Creature of the Night [Paperback]

Kate Thompson (Author)

Book Description

I could hear Dennis talking to my ma. 'She was little,' he said. 'Little like me. But old. Older than you. Those words gave me a cold shock. I could see Dennis imagining fairies, but old ones? When Bobby's mother moves the family into a rented house in the country, a neighbour tells him that a child was once murdered there. Bobby doesn't care. All he wants is to get back to Dublin and to resume his wild life there, stealing from the crowded shopping streets and racing stolen cars at night. But getting his old life back doesn't turn out to be so easy, and the longer he spends in the old cottage, the more convinced he becomes that something very strange is going on there. Was there really a murder? And if so, was it the one he has been told about?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 8 Up—Rebellious and resentful Bobby, 14, is ripped from his world of drugs and theft in Dublin and forced to move to a seemingly sleepy farm community. After stealing and demolishing a car that belonged to a man who inexplicably disappeared, he is required by the simple, very human Dooley family, from whom his mother is renting a house, to make amends in the form of farm labor. At home, his mother is too worn out and irresponsible to care about her son's indiscretions unless they impact her directly. And they both ignore four-year-old Dennis when he talks about his new nighttime friend, "a little woman." Bobby makes grand plans to escape the farm and the Dooleys' imposed servitude for the wild nights of Dublin. But when his city friends sell him out and he is left wandering the streets alone, the honesty and integrity of sore muscles and a hard day's work become more appealing. Bobby is a powerful character, hard and devoid of feeling, initially, due to the harshness of his own reality. His transformation is empowering, however, and the Dooleys demonstrate how the smallest pat on the back can change the course of an entire life. This novel will draw in reluctant readers with the mysterious supernatural element as well as the mayhem and defiance. Once hooked, they will be moved by the way that Bobby reassesses his expectations for himself due to the kindness and mentoring of a neighbor.—Kat Redniss, Brownell Library, Essex Junction, VT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Though not as overtly as she did in The New Policeman (2007) and its sequel, The Last of the High Kings (2008), Thompson again pits contemporary Irish rural life against an undercurrent of faerie mystery. Hoping to pry 14-year-old Bobby away from his Dublin life of reckless violence, drug abuse, and grand theft, Bobby’s welfare-dependent mother transplants the family to a creaky old house in the countryside. Balancing the grittiness of Bobby’s angst and relentless fights with his mother are the whispered stories of the house’s previous occupants, a couple who murdered their child, believing her to be a faerie changeling. Thompson weaves this lightly into the plot, and it’s easy to get so caught up in the reckless joyride of Bobby’s juvenile delinquency and subsequent rural makeover (a believable process of baby steps and serious lapses) that the creepy undercurrent fades away. But never entirely, as an unseen visitor who comes in the middle of the night continues to worry at the edges of Bobby’s consciousness. The story ends on a somewhat abrupt note that might disappoint some, but for thoughtful readers it will rearrange what the entire story’s proceedings have really been about. A unique blend of subtlety and brashness, this is an honest coming-of-age novel in the guise of a gripping YA thriller. Grades 9-12. --Ian Chipman --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd (June 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0370329309
• ISBN-13: 978-0370329307
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,745,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great story about a troubled teen, May 12, 2009

By 

M. Knapp "Maggie Knapp" (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creature of the Night (Hardcover)

It is hard to categorize this book. Bobby is a delinquent, thieving, foul-mouthed, rebellious Irish teen who is moved by his troubled mother to a house in the countryside. She is hoping that Bobby, removed from the bad influences of Dublin, will be able to start over. Or at least that she, Bobby and his younger brother can hide from the creditors. Oh, one small thing: the house may or may not be haunted. The previous tenant disappeared. Fascinating and richly drawn neighbors balance the mom's lousy parenting. All of the characters are many-sided and realistic. There are no pat answers to any of the questions, but the story will suck you in and keep you reading far into the night.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare, sensitive, March 5, 2011

By 

M. S. du Toit "Masha" (South Africa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creature of the Night (Definitions) (Kindle Edition)

This book swept me away.

The "hero" is a young boy that most of us would avoid knowing, and would judge out of hand as a burden on society, a juvenile criminal, callous and violent. And yet Kate Thompson succeeds in portraying him sensitively and sympathetically without excusing his behaviour.

The characters are convincing and fascinating, and I finished the book feeling as though I had really spent the time inside somebody else's head, and learnt something new about how the world works.