The Carver

Point Horror Unleashed

by Jenny Jones

Maddy's lived near Quedgeley Copse all her life, so she's not sure why she suddenly finds it so creepy. She tells herself not to be silly, but she can't help feeling that something sinister is lurking in there, biding its time...

And what about the twisted, wooden puppets she glimpses hanging from the trees? Someone must have carved them. Someone who's very skilled with a knife. Maddy knows she should run for her life, but the strange figures are beckoning her to meet their maker...

Genres: Horror, Young Adult

225 pages, Paperback

First published February 21, 1997

Reviews

[ItzSmashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Very promising start, liked the setup but the plot was quite thin leaving to lot of same scenarios repeating leaving it quite repetitive at times. I like the authors writing and got in to the characters. But still undecided on whether I would recommend.

Maddy is having relationship issues and finds comfort in a boy who has left his family and is sleeping rough in the woods by her house. She starts to get increasingly concerned with the wooden puppets he keeps carving, almost like he is compelled to keep making them. When maddy finds them in her house and swears she hears them talking to her. The safety for Gareth and herself increases. Can she discover the horrific past of the woods and save her new boyfriend before he is possessed by puppets he creates?

[Paula Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maddy has always lived next door to Quedgely's Copse, but only recently is it beginning to disturb her. After some close encounters, she ventures in there and discovers that Gareth Amundsen is squatting there. He has a strange knife and uses it to carve multiple wood puppets that he hangs from the trees. Maddy is irresistibly drawn to Gareth despite having a sort of on/off relationship with childhood friend Alex. But she learns about the copse's disturbing history from her grandmother. Then there's the fact that Gareth's supposedly inanimate wood puppets are finding their way into Maddy's house...

Good concept, but the mythology is a bit muddled. Too much time is spent on Maddy going back and forth over her feelings for Alex and her feelings for Gareth. She had the attention span of a gnat. (She found Alex too possessive, but wouldn't hesitate to use him when she needed a lift somewhere in his car.) The idea of puppets being in places where they shouldn't be should be chilling, but this book takes forever to get to the really good stuff. There are some terrific moments when the characters finally witness the wood puppets move of their own volition. I wanted to learn more about the copse's history, the idea of "forest people", the history of the knife Gareth used to carve the puppets etc. Instead, I spent a lot of the book being frustrated at Maddy's stroppy behaviour. But, man, there's a couple of great moments as the book hits its end run!

The output from Point Horror Unleashed has been quite varied so far, so I'm looking forward to reading more!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definately one of the better point horror books I've read, the wooden dolls are particularly chilling it must be said and I've never been able to look at such things the same way since...

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

But…what about the puppet in the attic? Is it still there?

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept, let down by pacing. Maddy annoyingly has three boys after her at any one time, and it seems like the door is open at the end for her to end up with the worst one of the bunch. We spend far too much time on the back and forth in these relationships and not enough time on the horror plot.

When the action gets going, it's pretty good. There's some great horror imagery, but it gets wrapped up too quickly at the end.

[Esteé Hallatt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up on page 86. Not scary at all. Too boring and 'young adult' for me.