Howl
by Shaun David Hutchinson
High School    Simon    432 pp.   g
4/22    978-1-5344-7092-7    $19.99
e-book. ed.  978-1-5344-7094-1    $10.99

Hutchinson’s latest offering (The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried, rev. 3/19; Before We ­Disappear, rev. 11/21) is another engaging blend of realism with fantasy and absurdity. Bleeding profusely from the wounds of a monster attack, Virgil Knox staggers into the small town of Merritt, Florida, where he and his father have recently moved after his parents’ divorce. Gradually, we learn that Virgil has attended a party, rebuffed a sexual advance from the mayor’s son, blacked out, and come to in the swamp, where he is attacked. Despite the physical evidence, nobody believes him about the supernatural encounter—not the police, his family, or his classmates. The gaslighting takes a toll on Virgil, who worries that the creature may come back—or that he will turn into a monster himself. Hutchinson is an accomplished storyteller, drawing readers in with Virgil’s narrative voice, an appealing mix of angst and insouciance; the small-town Florida setting; memorable secondary characters including Virgil’s paternal grandmother and a theater classmate; and a plot that slowly unravels its mystery. The monster attack is a clear metaphor for sexual assault (see also Arnold’s Red Hood, rev. 5/20) and, in its aftermath, for victim-blaming, proving once again that Hutchinson is not afraid to explore the darker corners of the adolescent experience.

From the July/August 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.