Reviewed by Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers' Favorite

The Thirteenth Child by David Dean is a gripping horror story that will leave you alternately with a bad taste in your mouth or wanting more. It’s the story of children who go missing on dark nights and an alcoholic ex-professor who witnesses the snatchings and becomes a prime suspect. It becomes a race against time for him to prove his innocence and stop the snatchings or serve time for a crime he didn’t commit. When he comes face to face with the perpetrator, he gets a little more than he bargained for as he discovers that something isn’t quite right. Things become even more difficult as the chief of police becomes involved with the professor's daughter and she finds herself dragged in with terrifying consequences.

The Thirteenth Child has to be one of the best-written horror books in a long time. It is one of those books that I just couldn’t put down; it gripped me from the very first page and took me on its roller-coaster journey, not stopping until the final terrible scene was played out. It is a fast-paced book, but not so fast that you cannot keep up with what’s going on. It is also very well written, getting straight to the point with none of the extraneous waffle you see in so many books these days. David Dean has given us a book that is sharp, edgy, and thrilling; an award-winning book if ever I have read one.