Book info

• Title Black's Creek
• Author Sam Millar
• Year 2014
• Genre Mystery

A young boy drowns in a tragic accident in a lake in upstate New York. Fourteen-year-old year old Tommy and his two friends are sure they know who drove him to take his own life: the boy's father is also convinced and pressurises the local Sheriff, Tommy's father, to make an arrest. But there is not enough evidence, and the boys decide to take things into their own hands.

Thoughts

I devoured this book so quickly, it hooked me in right from the start and didn’t let go. I hadn’t expected it to do so, it’s not your normal crime thriller. Instead, a man looks back to his childhood after receiving fresh news about an old crime. A terrible being was stalking the neighbourhood and three friends decided to do something about it.

The twists and turns in this were great, the friends falling out and reintegrating, plans being made and broken. I thought some of the character introductions were a bit jarring, Devlin in particular, but you quickly move on and integrate them into the story, just as the author did.

Overall, a dark and disturbing tale that’ll leave you cold and probably questioning how horrible humans can be to each other, but equally with enough family warmth to make it worth a read.

Rating: 4 / 5