The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim - Hardcover

SHANE PEACOCK was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and grew up in Kapuskasing. A biographer, journalist and screenwriter, he is also the author of several novels and plays. He has received many honors for his writing, including the prestigious Arthur Ellis Award for Eye of the Crow and Becoming Holmes and the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Vanishing Girl, all titles in his Boy Sherlock Holmes series. Shane Peacock lives with his wife and three children near Cobourg, Ontario. Visit him at his website: www.shanepeacock.ca and follow him on twitter: @Shane_Author

Gr 7 Up-Nightmares have plagued Edgar Brim from the time he was small. At nine, the Victorian lad is orphaned after his father is seemingly frightened to death after watching a dark play from one of his favorite horror writers. Edgar is sent to boarding school in the Scottish Highlands, where he endures unchecked bullying and continued dreams of being attacked by monsters. When his one true friend, Tiger Tilley, is expelled from the exclusive boys school for masquerading as a boy, Edgar goes to find her in London. Professor Lear follows him, thinking Edgar's night terrors hold the key to solving some vicious local murders, and orchestrates a meeting with the Crypto-Anthropology Society of the Queen's Empire. Convinced that shared nightmares portend more attacks, Lear convinces Edgar, Tiger, and his grandchildren, Lucy and Jonathan, to begin an earnest campaign to find and destroy the evil creature that is on the loose. After channeling monsters and demons from the literature of Edgar Allan Poe and others, the vigilantes are led to Dracula's creator, Bram Stoker, whose London stage plays hold clues to the death of Edgar's father. A meandering plot and numerous red herrings are merely contrivances for introducing readers to elements of Victorian horror literature. The main characters aren't fully developed, and teens will struggle to finish. VERDICT Only avid fans of classic horror will enjoy.-Vicki Reutter, State University of New York at Cortlandα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.