Infinity
By Sherrilyn Kenyon
Series: First in the Chronicles of Nick

Fourteen year old Nick Gautier is the “scholarship kid” at a private school where the other students are attending because parents are rich while Nick lives in a small condo cut from an old house whose mother works at a strip club and barely makes enough to get by even when she does double shifts. One night after Nick stops some “friends” try to kill him when she stops them from mugging an elderly couple. Luckily, or unluckily, he is saved from a mysterious stranger who offers to pay for Nick’s hospital bills, but since Nick and his mother does not accept charity, also agrees to hire Nick to work for him to pay off the debt. When Nick returns to school after his hospital stay a crowd is gathered outside complete with an ambulance and police. A student had bitten off a chunk of another student’s arm. Suddenly, Nick’s schoolmates are being turned into brain-craving zombies at an alarming rate and this is only the beginning of Nick’s entrance into the supernatural world of the Dark-Hunters. The Chronicles of Nick is a prequel series from Kenyon’s adult Dark-Hunters series, but readers do not need to be familiar with the first series to enjoy this YA series opener, though it might help with the back story of some of the characters and their place in the Dark-Hunters world. Fans of the supernatural genre will enjoy the numerous supernatural creatures that appear in this installment from zombies (both “living” zombies who are actually only brainwashed individuals as well as the traditional dead-brought-back-to-life zombies) to shape shifters to a variety of demons each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and powers.

The Light
By D. J. MacHale
Series: First in the Morpheus Road trilogy

Marshal Seaver is looking forward to spending the summer with his friend best friend Cooper Foley. However, these plans immediately change when Cooper is forced to spend the entire summer with his parents at their lake house. As Marshal prepares for what is sure to be a boring summer, his father leaves for a business trip. This is when Marshal begins being haunted. It begins with strange sounds and a rouge breeze. Then Marshal comes face to face with a character straight from his own sketchbook. There is only one person Marshal can talk with about these happenings and that is Cooper. However, when he tries contacting his friend, he finds out that Cooper is missing. As Marshal begins piecing together the events that lead to his friend’s disappearance and the reason he is suddenly being haunted by a character of his own creation, he begins to consider if these two events might actually be part of the same mystery. Readers will find this story un-put-down-able as the suspense builds and what seems to be two separate mysteries begin to blur into one large puzzle. There are scenes, although suspenseful, have little or no dialogue and long paragraphs though most of these occur when Marshal, who serves as narrator, is alone. There are also a few occurrences where a phrase is repeated nearly word for word within a couple of paragraphs. All in all, horror and supernatural fans will devour this book and become eager for the next installment when they reach the end.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
By Seth Grahame-Smith

Abraham Lincoln is well known for saving the Union and freeing millions of slaves during his term as the sixteenth president of the United States. What is not as well known is the time he spent in his youth hunting vampires. That is, until Grahame-Smith, as he describes in his introduction, stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln and became the first living man to lay eyes on it in 140 years. Using this journal as a guide, Grahame-Smith gives the general public the real story of one of America’s greatest presidents while also revealing the true cause for the Civil War as well as other events in American history. Okay, it is obvious this is a work of fiction, but Grahame-Smith’s use of a biographical style gives the story a “realistic” tone. This book will be enjoyed by vampire buffs as well as Lincoln and history buffs.