Book Review: The Prince of Mist

By Sandy Amazeen Dec 27, 2010, 17:25 GMT

A mysterious house harbors an unimaginable secret...It\'s wartime, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village. But from the minute they cross the threshold of their new home, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners\' son, who died by drowning.With the help of their new friend Roland, Max ...more

Thirteen-year-old Max Carver and his siblings are less then enthusiastic about their father’s decision to uproot the family from the city and relocate to a quiet seaside community. It is 1943 and even the illusion of escaping the worst affects of war is worth the insecurity of moving and starting over. However, who could have foreseen the evil biding its time in the middle of an abandoned garden just behind their strange new home. Max and his older sister Alicia quickly makes friends with Roland, a local boy who lives with his grandfather in a lighthouse. As the three friends share diving adventures on a creepy submerged wreck, Max begins seeing the same star figure and a frightening clown who makes clocks run backwards and the skin crawl. Before long, the three friends realize they are running out of time to prevent a sinister presence from coming back to into the world and somehow, Roland and his grandfather hold the key.

Written for young adults, this creepy ghost story just begs to be retold around the campfire or read in a tent with a flashlight and will appeal to readers of all ages. Zafon affectively taps into the fear of clowns, being trapped underwater, graveyards and statues that are more then they seem to create a gripping tale with a heart-wrenching conclusion as the lives of three young people are changed forever in a few short weeks.