Reviews

Gr 7-10‘Ian, 15, lives with his grandmother in Australia. For a school assignment over the holidays, he must invent and write about a character. He creates Gideon, a mean-spirited, lawbreaking youth who displays personality traits similar to Ian's dead father and to his grandfather, who is in prison. Mysteriously, Gideon takes control of Ian's life; soon the boy is involved in a car theft, brutally injures his dog, and burglarizes his maternal grandparents' house. When he makes a vulgar pass at his cousin, he realizes the power that his creation holds over him. He tries to kill Gideon, first by destroying the story he'd written and, when that fails, by inventing a new character to battle the evil one. But the dark and secret side of Ian's personality persists until he realizes that he has the power to control Gideon himself. Macdonald uses the writing assignment and the emerging psychological Frankenstein to portray the murky side of the human spirit. Unfortunately, the people are unconvincing. Even the real ones seem unreal, and the influence that Gideon exerts on Ian seems contrived. While the introduction of the second fictional character has possibilities, it goes nowhere, and in the end readers will wonder why Ian is suddenly able to dominate his monster. Though this novel paints striking contrasts, it fails to add new insights into the battle of good v. evil.‘Tim Rausch, Crescent View Middle School, Sandy, UT