This book starts out innocently enough. Connie is writing a letter to her friend Amanda. Connie lives in New England and Amanda lives in Pennsylvania. She is telling her all about her freshman year at Springden Academy. She mentions that there may be some stuff in the letter that Amanda won’t believe.
She keeps having weird nightmares. Her younger brother is having nightmares too. Whenever she sees a classmate in her dream, the classmate ends up falling ill the next day suspiciously. It takes her a while to put two and two together.
Next thing we know there is some sort of strange creature that is preying on her classmates and it seems like the next one on her list is her best friend! Connie seems to be the only one to stop this… thing. Can she do it or will she become it’s next victim?
I thought this was a great young adult novel, using the supernatural that seems to be so popular lately as a part of the story as well. It is well written and easy to read – 30 chapters, almost 200 pages and I had no problem reading it in a day.
I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
Connie thought freshman year might suck. She never thought it’d be literal.
Bad dreams? No big deal. After all, Connie Perez is starting her first year in the prep school her mom runs. Anyone would be a little stressed, right? When she starts dreaming about strange creatures and places that don’t make sense, she doesn’t think much about it: there’s other stuff on her mind. Then she starts noticing that the people she dreams about get sick right afterwards.
Then everything gets weird.
There’s something bad on the campus of Springden Academy. Something that feeds on students and warps their minds. And, as Connie and her friends try to figure out what’s going on, it starts to look like she’s the only one who can stop it. Freshman year was hard enough without having to fight evil after class.
Hickey of the Beast is a hilarious look at coming of age in a school where there are no secrets, but plenty of mysteries, and where supernatural studies take on a whole new meaning. It’s a story about all the things that make growing up hell: boys, history class, annoying little brothers, and saving the world from evil. When the supernatural comes to school, it’s no field day – and that’s before you factor in homework.