Twelve-year-old Amanda Benson and her brother Josh move into a massive, inherited Victorian mansion in Dark Falls. The town feels permanent and gray, populated by neighbors who act with stiff, unsettling formality. As the children explore their new home, they encounter shifting shadows and cold spots, eventually discovering that the local residents are undead ghouls who require the blood of living newcomers to maintain their existence. The siblings must find a way to escape before the townspeople trap them in the house permanently during the community’s annual dead festival.
Middle-grade readers choose this story for its fast-paced suspense and the specific dread of being ignored by adults when facing danger. It appeals to children who enjoy supernatural mysteries where children use their own ingenuity to survive. Readers finish the book with a traditional horror experience centered on the fragility of suburban safety. The story provides a template for the urban legend format, focusing on atmosphere and the sudden realization that a familiar environment is inherently hostile.
- Published
- 1992
- Language
- EN
