Charles's Reviews > Children of the Mark

This is a teen adventure/terror story that avoids the slashed/dead teen track. When the story opens AJ is fifteen and his goals do not extend far beyond getting through his days at school without being harassed and bullied. He has been very close to his two friends Clair (female) and Dougie since grade school and this time they are snooping in a warehouse.
They inadvertently observe a cult attempting to conjure up ghastly creatures and somehow AJ is given enhanced eyesight and one eye is now cloudy. His normal vision is unaffected but now he can see much of the supernatural aspects of the cult operations. The three adventurers gain an ally in their struggles against the cult and they somehow must avoid them while simultaneously stopping the cult members from releasing the evil creatures on to humanity.
There is also the subplot of the three friends reaching the point where more adult feelings are starting to erupt between the male and female members. There are various levels of bravery exhibited, including an act of defending female honor.
There is a climactic scene at the end that does not elicit the tension that the author intended. Furthermore, it ends on a note indicating that there is potentially more to follow. I found the story good, but not great. I easily stopped reading one evening right in the middle of the dramatic confrontation and felt no great desire to continue early the following morning. You want to finish it, but there is no tight grasp of your imagination.

This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review appears on Amazon.