Publisher - Random House, 2009
Genre: Horror
Age: MG/YA
Pages: 288
Source: Purchase
Stucks Cumberland is ready for summer vacation. It is a time when many of his friends return to their vacation homes. However, their vacation doesn't go the way they plan. Something is in the woods. No one goes beyond Widow's Stone for fear of running into the Pricker Boy.
The Pricker Boy was a young boy tricked into believing his fur trapping father was keeping his mother in a cage in the forest and feeding her raw bits of meat. The boy goes looking for his mother. When he doesn't return, the kids start rumors that the thorns have taken him and now he seeks revenge against those who were so cruel to him. He has taken on the form of a being made from and covered with thorns.
This is the story that Ronnie tells around the campfire every year. All of Stuck's friends say that it is not real but when Stucks claims to have seen the Pricker Boy, they all start wondering how much of it is true. Mysteriously the items they have given to the forest and the Pricker Boy to keep him from getting revenge on them have all mysteriously returned. What does it mean?
I wasn't really sure what to make of this book. I couldn't put it down. I still don't know if the Pricker Boy was someone they made up from legend or if he was real. There were other issues going on and the author purposely left the ending the way he did so the reader could decide. This is what made this such a delicious read. I read this in e-book form and have ordered several hard copies for my shelves at school. My students who are fans of horror will love this book.