FICTION

The Lunatic's Curse

by F. E. HIGGINS
336p. Feiwel & Friends. 2011. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-312-56682-1; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4299-9543-6. LC number unavailable.
COPY ISBN
Gr 5–8—This title is a "polyquel" to Higgins's other novels. It is a dark tale set in a fictional town reminiscent of Victorian England. At the center of Oppum Oppidulum is a lake, and at the center of the lake is an island where the Asylum for the Peculiar and Bizarre is located. No one has ever escaped. This is where Rex Grammaticus's father is sent after a harrowing incident of violence against his wife. Twelve-year-old Rex sets out to solve the mystery behind his father's incarceration and save himself from an equally horrifying fate. He is convinced that his father is not insane and that his stepmother is to blame for the man's irrational behavior. The Lunatic's Curse has a large cast of twisted characters and a winding plot that will keep readers delightfully immersed in macabre adventure.—Mindy Whipple, West Jordan Library, UT
Rex's father is taken away as a raving lunatic, leaving Rex's conniving stepmother in charge of the family estate while Rex tries to clear his father's name. To uncover the truth, he takes a job at Droprock Asylum and builds a submersible after a design stolen from his father. Horror and the macabre are imaginatively employed in this "polyquel" from dark storyteller Higgins.
Reviewed by Mindy Whipple , Mar 01, 2012

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