Terror on Tomahawk Island

Shivers #35

by M.D. Spenser

Noble ghosts haunt the island that Wendy and her brother Sean have decided to explore while their mom and dad are away. Playing hide and seek soon becomes real as the sun sets.

Genres: Horror, Childrens

123 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

M.D. Spenser is a children's author, journalist and music critic. Born in the United States, he lives now in the UK.

"The Enchanted Attic," Book 1 of his popular SHIVERS series of novels for children, was republished as an e-book in August 2011. It is available at amazone.com, Barnes & Noble, Sony and iBookstory. Book 2, "A Ghastly Shade of Green," and Book 3, "Ghost Writer," followed shortly afterwards.


The rest of the 36-book series will be published as ebooks over time.

Also, an internet petition is circulating asking that the entire 36-book series be republished in paperback: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/md...

Reviews

[Alex Joseph · Rating 0.75 out of 5]

Terror on Tomahawk Island has by far one of my favorite Shivers covers. It only made sense that the story is complete doo-doo. There is some decent exposition that comes into play at the very end and a promising story basis, but it failed to captivate me in any way. The first third of the book has an abundance of chapter enders saying “little did I know” blah blah blah and stuff of the sort, which isn’t a bad thing nor foreign to Goosebumps knock-offs and Shivers alone, but it got old really quick, especially considering that the chapters in this book average at three pages…. The story fails to deliver on these page-turners with one of the most underwhelming ghost stories, where the actual “ghost” story element is practically useless as the ghosts don’t have a purpose as ghosts. They could’ve just been random dudes; there was no magic to them besides two scenes which were alone sigh-worthy in the grand scheme of things as their the only supernatural moments and have little mystique or horror to them at all. The storm setting that was hyped up was useless as the characters slept through the entire thing in a couple pages, disallowing proper use of it, many cooler avenues for the Indians’ spirits, and a true plot conviction… now addressing the elephant. This is one of those stories that could’ve been resolved in a couple pages, and with context of the greater ending and what it implies, there was no threat level. It’s a deflating turn of events, and the ghosts’ moral compass is left less up in the air and more so just dumb, considering the whole cage segment (minor spoiler but nothing happens in the book… oh wait—). This is a very uneventful Shivers, for it’s both boring and has little stakes, and alone much of a plot, which again could’ve been avoided had the characters not taken a nap, of all things. Story (lack there of) was slow too. Overall, 1.5/10. It’s a waste of time with little merit to it, and I didn’t care for it at all. That cover may be gorgeous but the title should be changed to Bloated Misunderstanding on Tomahawk Island.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

On shaky ground here with the subject matter but manages to not be too offensive. Also, the parents in this one need to be locked up. Who leaves their 12 and 13 year olds alone at a holiday rental for an entire day?

[Roxi · Rating 1 out of 5]

In all honesty, I picked this up a while back in a charity shop, as a bit of nostalgia. I've read Shivers books before, but not this one.
Every now and again, I need what I call a "pallet cleaner" book, just a small easy read, usually a children's horror book. Something I don't really need to think about, just enjoy, and relive a bit of my childhood.
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I'm sure I remember Shivers books being more scary and spooky, and I'm sad that I'm an adult and it wasn't scary, but 12 year old me would be sleeping with the lights on!
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If you enjoy 90's children horror books, give it a try, or is you're 12,you'll most likely enjoy it.
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[Oz · Rating 1 out of 5]

It wasn’t as racist as I expected it to be, but the bar was on the ground

[Owen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring book and bad storyline to it not good at all recommend different Shivers book.