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Inner Child
There is a mysterious, evil force at work in Coral Beach, Maine. A sinister, demonic creature known as the Ok'La'Zarr has taken refuge in the local Children's Hospital and, using its ability to feed off and manipulate fear, is making the final days of its young victims as horrible as possible. Can Xander Drew, Mike Harris and Cathy Kennessy stop this creature before it claims another victim? And what does any of this have to do with a young girl named Mandy Peterson?
220 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2011
About the author
Matthew Ledrew
72 books62 followersMatthew LeDrew has written over twenty novels, some of which have gone on to become Canadian and international bestsellers.
Since 2007 he has traveled all over Canada promoting his work as well as teaching seminars on writing and publishing.
He currently holds a Canada Council for the Arts Research and Creation Grant and an ArtsNL Professional Projects Grant for the completion of his first two Newfoundland-set novels, a treasure-hunt novel and a literary fiction novel exploring toxicity within the Newfoundland arts scene, respectively.
He holds an Honours Degree in English from the Memorial University of Newfoundland with a minor in Anthropology. He studied Journalism at College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville, Newfoundland. He has worked with Transcontinental Publishing as well as student-youth magazine The Troubadour.
He has been called "the face of Newfoundland Genre writing" and is one of the most successful authors working and living in his province today.
Since 2007 he has traveled all over Canada promoting his work as well as teaching seminars on writing and publishing.
He currently holds a Canada Council for the Arts Research and Creation Grant and an ArtsNL Professional Projects Grant for the completion of his first two Newfoundland-set novels, a treasure-hunt novel and a literary fiction novel exploring toxicity within the Newfoundland arts scene, respectively.
He holds an Honours Degree in English from the Memorial University of Newfoundland with a minor in Anthropology. He studied Journalism at College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville, Newfoundland. He has worked with Transcontinental Publishing as well as student-youth magazine The Troubadour.
He has been called "the face of Newfoundland Genre writing" and is one of the most successful authors working and living in his province today.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 14, 2017
In 1820, Charles Caleb Colton wrote, “Imitation is the sincerest (form) of flattery.” To paraphrase Matt Groening on the commentaries for The Simpsons and Futurama states, “When you copy something you love, it’s an homage.”
Matthew LeDrew’s 2011 entry to his long-running Black Womb series, Inner Child, pays homage to a second-season episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (E18, ‘Killed by Death’) and the flattery couldn’t be any more sincere.
In this bridging chapter of the teenaged horror/sci-fi saga, Alexander ‘Xander’ Drew continues to improve control of his superpowered alter ego, the Black Womb. Cathy Kennessy and Mike Harris begin the path to normalcy after their (latest) personal tragedy. Julie Peterson remains hospitalized due to gunshot wounds. In other words, same old, same old! The residents of Coral Beach have had to deal with one horrific situation after another, much to our entertainment. This time, the hospital is the scene as a bogeyman terrorizes the sick children.
I really like the way LeDrew reintroduced the characters. By placing them in their rooms, in a place of comfort, we were able to see them in a natural environment yet still affected by what has happened thus far. A tiny nitpick is that a character’s full name should always appear the first time they are mentioned. It’s an act of courtesy to the reader.
Joining Xander and friends is a ‘ghost from the past’ (haha!) but I did not find her to be nearly as enjoyable as her appearances in earlier novels. Then again, she wasn’t herself but rather an interactive hallucination and a projection of his failures.
The Newfoundland author continues to employ the harsh/soft contrasting style he’s used in the last few novels. Like flicking a switch, he knows when to employ each and it helps suck us into the moment. On a similar note, readers of my past reviews know how I enjoy LeDrew’s ability to pace his tales. Not only does the writing style adapt to the scenes but the momentum. While there are times he is too experimental or lingers too long (I can’t blame him, as most writers love their creations), he has a strong grasp on how to move things forward.
Early on, in a way to wrap up events from the last novel, we get to see Xander ‘womb out.’ I have expressed confusion in the past over whether the Black Womb could vocalize words. With Xander gaining more control with each passing day, fully-fleshed thoughts written on the pages and LeDrew alternating the name (most likely in an attempt to avoid redundancy), there are times I had to stop and re-read a paragraph. When the Womb makes its first appearance in this novel, its inner dialogue is handled masterfully in a way that even I can follow along!
The scene(s) where we first meet this book’s threat are typical LeDrew: Suspenseful, moody and nail-biting (if one were prone to engage in that habit). Without revealing too much, let me state the villain involves shadows, children and fear. These three elements essentially make up the entire Black Womb series. There are a lot of connections in this novel – some subtle, some obvious – to what has happened in the past.
Herein lies my first problem with imitation. The foe is a mixture of Batman’s Dr. Jonathan Crane and the aforementioned Buffy villain, Der Kindestod. Although the bogeyman’s traits are pretty universal, readers will understand me when I state the similarities are more alarming than coincidental.
Furthermore, the novel is still plagued by technical problems. At this point, we may simply need to take the bad (editing) with the good (storytelling) and accept that these errors will appear in his books.
Aside from certain times when I had to stop for a moment, Inner Child is yet another LeDrew novel that moves along at a brisk pace. By the time we reach the ‘final battle’ we realize we read the book in just a few hours.
Speaking of the ending, I found it was a double-edged sword. The actual confrontation was a pleasant surprise and – though it makes sense in the story – I didn’t expect LeDrew to take that route. We are better off he did. On the other hand, because there were multiple subplots, I felt some were handled better than others and the final 25 pages weren’t as engaging as the first 175.
So, faithful reader, you must have the opinion that I quite liked the novel. You would be absolutely correct. Immediately after completion, I had most of the review written and a score in place. Unfortunately, during the course of research, I stumbled across the aforementioned Buffy the Vampire Slayer and discovered far too many common threads.
In no way, shape or form do I think LeDrew simply adapted that story. I believe he intended this as homage but, at times, the line between originality and tribute are too blurry.
Matthew LeDrew’s 2011 entry to his long-running Black Womb series, Inner Child, pays homage to a second-season episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (E18, ‘Killed by Death’) and the flattery couldn’t be any more sincere.
In this bridging chapter of the teenaged horror/sci-fi saga, Alexander ‘Xander’ Drew continues to improve control of his superpowered alter ego, the Black Womb. Cathy Kennessy and Mike Harris begin the path to normalcy after their (latest) personal tragedy. Julie Peterson remains hospitalized due to gunshot wounds. In other words, same old, same old! The residents of Coral Beach have had to deal with one horrific situation after another, much to our entertainment. This time, the hospital is the scene as a bogeyman terrorizes the sick children.
I really like the way LeDrew reintroduced the characters. By placing them in their rooms, in a place of comfort, we were able to see them in a natural environment yet still affected by what has happened thus far. A tiny nitpick is that a character’s full name should always appear the first time they are mentioned. It’s an act of courtesy to the reader.
Joining Xander and friends is a ‘ghost from the past’ (haha!) but I did not find her to be nearly as enjoyable as her appearances in earlier novels. Then again, she wasn’t herself but rather an interactive hallucination and a projection of his failures.
The Newfoundland author continues to employ the harsh/soft contrasting style he’s used in the last few novels. Like flicking a switch, he knows when to employ each and it helps suck us into the moment. On a similar note, readers of my past reviews know how I enjoy LeDrew’s ability to pace his tales. Not only does the writing style adapt to the scenes but the momentum. While there are times he is too experimental or lingers too long (I can’t blame him, as most writers love their creations), he has a strong grasp on how to move things forward.
Early on, in a way to wrap up events from the last novel, we get to see Xander ‘womb out.’ I have expressed confusion in the past over whether the Black Womb could vocalize words. With Xander gaining more control with each passing day, fully-fleshed thoughts written on the pages and LeDrew alternating the name (most likely in an attempt to avoid redundancy), there are times I had to stop and re-read a paragraph. When the Womb makes its first appearance in this novel, its inner dialogue is handled masterfully in a way that even I can follow along!
The scene(s) where we first meet this book’s threat are typical LeDrew: Suspenseful, moody and nail-biting (if one were prone to engage in that habit). Without revealing too much, let me state the villain involves shadows, children and fear. These three elements essentially make up the entire Black Womb series. There are a lot of connections in this novel – some subtle, some obvious – to what has happened in the past.
Herein lies my first problem with imitation. The foe is a mixture of Batman’s Dr. Jonathan Crane and the aforementioned Buffy villain, Der Kindestod. Although the bogeyman’s traits are pretty universal, readers will understand me when I state the similarities are more alarming than coincidental.
Furthermore, the novel is still plagued by technical problems. At this point, we may simply need to take the bad (editing) with the good (storytelling) and accept that these errors will appear in his books.
Aside from certain times when I had to stop for a moment, Inner Child is yet another LeDrew novel that moves along at a brisk pace. By the time we reach the ‘final battle’ we realize we read the book in just a few hours.
Speaking of the ending, I found it was a double-edged sword. The actual confrontation was a pleasant surprise and – though it makes sense in the story – I didn’t expect LeDrew to take that route. We are better off he did. On the other hand, because there were multiple subplots, I felt some were handled better than others and the final 25 pages weren’t as engaging as the first 175.
So, faithful reader, you must have the opinion that I quite liked the novel. You would be absolutely correct. Immediately after completion, I had most of the review written and a score in place. Unfortunately, during the course of research, I stumbled across the aforementioned Buffy the Vampire Slayer and discovered far too many common threads.
In no way, shape or form do I think LeDrew simply adapted that story. I believe he intended this as homage but, at times, the line between originality and tribute are too blurry.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2015
Even though I've been spacing my reading out so as to read one novel a week, after the last book in this series I couldn't help but keep going right away. Matthew signed this book for me and wrote "And here Black Womb gets even weirder" and when I first read that I did not realize how true a statement it was. The universe of Black Womb has given hints that there is a lot more to it then just the events happening to the main characters and this book dives into that. It begs the question of how do you deal with danger when it is not the usual story of people having chosen to kill and commit crimes without caring how they hurt people, but rather something outside of humanity?
Then there's Xander. Someone who wants to be a hero but keeps losing that which he cares about the most the more he tries to do the right thing. Watching Xander struggle with loss in the form of addressing someone who is no longer around is an interesting take on his character and in a few cases made me smile through the sadness I felt after the last book.
Then there's Xander. Someone who wants to be a hero but keeps losing that which he cares about the most the more he tries to do the right thing. Watching Xander struggle with loss in the form of addressing someone who is no longer around is an interesting take on his character and in a few cases made me smile through the sadness I felt after the last book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews