D.O.A. Recommends

For middle grade and up readers who can take alot of suspense and genuinely scary situations, I recommend Darkside by Tom Becker. This is the first book in the series, and it is one of those rare books that truly grabs you right away and doesn't let go. It is hard to maintain that sort of pacing and suspense but Becker pulls it off. He manages to suggest all sorts of really frightening things without showing them. Your imagination just provides pictures and wow are they scary. The first sections of the book that take place in "Lightside" London are just as scary as the world of "Darkside" London.

The Darkside area was founded in the Victorian era as a place to put all the criminals and freaks and fringe types. Ruled by Jack the Ripper himself, the inhabitants have lived here in a brutal fight for dominance and survival for centuries. Although they live side by side with the Lightside Londoners, they remain separate, and are too terrible to be seen.

Thrown into the gap between the worlds is Jonathan Starling, an independent kid with one parent missing and the other prone to bouts of a mysterious illness. Join him in his wild run between light and dark London, seeking to survive long enough to figure out why he and another boy are being hunted.

Visit the Darkside web site to find out more about Tom Becker and his unique and scary series.