Tales of Terror from the Tunnel’s Mouth by Chris Priestly

Finished: 04/10/10

Genre: YA/Horror

Rated: B

Opening Sentence: ‘…It was the first railway journey I had ever made alone…’

This is the second ‘Tales of’ book I have read by Chris Priestly, and once again I was deliciously scared! Priestly is a master of telling chilling stories, and a trip down the hall to the powder room at night is no picnic after reading one of the macabre tales.

Set in England during the Boer War, Young Robert is travelling to boarding school by himself. His step-mother takes him to the station and she has a little dream that something scary will happen to him at the tunnel’s mouth. Robert is a bit embarrassed by all this and insists on getting on the train. There are four other travellers in his carriage and Robert soon drifts off to sleep. When he wakes up all is quiet and the other passengers are sleeping and a young woman all dressed in white with red hair is now sitting opposite him and she is wide awake. Then Robert notices that the train has stopped – at the mouth of a tunnel!

To pass the time the lady offers to tell Robert some stories – but they are stories that are quite frightening. Each tale has a strange and nerve-jangling twist like the governess who discovers that the problem child in her care is not what she seems; a creepy boy who terrorises a young lady for a reason; a really nasty nun gets her comeuppance and the step sister who takes the ultimate revenge. There are killer plants, ghosts, evil fairies and cracks in the wall – Chris Priestly’s imagination knows no bounds.

There is a moral message in the eerie tales, lessons to be learned and the ultimate twist as Robert gradually becomes aware that there is something not quite right going on. A perfect Halloween read – young readers, as well as old, will love these creepy, and often gruesome, stories – however more sensitive people, such as myself, may find some of them truly frightening – so supervise if in doubt.

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