2008, HarperTeen


Meet Mason Avrett, a freshman in high school and a little slow. In fact, he's really too developmentally disabled to be at a regular school, and as a result Mason has become something of a whipping boy for the older kids. Relentlessly tormented by a pack of bullies, including his own older brother, Gene Avrett, Mason takes it all in stride as a simple fact of life, even when Gene cruelly beats him at home just to blow off steam. Mason's only friend, Rene Denton, grew up with him, and though Rene has blossomed into a smart and beautiful young woman, Mason's emotional and intellectual development has stagnated at a level only half his age, leaving Rene in a tug-of-war between the world of her past, where she still feels a loyalty toward Mason, and the world of her present, where her friends find Mason creepy and can't believe she even talks to him.

Welcome back to your high school years, dear readers, albeit with a horrific twist. You see, Mason might be a slow and gentle giant, but you don't want to tick him off. Because Mason can put pictures in your head. Bad pictures. The kind that can drive you to the loony bin, or worse, can make you hurt yourself.

Thomas Pendleton -- a pseudonym of Lee Thomas (or is it the other way around?!), the Bram Stoker Award-winning author who has been quietly writing horror for teens in the Wicked Dead series with co-author Stefan Petrucha; Mason is his first solo YA novel -- does a fine job of portraying modern teenage life in the small Louisiana parish of Marchand (fun trivia fact: Marchand is also the setting of Thomas' Stoker-winning first novel Stained). For someone like this reviewer, who feels he has overdosed on the sassy teen archetype after being exposed to it so often in movies, television shows and other YA novels, Pendleton's depiction of modern teens comes as a relief. There's still some sass to be found, but characters like Rene, her bad-boy-chasing friend Lara, and the sadistic, drug-dealing Hunter Wallace, ring more true to life than aspirational. Nor does he shy away from sexuality, drinking and drug use -- though, this being a book primarily marketed toward teens, it's all implied rather than made graphic.

Things get off to a bit of a slow start as Pendleton establishes the characters and sets up the conflicts, but after Gene, Hunter and their gang put a major hurt on Rene, landing her in the hospital in a coma, things pick up quickly. When Mason goes after them using his terrifying "mind pictures," the novel rockets into overdrive and doesn't stop until the crushing climax. (Mason's final act of vengeance against his brother Gene is both fitting and brilliant.)

Pendleton's writing style is by necessity more simplistic here than in his fiction for adults, but that's no detriment to the novel. In fact, it turns Mason into a quick, engrossing read that this reviewer hopes will find a large audience. An excellent, original horror novel that's highly recommended not just for teenagers but for adult readers as well.