Synopses & Reviews
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Child comes a "classically hypnotic horror story" (Time Out New York) about a young boy trapped inside his own world, whose drawings blur the lines between fantasy and reality.
Ever
since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, ten-year-old
Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to leave his home in a small
coastal town in Maine. Instead, Jack Peter begins to draw monsters, and
when those monsters take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the
terror they inspire. His mother, Holly, begins to hear strange sounds
in the night coming from the ocean. When she seeks answers from the
local Catholic priest and his Japanese housekeeper, they fill her head
with stories of shipwrecks and ghosts. His father, Tim, wanders the
beach, frantically searching for a strange apparition running wild in
the dunes. And the boy's only friend, Nick, becomes helplessly entangled
in the eerie power of the drawings. While those around Jack Peter are
haunted by what they think they see, only he knows the truth behind the
terrors that lurk in the outside world.
Keith Donohue's The Boy Who Drew Monsters is a mesmerizing tale of psychological terror and imagination run wild.
Review
“This novel ranks with the best of modern-day supernatural thrillers.” Bookreporter
Review
“Ingenious....Donohue unspools his simple story patiently, delivering
jolts when necessary, but mostly concentrating on the stress generated
in a family with an unhappy child. It's a modest novel, elegantly
worked, with a nice chilly twist at the end.” The New York Times Book Review
Review
“There are no monsters. That's what Jack Peter's parents tell him, and
what I kept telling myself as I got sucked deeper and deeper into this
delectably chilling novel. But still, as I read, I found myself looking
out the window at shadows moving in the darkness, until finally I had to
get up and flip on every light switch in the house. The Boy Who Drew Monsters
left me breathless and reeling, questioning the line between what is
real and what is imagined -- and realizing that the meeting of the two
is where true terror dwells.” Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People
Review
“Clearly, we are in the territory of the wholehearted, up-for-anything
gothic, which even as it undertakes a melancholic exploration of the
lost, forlorn and bereft operates with the volume cranked and the plot
on greased wheels. As a writer, Donohue always seems to know exactly
what he is doing….and in The Boy Who Drew Monsters he twists the
screw on Jack with the finesse of an expert. It is a pleasure to watch
him glide along, pulling one squirming rabbit after another from his
copious hat.” Peter Straub, The Washington Post
Synopsis
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Child comes a "classically hypnotic horror story" (Time Out New York) about a young boy trapped inside his own world, whose drawings blur the lines between fantasy and reality.
Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, ten-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine. Instead, Jack Peter begins to draw monsters, and when those monsters take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the terror they inspire. His mother, Holly, begins to hear strange sounds in the night coming from the ocean. When she seeks answers from the local Catholic priest and his Japanese housekeeper, they fill her head with stories of shipwrecks and ghosts. His father, Tim, wanders the beach, frantically searching for a strange apparition running wild in the dunes. And the boy's only friend, Nick, becomes helplessly entangled in the eerie power of the drawings. While those around Jack Peter are haunted by what they think they see, only he knows the truth behind the terrors that lurk in the outside world.
Keith Donohue's The Boy Who Drew Monsters is a mesmerizing tale of psychological terror and imagination run wild.
About the Author
Keith Donohue is the national bestselling author of the novels The Stolen Child, The Angels of Destruction, and Centuries of June. His work has been translated into two dozen languages, and his articles have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post,
among other publications. A graduate of Duquesne University in
Pittsburgh, Donohue also holds a Ph.D. in English from The Catholic
University of America. He lives in Maryland.