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Invisible Fiends #2
Raggy Maggie
DARREN SHAN describes this book as "A fast-paced fury of a novel, packed with genuine scares and thrills. It made me shiver more than once and I devoured it at lightning speed. I'll definitely be checking back to see how this creepy, deliciously nightmarish series develops!" He's not wrong! Billy is the hardest kid in school and a horrible bully. So Kyle could almost find it funny that Billy's childhood invisible friend was a little dolly named Raggy Maggie. Almost, but not quite. Because now Raggy Maggie is back, and she wants Kyle to play a game. The game is very simple. Find where she's hidden Billy -- or Billy dies!
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
6 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 6, 2021
Really enjoying this creepy series
December 13, 2010
Raggie Maggie is a fast-paced fury of a novel packed with genuine scares and thrills. It made me shiver more than once and I devoured it at lightning speed. I'll definitely be checking back to see how this creepy deliciously nightmarish series develops!
October 19, 2019
Fun but not as good as the first.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars.
February 25, 2024
Amazing book exciting and spooky
March 26, 2023
Several months before reading this I encountered the works of J.D. Kirk I also discovered that Kirk publishes children’s books as Barry Hutchison, and other adult fiction as Barry J. Hutchison. I have read 21 stories published under the Kirk Name and I am now branching out to the ones under the Hutchinson names. This is the 24th story I have read across the three names he publishes under. This is the thirteenth I have read under Hutchinson. He is coming up on 200 books across the three pen names. If I had known that or I might not have picked up this first one. Friends call me a ‘completionist’ in that when I find an author I like, I try to read everything they have published. I have enjoyed all I have read from his pen and this one was no different.
The description of this novel is:
“DARREN SHAN describes this book as “A fast-paced fury of a novel, packed with genuine scares and thrills. It made me shiver more than once and I devoured it at lightning speed. I'll definitely be checking back to see how this creepy, deliciously nightmarish series develops!" He’s not wrong…
Billy is the hardest kid in school and a horrible bully. So Kyle could almost find it funny that Billy's childhood invisible friend was a little dolly named Raggy Maggie.
Almost, but not quite.
Because now Raggy Maggie is back, and she wants Kyle to play a game. The game is very simple. Find where she's hidden Billy – or Billy dies…”
The story focuses on Kyle, the school bully Billy, and Billy’s childhood imaginary friend. Kyle’s estranged father that has set up these tests makes a couple of appearances. The strange girl who came to his assistance named Ameena, returns to help Kyle again. And of course the title character Raggy Maggie, to find out who she is and why she is so mad you need to read this frightful tale. She has initiated a game of life and death, and Kyle is racing against the clock. But there are more twists to the game than she is aware of. This story is much darker than the first. And Kyle is fighting to save Billy, His mom, and maybe even his whole school.
These stories were originally published between 2010 and 2014. They predate any of his published works as J.D. Kirk. There are 6 stories in this series, and it appears to be a completed story arc. The story reminds me of Neil Gaimen’s Coraline and also of Tony Abbot’s The Haunting of Derek Stone series. It would not be a book I would recommend for all Middle Grade Readers or even some tweens. It really pulls of the horror for younger readers. It is a scary story with some very dark twists. It looks like it should be an excellent series. It was a good read and I look forward to exploring more books for younger readers in this series and others under the name of Barry Hutchinson.
The description of this novel is:
“DARREN SHAN describes this book as “A fast-paced fury of a novel, packed with genuine scares and thrills. It made me shiver more than once and I devoured it at lightning speed. I'll definitely be checking back to see how this creepy, deliciously nightmarish series develops!" He’s not wrong…
Billy is the hardest kid in school and a horrible bully. So Kyle could almost find it funny that Billy's childhood invisible friend was a little dolly named Raggy Maggie.
Almost, but not quite.
Because now Raggy Maggie is back, and she wants Kyle to play a game. The game is very simple. Find where she's hidden Billy – or Billy dies…”
The story focuses on Kyle, the school bully Billy, and Billy’s childhood imaginary friend. Kyle’s estranged father that has set up these tests makes a couple of appearances. The strange girl who came to his assistance named Ameena, returns to help Kyle again. And of course the title character Raggy Maggie, to find out who she is and why she is so mad you need to read this frightful tale. She has initiated a game of life and death, and Kyle is racing against the clock. But there are more twists to the game than she is aware of. This story is much darker than the first. And Kyle is fighting to save Billy, His mom, and maybe even his whole school.
These stories were originally published between 2010 and 2014. They predate any of his published works as J.D. Kirk. There are 6 stories in this series, and it appears to be a completed story arc. The story reminds me of Neil Gaimen’s Coraline and also of Tony Abbot’s The Haunting of Derek Stone series. It would not be a book I would recommend for all Middle Grade Readers or even some tweens. It really pulls of the horror for younger readers. It is a scary story with some very dark twists. It looks like it should be an excellent series. It was a good read and I look forward to exploring more books for younger readers in this series and others under the name of Barry Hutchinson.
November 6, 2021
Only read this book as I was given it in a bag of books. Wouldn't have normally read it.
February 24, 2024
Great book surprisingly spooky loved it a lot one of my top favourite reads
August 12, 2010
In the first book in this series Mr Hutchison terrified us with the eponymous Mr Mumbles, a hulking brute of a character that at the time I likened to the monsters from such classic slasher movies as Halloween and Friday 13th. In his new book the scares come from a very different kind of character. I'm thinking the minds of Hannibal Lecter and every serial killer that James Patterson and Jeffery Deaver have ever written about all packaged into the mind of a little girl in a dirty white dress and poorly applied make-up. For Caddie, the owner of the titular doll Raggy Maggie, is evil personified; the way she tortures and hurts her victims is part of a huge game to her, a game that if they lose they pay the ultimate price - wth their lives. And never have the words 'Peek-a-boo, I see you' sounded so chilling!
I LOVED Mr Mumbles (the book, not the monster I hasten to add) and I wondered just how Barry was going to be able to follow such a fantastic series opener. However, in a conversation with Tommy Donbavand, author of the Scream Street series and good friend of Barry Hutchison, I was reliably informed that Raggy Maggie was both better and more terrifying and so ever since I have been avidly waiting to get my hands on a copy. So much so that when it arrived in the post I dropped everything to read it, although sixty pages in I did put it down...... and then finished it late at night, all alone in the house, in order to get the most from the horrors within it. For your own sanity please do not try this at home!
In my opinion Caddie is one of the greatest ever creations in children's horror literature. She is so totally deranged the reader just does not know what to expect from her next. Whereas with Mr Mumbles we always knew he was going to be very much relying on brute strength and his apparent invincibilty, just as we have seen in the past from the likes of Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees, Caddie, however, is just a child. She is small and frail, as little girls are, so surely she should be a relatively minor test for Kyle, the boy who defeated Mr M in such style? Definitely not - underestimate Caddie and it will probably be the last thing you ever do. First of all, Caddie is super-fast; one moment she is there, the next she is gone. Secondly she has powers; boy does this girl have powers. She can take over the minds of adults to use their greater physical size to aid her, turn every day toys like teddy bears and dolls into mankillers with needle-like teeth, and she can turn innocent playground activities like skipping into a game of death where you could literally lose your head. And just when you think you may have had a lucky break and got the better of her...... enter Raggy Maggie herself!
Barry Hutchison also carries on where he left off by slowly revealing hints and snippets of back story that leave the reader completely tantalized. There are already so many questions that need answering, and he is an expert at giving us just enough information to have us trying to guess what will happen next, and why. Why is Kyle's father so bitter and intent on changing the world, or 'making it better' in his words? What is the story with Ameena, who disappeared out of Kyle's life shortly after the Mr Mumbles episode, but then suddenly reappears just as Kyle needs her help the most? And just how is it that Kyle can 'leap' between his world and the Darkest Corners? I am sure that all of these answers will come eventually, but that Mr Hutchison will not make the wait easy for us in the process.
Raggy Maggie hits the reader on a psychological level in ways that the gore-ridden output of the likes of Darren Shan just cannot manage. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of gore just as much as the next boy, but these chills are oh so much better. I once taught a pupil who had a phobia of clowns - she was terrified of them; I have a feeling that in a few years time I could be teaching whole classes who suffer from pediophobia, the fear of dolls, if this series becomes as popular as Shan's work as it certainly deserves to.
I LOVED Mr Mumbles (the book, not the monster I hasten to add) and I wondered just how Barry was going to be able to follow such a fantastic series opener. However, in a conversation with Tommy Donbavand, author of the Scream Street series and good friend of Barry Hutchison, I was reliably informed that Raggy Maggie was both better and more terrifying and so ever since I have been avidly waiting to get my hands on a copy. So much so that when it arrived in the post I dropped everything to read it, although sixty pages in I did put it down...... and then finished it late at night, all alone in the house, in order to get the most from the horrors within it. For your own sanity please do not try this at home!
In my opinion Caddie is one of the greatest ever creations in children's horror literature. She is so totally deranged the reader just does not know what to expect from her next. Whereas with Mr Mumbles we always knew he was going to be very much relying on brute strength and his apparent invincibilty, just as we have seen in the past from the likes of Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees, Caddie, however, is just a child. She is small and frail, as little girls are, so surely she should be a relatively minor test for Kyle, the boy who defeated Mr M in such style? Definitely not - underestimate Caddie and it will probably be the last thing you ever do. First of all, Caddie is super-fast; one moment she is there, the next she is gone. Secondly she has powers; boy does this girl have powers. She can take over the minds of adults to use their greater physical size to aid her, turn every day toys like teddy bears and dolls into mankillers with needle-like teeth, and she can turn innocent playground activities like skipping into a game of death where you could literally lose your head. And just when you think you may have had a lucky break and got the better of her...... enter Raggy Maggie herself!
Barry Hutchison also carries on where he left off by slowly revealing hints and snippets of back story that leave the reader completely tantalized. There are already so many questions that need answering, and he is an expert at giving us just enough information to have us trying to guess what will happen next, and why. Why is Kyle's father so bitter and intent on changing the world, or 'making it better' in his words? What is the story with Ameena, who disappeared out of Kyle's life shortly after the Mr Mumbles episode, but then suddenly reappears just as Kyle needs her help the most? And just how is it that Kyle can 'leap' between his world and the Darkest Corners? I am sure that all of these answers will come eventually, but that Mr Hutchison will not make the wait easy for us in the process.
Raggy Maggie hits the reader on a psychological level in ways that the gore-ridden output of the likes of Darren Shan just cannot manage. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of gore just as much as the next boy, but these chills are oh so much better. I once taught a pupil who had a phobia of clowns - she was terrified of them; I have a feeling that in a few years time I could be teaching whole classes who suffer from pediophobia, the fear of dolls, if this series becomes as popular as Shan's work as it certainly deserves to.
July 12, 2014
The main problem was the temporal break I took between the first and the second book.
"Raggy Maggie" starts with a lot of hints to the first book.
Disregard to that, the story was foreseeable, without any greater surprises and real thrilling moments.
Sometimes it's hard to define wether the "Invisible friends" series is dedicated to young adults or to grown-ups.
For young adults this book can be a little bit to dark, for grown-ups it's a little bit to ... "young". I hope you see what I mean.
Sorry, Barry Hutchison, but only 2 stars from me to "Raggy Maggie".
"Raggy Maggie" starts with a lot of hints to the first book.
Disregard to that, the story was foreseeable, without any greater surprises and real thrilling moments.
Sometimes it's hard to define wether the "Invisible friends" series is dedicated to young adults or to grown-ups.
For young adults this book can be a little bit to dark, for grown-ups it's a little bit to ... "young". I hope you see what I mean.
Sorry, Barry Hutchison, but only 2 stars from me to "Raggy Maggie".
July 30, 2011
Better than the first book.
Nearly unputdownable.
Even worth a re-read after a while, I think.
Thrilling, scary and exciting, and not as predictable as the first one.
Very nice character settings again.
Will make you want more.
Nearly unputdownable.
Even worth a re-read after a while, I think.
Thrilling, scary and exciting, and not as predictable as the first one.
Very nice character settings again.
Will make you want more.
December 21, 2010
Not for young kids, but those older kids who like to be spooked, it will work. The whole premise of invisible friends coming back to kill you is a little too spooky for my taste
Read
March 18, 2013Brilliant next step in the series
January 18, 2015
Has some chilling imagery.
November 21, 2015
deliciously creepy
Want to read
September 23, 2016i am dying to read this book Barry came to speack to our class in 2014/15 at the glen pravillion dyinh to read it like cant affrord it tho and dont know where to buy it ????//
September 14, 2011
Good for older Goosebumps readers.
October 1, 2013
in my opinion this was the best of this series.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews