The Unspoken

The Unspoken

by Thomas Fahy

Simon & Schuster, 2008

ISBN 9781416940074

166 pages

2 (out of 5) STARS

Plot Summary

Five years ago six children who lived with their families in Jacob Crawley's Divine Path religious cult escaped by burning the compound to the ground. They are reunited at the funeral of Jacob's son, Harold. Harold died of drowning -- his worst fear -- even though his body was found miles from any water. And it seems that each of the teens is marked for murder -- as Crawley had predicted years earlier. Can any of these teens save themselves?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2777561-the-unspoken

Critical Evaluation

I did not like this book. Granted I do not like nor read much horror, so technically this book may have great appeal to some other readers. Though, I must say, it does not have a great rating on www.goodreads.com. I do find religious cults to be interesting. I also found it interesting that the six surviving members were told they would die from their worst fear within five years time. And the prediction began to come true. All of those things were interesting and had great potential for a good book. However, the flashbacks to their time in the cult were very graphically violent. I do not do well with violence against children. I also do not do with violence at all. I believe the horror genre often has quite a bit of personal violence.

Reader’s Annotation

Six young members of a religious cult are told they will be dead in 5 years.

Information about the author

Thomas Fahy studied literature and music at the University of California at Davis, and he received a Ph.D. in literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has published ten books and currently lives in New York, where he is a professor of literature and Director of the American Studies Program at Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus.

http://www.redroom.com/author/thomas-fahy/bio

Genre

horror. thriller.

Curriculum Ties

I cannot think of any curriculum ties for this book. Religious fanaticism maybe.

Booktalking Ideas

*Your death has been predicted to occur within the next five years. What will you do now?

Reading Level

age 12 and up

Challenge Issues

This book has quite a bit of graphic violence against children.

It is best to be prepared for a book challenge before it is challenged. It is important to read the book all the way through and to have read both positive and negative reviews of the book from professionals and teens as well. Be aware of the library’s collection policy. Also check for any awards the book may have won. It would be beneficial to see how other library’s may have handled challenges for this particular book in the past.

Why Included?

In trying to have a well-rounded collection of books represented a horror book was in order!