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Mister Creecher by Chris Priestley (view source)
Revision as of 10:44, 2 October 2020
, 10:44, 2 October 2020no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Mister Creecher
|author=Chris Priestley
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Teens
|summary=Superb "interlude" in the story of Frankenstein's monster. Chris Priestley just gets better and better. Highly recommended.|rating=5|buy=Yes|borrow=|paperback=1408811057|hardback=1408811049|ebook=B005HCE9Z8Yes
|pages=400
|publisher=Bloomsbury
|date=October 2011
|isbn=978-1408811047
|video=
|cover=1408811049
|aznuk=1408811049
|aznus=1408811049
}}
'''Longlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2013'''
Ooh, ooh - two Frankenstein-related books one after the other! More of that in the further reading at the end. ''Mr Creecher'' isn't a retelling, a sequel or a prequel; it's an interlude, set midway through the events of Mary Shelley's novel.
I think ''Mr Creecher'' is a true homage to the original: it combines a Gothic chill with a Romantic appreciation of nature, it makes clear that a monstrous appearance does not necessarily a monster make, and it has that crushing sense of abandonment and loneliness that makes the Shelley novel so unforgettable. The relationship between Billy and Creecher also adds real dramatic tension to the story - there is a struggle for power going on, even as they begin to grow closer. Can these two damaged individuals ever risk a real and lasting friendship or have the events of the past left them loners forever?
The book also has a wonderful sense of time and place, from the misery of early industrial London to the wild freedom of the north country so loved by the Romantics. The descriptions are so vivid that you can almost smell them.
I'm a big fan of Chris Priestley. He's bringing truly classy horror to the teen market and he's developing ways to explore it that combine the traditional and the modern. In a YA genre flooded with some distinctly mediocre offerings, he's a breath of fresh air - or perhaps that should be a rancid stench of ectoplasmic miasma. Or something.
Highly recommended.
''Mr Creecher'' isn't the only fandabbydozy book riffing on Frankenstein out this autumn. You shouldn't miss [[This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel]], a prequel to the classic Shelley novel, which is absolutely marvellous. Older readers might appreciate [[The Games by Ted Kosmatka]].
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[[Category:Horror]]