Thaw

Night Fall ™ #4

by Rick Jasper

A July storm caused a major power outage in Bridgewater. Now a research project at the Institute for Cryogenic Experimentation has been ruined, and the thawed-out bodies of twenty-seven federal inmates are missing.

At first, Dani Kraft didn't think much of the breaking news. But after her best friend Jake disappears, a mysterious visitor connects the dots for Dani. Jake has been taken in by an infamous cult leader. To get him back, Dani must enter a dangerous, alternate reality where a defrosted cult leader is beginning to act like some kind of god.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Mystery, Fantasy, Fiction

106 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

Rick Jasper is a former middle-school teacher and a long-time magazine editor and writer. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his daughter.

Reviews

[Kent R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is for boys from 4th - 8th grades because the pages only have little words and are big and not long but there are lots of details. The main character of this book is Danielle and she gets a paw that makes her go into another world. There is this missing dead bodies with a criminal mastermind that raped, stole, and kills people. They find out that they all went into the other world and Dani is the only one to stop them. Her and het friends goes to the portal and one of them almost got left behind because Dani dropped the paw.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t like not one thing about this book other than the moment I got to the ending of it 👍🏾. The characters were shallow and boring. Nothing from this book made it interesting.

[LisaMarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook.
1.5. Stupidest-assed story I've read in a while. Annoying-as-hell MC. I know I'm reading this series because the stories seem like short, cheesy fun, but this was just straight-forward-awful.

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it really fun to read and an interesting plot. I was a bit worried because of all the negative reviews, but overall it was a good read, and I would recommend it to someone who wants a fast and intriguing read.

[Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was good. It is about a power outage in Bridgewater. Jake’s parents go missing. Later so does Jake. Two friends age to go into an unknown world and find and bring their friend home.

[4Gio G G · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was really interesting

[Arnela · Rating 1 out of 5]

What on gods green earth did I just waste my time on?
Zero character depth, likability, and development, no cohesive plot to speak of, the worst romantic relationship I’ve ever read about (I mean they fell in love in a matter of pages?), and the most basic, boring writing style and dialog ever.
Awful.

[Jakota · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good, it is about a storm and a major power outage in a town called Bridgewater. And there are bodies that are missing from cryogenics facility.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent addition to Darby Creek's Night Fall series. If you're not familiar with it, Night Fall is a series of horror books written at a fourth grade level in order to help entice the more reluctant reader. So they're like GOOSEBUMPS but without the cheese and with more horror. This is probably what my demented self would have read at the GOOSEBUMPS age instead of GOOSEBUMPS if these were around.

Jasper doesn't waste any time pulling the reader in. The story starts and the bodies are already defrosted and Dani's missing Jake. Not just missing him, but is worried sick about him since it's been weeks since she's heard from him. When a strange man who looks like he may be rotting comes by with a video message from Jake, Dani springs into action, desperate to save him from the mad man that has him trapped in this weird alternate reality. Except when she gets there, everything she thought was going on gets turned upside down and Dani ends up having to fight even harder to get Jake out. At least she has some help.

The only dislike I had about THAW was that there wasn't more. I've read a few of these books and in every one of them the story's always been phenomenal. But because of the reading level, it doesn't delve too much into emotions or scenes or anything like that. I know I've said it in my other reviews but I'll say it again: I want more!

The image that Jasper gives with the people defrosting is truly gross. They're not just thawing out but they have freezer burn and the freezing didn't really go very well for them. Their lives weren't prolonged. They didn't thaw out and dance around all happy because they were free. Like truly damaged meat, they were spoiling and Jasper made sure you knew that. Love it!

Plus the world that Dani gets thrown into is some kind of sadistic dream. The scenery is something out of a nightmare, with reality playing at the edges. It was like she was dreaming and she knew she was dreaming and in order to escape she had to wake up. Except she was already awake and her only means of escape had disappeared. You really get a sense of being trapped and you don't know how it's going to end.

Dani's a great character. Really strong and determined. I wish there was more of her in the story. Yeah, it's in first person but like I said above, because of the reading level, it doesn't go very deep. I just wanted more. And of Jake. It would have been nice to have alternating viewpoints to see how he ended up going from point A to point B. Trey ended up being a good supporting character in an unexpected way. Well, I guess it might have been expected but he served a good purpose. He was probably the only part of the story where less was more. Had I seen more of him I probably wouldn't have liked it as much.

Overall a fantastic horror story that'll leave you craving more. Thankfully Night Fall has a few books in its series.

[Kealoha · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a Storm, Dani friend name jake was lost and this guy rang his doorbell claiming that he know where his best friend is, the guy name was Vincent and he was holding a dead cat's paw and he said his friend went to a different world name scatter the world and the only way is hold a paw and go to the park and jump into a pond or river and on the end scatter is his best friend's father and the father is the king or God of scatter and he was also hurt also Vincent was jake mother, brother. I thought the book was creepy but not scary and at the same time, it was interesting because it really made me use my head a lot so I was curious what was about to happen to Dani.

[Emrie M · Rating 4 out of 5]

THAW

My first Good Reads book report for this year is on THAW, by: Rick Jasper. This book is a very thrilling but good book that I think would probably be enjoyed more by the boys. Because of the action and details, I feel it is more of a guy book. But if you’re a girl and you like these kind of things than you might like this book. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like small print in a book than this book is probably not the book for you.
The book is based in what’s called Scatters world. Scatter is an evil person who tries to get people young and old to follow him. He was a man who died in a jail cell because he was put in prison for eternal life and then died in it. After he died he was put in a secret facility and was frozen. Later people found out that he was in the facility and he then just disappears.
There are many twists in this book. My favorite part I would have to say is when Dani, and Trey are trying to escape from the evil Scatters World. After Trey threw the paw to Dani, Dani got out with Jake but Trey got stuck in scatters world. What Trey and Dani heard from Vincent, was that if the dreamer dies, than the dream that the dreamer was dreaming, dies with it.
What happened to Trey? I will never tell. If you thought that I was going to, then to bad so sad. I would never tell a perfectly good ending. The ending was a surprise to me and might be a surprise to you if you have/are reading the book. But I guess if you want to know the ending…then read it yourself. 

[Annalee Schnebele · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read another book in this series (Messages from Beyond) and liked it a lot. This book, on the other hand, is WEIRD. It's still a great plot book - you're going to keep reading to wonder what happens next - but it's a little unbelievable.

As it is such a short book, it's understandable that the characters aren't as developed as they should be. It's also understandable that sometimes weird things will happen in the plot. But, sometimes the things that happen in the plot are just wacky. Reading this book felt like a weird half-remembered dream created in a cold-drug induced sleep.

However, for kids who aren't the biggest fans of reading, a book about unfrozen cult leaders in a dream world is not that hard of a sell.

[Luis A · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book “Thaw,” is a very good book because it has mystery and action, friendship and all of those things that make a very good book. A July storm caused a major power outage in Bridgewater. There was a girl that had one and his only best friend but one day it was a storm day and that same day her best friend disappear, a very mysterious men came to her house and told Danni that Jake was in trouble and Danni got scared and then old men tell her that there was a way to get Jake back. And that one way was that Danni had to dress and act like a god, because the people that have Jake they where from other religion, so she did act like a good and for that reason Jake is back with his family and Danni and Jake there now back together.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This quick read is great for reluctant readers. When the power goes out due to a storm, the city finds out there is a cryogenic experiment lab in their town and guess what? The ones used for experiments were previous inmates from a high security prison. Suddenly the inmates have disappeared after they thawed out. Then a boy from town goes missing... This is the type of material that reluctant readers don't often get. I was impressed with the mature but "safe" content and think it would work well for higher junior high and up.

[Allyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thaw by Rick Jasper is thrilling, suspenseful, and scary! There was a huge storm in July and it caused a power out in Brigewater. This boy named Dani has a best friend named Jake. Jake and his family members are missing! This guy named Skatter swore revenge on Jakes father. That is why Scatter kidnapped Jakes family. I think you should read this book also because I think this is a really great mystery book for alot of people.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

During a storm, the Institute for Cryogenic Experimentation accidentally thaws out the prisoners it was experimenting on unleashing a cult leader and his followers back into the world. When Jake disappears, Danielle knows she has to find him and must find her way into the cult to help him escape.

[Gillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

YA -- Night Fall Series

At a reading level of 4.1, this is a good starter book. I thought the idea was interesting, but I wasn't sure I really bought the world -- the key to science fiction is making the world seem possible, and I think a lot more time needed to be spent making this seem "normal" and not just a plot device.

[L.J. Boldyrev · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was just okay for me. I don't think THAW is meant to be this epic masterpiece of horror. It's simply meant to entertain and it did just that. I would probably read the other stories in this series.

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story was much too short, so everything was really rushed. There's wasn't enough space for proper character development, etc. If it was longer, it could've been great, but everything was just thrown in like a rollercoaster.

[Abcde · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it's about scary things.This book is about a boy,and there was a storm and he couldn't find his friend or there family they just went missing and he went to look for him and this man showed up...I recommend this book.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of sci fi but this book kept my interest from page one. Had to finish it!!!

[Brittney Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked it was good and interesting

[Annettelang12 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good for rr reader..short chapters. Possible issues book. Issues include cults, government experiments on prisoners
Child abuse and fraud....

Creepy story with sci fi edge

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't remember how many Night Fall books I read, but I know this one was pretty good.

[Jack G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy sci fi... great middle school read. :)

[Rosy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very high interest and easy read. It caught me from the beginning and freaked me out a couple of times. I'm not much of a suspense/scary story reader, but this one wasn't bad!

[Tehani S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book because its a creepy story. I would recommened this book because it a good book ,and if you like scary stories i think this book is for you.

[Jennifer Tooley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was pretty good i like how it just kept making me wants more i love this series

[Valentino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book because it gave me chills. It was also great because I can imagine it in my head. It also gave me this very intense feeling while reading