Gr 5-9 In this suspenseful, supernatural tale, Jonathan Starling, 14, has a talent for escaping notice. This ability, combined with his father's inattentive parenting and frequent periods of illness ("darkenings"), makes playing hooky to explore London easy. Then, a frightening home invasion takes him to an unfamiliar part of the city. Pursued by a fluorescent-haired, oddly persuasive bounty hunter and her two henchmen, Jonathan escapes through a gateway into "Darkside." Old and new dangers await him in the sinister, grimy, and hidden place founded by Jack the Ripper. It's populated by supernatural beings and fiendishly evil humans. There, Jonathan befriends the growling (though ultimately good) wereman Carnegie, a vampire's gutsy servant, and a kidnapped teen who shares Jonathan's unique "part-Darksider" heritage. With help from "Lightside" allies, they find their way to safety, but unvanquished dangers suggest that it's temporary. The plot is engaging, but the descriptive prose is Becker's real strength. "Darkside" is imaginative and "Lightside" is a fine description of London. Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (HarperCollins, 1997) boasts a dark and dangerous sub-London, but Darkside is for a younger audience and Becker's shadowed, deviant district stands on its own. Typical of a series, it leaves threads untied, laying the groundwork for future installments. Danielle Serra, Cliffside Park Public Library, NJ

Average Londoners have no idea that they are living in a dimension of the city called Lightside. Its counterpart, Darkside, is a seedy alternate reality inhabited by werewolves, vampires, murderers, and other undesirables. Crossing from one to the other is very dangerous, and few are able to accomplish it. Marianne, a bounty hunter, kidnaps student Ricky Thomas, takes him to Darkside, and delivers him to Grimshaw, ringmaster of the Beastilia Exotica. Grimshaw plans to feed Ricky to hungry jackals in front of a live audience. He has also hired Marianne to find Jonathan Starling, another teen. In the meantime, Jonathan's mentally ill father, Alain, has to be hospitalized. Jonathan finds that his father has been studying Darkside and has a werewolf friend there named Carnegie. Jonathan manages to cross over to Darkside, find Carnegie, and enlist his help. For unknown reasons, Vendetta, an evil vampire from Darkside, is after Alain. Jonathan frees Ricky from Grimshaw's clutches and then rushes back to Lightside in order to save his father from Vendetta. During the story, it is revealed that both Jonathan and Ricky are "crossbreeds," half-Darksider and half-Lightsider. All ends well, but unanswered questions abound, and the stage is set for a sequel. Becker writes a bold, fun, action-packed fantasy that will keep readers on the edges of their seats. His story line is complex without being confusing, and his main characters are quite appealing. This novel is a good choice for reluctant readers and younger Harry Potter fans.-Dotsy Harland.

Contemporary gothic horror of the juiciest kind. In modern-day London, a perfumed woman with fluorescent hair abducts 13-year-old Ricky. The narrative then switches to Jonathan, an independent 14-year-old whose father suffers bouts of mental illness or "darkening." As the kidnappers pursue Jonathan, he pursues his father's obsession, a place called Darkside that " tears pieces of your soul away.' " Fluorescent Marianne and her goons follow Jonathan to Darkside, where he finds a friend of his father's who happens to be a werewolf (" wereman,' " corrects Carnegie after nearly eating Jonathan). Darkside, reached by damp pipe or abandoned tube station, is a grisly and fetid alternate London. Ghoulish figures in stovepipe hats throng the sidewalks, kicking and elbowing; screams puncture the night; murder is ubiquitous. Two separate people have put a price on Jonathan's head, one to place him in a death menagerie with Ricky. Becker switches threads rarely but with perfectly timed precision. Revenge upon those who escape immediate harm looms large for the next installment, as does Jonathan and Ricky's mysterious Darkside heritage. Grounded, yet delectably lurid. (Fantasy. 10-14)

Welcome to Darkside, a seedy, seventeenth-century underworld hidden in modern London. Created in Jack the Ripper's heyday, Darkside is elusive, magical, addictive, and dangerous, capable of driving Londoners who stumble upon it mad they survive. Fourteen-year-old Jonathan Starling discovers Darkside and its connection to his family while searching for the key to his father's mental illness. Soon, Jonathan is running for his life, helped by prickly Carnegie, a private detective (and a werewolf) who knows his father. Jonathan proves to be capable, quick thinking, and tenacious and has good survival skills in a place where encounters with starving barracudas or wealthy, malevolent vampires are everyday occurrences. This fast-paced, unrelentingly entertaining story has plenty of suspense and lots of scares; there are a number of side plots, but the narrative never becomes confusing. For more glimpses of a dangerously magical England, suggest Chris Wooding's The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray (2004), Joseph Delaney's The Last Apprentice series, or, for older readers, Simon Green's Nightside series.

Eighteen haiku tell about one year in the life of a contemporary family. Karas divides the poems into four seasonal sections, illustrating each haiku with single- or double-page spreads. His art captures moments in time and conveys, with color and light, sensory detail. This contemplative and lushly illustrated book adds a new dimension to the usual study of the haiku form.