Notes

Martin Chatterton.
267 pages.
Summary: Scorpion Falls is a YA chiller in the spirit of Stephen King, set in a spooky and claustrophobic mining town. As suggested by the title, Scorpion Falls, the name of the town is not accidental: this story is constructed with a real sting in the tale…and a jolt at the end of every chapter. While firmly an exciting, page-turning ride, the novel is thematically underpinned and enriched by several key classic texts which provided inspiration: the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, the German legend of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The protagonist, Theo, undergoes a dizzying mental and physical ordeal before, finally, he triumphs over adversity. A darkly comedic, quasi-supernatural thriller which, while always entertaining, contains themes of alienation, racism, identity and mortality.