror, undermined by an unrealistic and basically uninteresting portrayal of the classic breakdown of civilization amid a too-large cast. Skippable in the extreme. (Horror. 17 & up)

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Starred review from July 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-This contemporary thriller opens on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon in a small town in Kansas, when five people with no connection to one another inexplicably commit murders and then kill, or attempt to kill, themselves. This becomes known as "the killing day," and no one has an explanation for it. The dark story is told from the perspectives of five teenagers, each of whom suffers in a different way due to the crimes, but it's nearly a year before their linked lives truly converge. After a devastating tornado, the entire town is quarantined and the adults are descending into violent madness. The five teens seem to be the only ones who realize something terrible is happening; they struggle both to stay alive and unravel what's really going on and who is responsible. While the number of protagonists can be confusing at times, their alternating stories are all compelling. Great dialogue and intriguing subplots add to the action-packed story, which will have readers frantically flipping pages. Wasserman sustains a truly spooky mood throughout, and the suspense doesn't let up until the final pages.-Sunnie Lovelace, Wallingford Public Library, CT

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2013
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* It's Lord of the Flies on steroids! One strange day 12 people are murdered, all by relatives, friends, or neighborsthe most unlikely of suspects. No one, including 18-year-old Cass, who murdered the toddler she was babysitting, knows why. Soon after, a terrible tornado ravages the town and removes all semblances of law and order. Anarchy rules; far too many adults and role models revert to their basest instincts. An unlikely band of teens reluctantly joins forces to plot escape: Jule, part of the meth-dealing Prevette clan; West, golden boy (but gay) football jock; sweet, unassuming Daniel; Ellie King, self-prescribed evangelist dubbed saint by the deacon during the strange times; Cass; and Gracie, the sister of the murdered toddler. This is a horror story worthy of Stephen King. Wasserman's tightly woven plot arouses our darkest fearsa government (or private industry) experimenting on its citizens, contemporary witch hunts that remind us of our Puritan heritage, and natural disasters that destroy basic infrastructure including communication systems. Her characters are antiheroes, seeking to hold themselves in check and fearing that they, or anyone around them, can suddenly become the monster they are trying to escape. It's a violent, edgy, well-written, and foreboding novel, so realistic that readers can only hope it's simply fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
Oleander, Kansas, is devastated first by a day of murder-suicides, then by a tornado; things only get worse as the townspeople become inexplicably violent. Five teens touched by "the killing day" unwillingly come together to protect each other. Suspenseful action viewed from multiple perspectives keeps the tension high in this (somewhat implausible) Stephen Kingesque story of darkness lurking within a small town.

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