Khorram’s debut novel is filled with insight into the lives of teens, weaving together the reality of living with mental illness while also dealing with identity and immigration politics. For the first time in a long time, Darius learns to love himself no matter what external forces attempt to squash his confidence. Sohrab teaches Darius what friendship is really about: loyalty, honesty, and someone who has your back in a football (soccer) match. But all that changes when Darius meets Sohrab, a Bahá’í boy, in Yazd. When he arrives in Iran, learning to play the Persian card game Rook, socializing, and celebrating Nowruz with a family he had never properly met before is all overwhelming and leaves Darius wondering if he’ll ever truly belong anywhere. He’s mocked for his name and nerdy interests at Chapel Hill High School in Portland, Oregon, and doesn’t speak enough Farsi to communicate with his Iranian relatives either. Iranian on his mother’s side and white American on his father’s side, Darius never quite fits in. When Darius’ grandfather becomes terminally ill, Darius, along with his parents and younger sister, travels to Iran for the first time in his life. Though tension pervades, the plot sometimes feels bare-bones, and a few key shifts in the action happen too quickly to be entirely believed.ĭarius Kellner suffers from depression, bullying by high school jocks, and a father who seems to always be disappointed in him. Meanwhile, the Hunter seeks its prey, and short chapters from its point of view express both its hunger and the chilling delight it takes in hunting its victims.
As he begins having gruesome premonitions and psychic nightmares, Callum attracts the interest of “that ridiculous New Age girl, Melissa Roper,” a schoolmate with henna tattoos and protective crucifix necklaces, and the two team up to fight both mundane bullies and supernatural evil. He has always been able to see ghosts, but as the story opens, Callum senses a more sinister presence. Short and atmospheric, this first in a projected trilogy follows a boy who can see ghosts and the cruel, hungry creature that hunts him.Ĭallum lives in a cottage with his no-nonsense Gran in Nether Marlock, a mostly abandoned village separated from the small English town of Marlock by a deep, dark Wood.
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