Dread Detention

By: Jennifer Killick

Narrated by: Jamie K. Brown

The Breakfast Club meets Stranger Things in this middle grade horror novel that the New York Times calls "wickedly funny" for fans of Goosebumps! Detention turns even scarier when a group of classmates discover dangers lurking in their school.

When classmates Hallie, Angelo, Gustav and Naira are forced to come to school on a Saturday, they think things can’t get much worse. But they’re wrong. Things are about to get seriously scary.

What has dragged their teacher underground? Why do the creepy caretakers keep humming the tune to Itsy Bitsy Spider? And what horrors lurk in the shadows, getting stronger and meaner every minute . . .? Cut off from help and in danger each time they touch the ground, the gang’s only hope is to work together. But it’s no coincidence that they're all there on detention. Someone has been watching and plotting and is out for revenge . . .

Critic reviews

"Wickedly funny." —The New York Times

"A creepy tale that boasts both thrills and authentically complex characters." —Kirkus Reviews

"Between nail-biting chase scenes and elegantly wrought character development, hardly a moment is wasted in this arachnophobia-inducing thriller, making for an icky-fun adventure full of scares and gallows humor." —Publishers Weekly

It’s just good

ITS SUCH A GOOD BOOK AND HE DOES GOOD VOICES AND STUFF ITS SO SUSPENSEFUL THE WAY HE READS

Heart-pounding fun and feels

Told with a voice — both the literal and the literary kind — that captures the essence of emerging adolescence. Punchy humor and breathless scary scenes lighten the weightier, growing-up parts of the story. Well written, well told.

If you’ve got kids 9-13 who like a good fright, and you’re a grown-up who likes to give them stories of redemption without the religion, I encourage you to check this one out.