It seems that ever since the Poltergeist movie came out small and creepy children have become somewhat of a necessity in most horror stories. I don’t know what makes them so scary.
Maybe people are afraid of things they aren’t legally allowed to kick away for being annoying… maybe they remind some unfortunate souls of child support. Whatever the case may be, it is undeniable that they can be really scary little bastards, and Ransom Riggs makes use of that to his heart’s content in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
The book basically opens with Jacob, a regular sixteen year-old boy who suffers through a not-so-regular tragedy that sends him off to a remote island (bear with me, it’s not really important how he got to the island).
On this island, as custom has it, Jacob finds an abandoned building with a sign that says Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob starts to explore the place he realizes that it would be more appropriate to replace the word "peculiar" on the sign with "batshit crazy".
The various clues he finds about the children who used to live in that place, one of which was Jacob’s grandfather, lead him to believe that the children had actually been quarantined to the island, and it wasn’t because their parents had enough of their tantrums… they could be dangerous. Worst of all, they could still be alive at this very moment.
All in all, this book makes for a very interesting read if you are into vintage photographs and mysterious islands, or it can make for a brutally frightening read if you have a phobia of children. Regardless of what your approach to it is, people of any age or culture will find something to keep them hooked on this lengthy and somber adventure.
 | Ransom RiggsPersonal site Ransom Riggs is an American filmmaker and writer whose most notable effort to date is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, where he made use of numerous vernacular photographs he had found. Of course, he also has other works which have garnered a certain amount of attention, including The Sherlock Holmes Handbook and Hollow City. |
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