The Bogle

Point Horror Unleashed

by Samantha Lee

Usually there'd be no need to be out in the middle of the Scottish Highlands at midnight. No need to be at the crossroads at "dark o'the moon", waiting for bad spirits to materialize in the freezing night air. No need at all, unless you're stupid enough to have made a bet that those spirits don't exist.

Peter was stupid enough, and it's a bet he's about to lose. When the air goes shimmery and a stench of death hits him, he'd better run. Because if the Bogle gets him, touches his forehead with its long, bony finger, it's only a matter of time...

Genres: Horror, Young Adult

252 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2000

About the author

Samantha Lee began writing while she was still a professional performer. Her output is as diverse as it is prolific, covering both fact and fiction and including novels in the sci-fi and dark fantasy genres, self-development and exercise books, short stories and articles, TV series and movie screenplays, literary criticism and poetry. Her work has been translated into French, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, German, Croatian, Greek and Chinese.

Of her sixteen books to date the last five feature in Scholastic’s best-selling imprint ‘Point Horror’. A regular columnist for ‘Work-out Magazine’ for five years and ‘The Marbella Times’ and ‘Viva Espana’ for three, she has had over two hundred articles published worldwide. Seventy-seven of her quirky short stories have featured on radio and TV as well as in various best-selling anthologies and popular magazines. Her black comedy screenplay ‘The Gingerbread House’ has been sold twice, first to ‘Niagara Films’ then to ‘Random Harvest Productions’. Her latest novella – ‘The Listeners’ forms part of the British Fantasy Society book ‘Houses on the Borderland’ due to be launched at Fantasycon next September.

Sam has taught creative writing workshops in libraries and at literary Festivals all over Britain and acted as Master of Ceremonies at Fantasycon 11. In the Year of Literature she was writer in residence during the ‘Welcome to my Nightmare’ weekend in Swansea. She currently lives in the hills above Malaga City in southern Spain, weaving her webs, casting her spells, telling her tales, dreaming her dreams.

Reviews

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay.

* Peter, his little brother Johnny, and their father are moving into a large, old house in Scotland. His father says it's so they can spend more time together, but his father doesn't even step in the door before he's called away on work, and ends up in Brazil!
* The housekeeper - Mrs McNab - is strict and irritating, and makes them go to bed at 9 pm. She also tells them that there's very little electricity, but Peter plugs in his laptop and completely kills the old generator.
* Mrs McNab takes Johnny to town and a girl called Morag comes to the door. She tells Peter that she's the local doctor's daughter, and asks if he wants to go for a walk.
* Morag and Peter become friends, and Mrs McNab disapproves.
* One night Peter insists that the bogle - an evil entity from an old story - isn't real, and asks Morag to meet him just before midnight that night, near the crossroads, to prove it.
* Peter and Morag go out, but Johnny follows them. The bogle shows up, and they flee, but the bogle gets Johnny.
* The next day Johnny is bought home by a witch (Jeannie) who found him. He's seriously ill, and has a mark on his forehead.
* Peter and Morag realise that it's the bogle's mark, so try to go back to deal with the bogle, but the bogle gets Morag 🤦
* Peter asks the witch for help, but her cottage burns down. Peter invites Jeannie to live with them, which will both give Jeannie somewhere to stay, and break the curse on the house (the house was originally taken from Jennie's family).
* Peter manages to sort out the bogle, and Jeannie manages to sort out all the souls that were released when the bogle was foiled.
* The epilogue then makes it sound as if the bogle will be back.