Scowler
Imagine your father is a monster. Would that mean there are monsters inside you, too?
Nineteen-year-old Ry Burke, his mother, and his little sister eke out a living on their dying family farm. Ry wishes for anything to distract him from the grim memories of his father's physical and emotional abuse. Then a meteorite falls from the sky, bringing with it not only a fragment from another world but also the arrival of a ruthless man intent on destroying the entire family. Soon Ry is forced to defend himself by resurrecting a trio of imaginary childhood protectors: kind Mr. Furrington, wise Jesus Christ, and the bloodthirsty Scowler.
Equal parts mesmerizing and horrifying, Daniel Kraus's SCOWLER peers through a dark, warped glass at the remnants of an American dream.
"The demon offspring of Stephen King's The Shining and Hitchcock's Psycho."
MICHAEL GRANT, the Gone series
"Daniel Kraus writes raw and deft and dangerous. Consider yourself warned."
ADELE GRIFFIN, two-time National Book Award finalist
"Marvin Burke is one of the great monsters of literature, a figure of immense, credible terror and savagery." CORY DOCTOROW, Little Brother
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Boing Boing: "Marvin Burke is one of the great monsters of literature, a figure of immense, credible terror and savagery."
Publishers Weekly: "A memorably brutal assault on the senses, not for the fainthearted or delicate."
The Bulletin: "Connoisseurs of the grotesque have come to the right place, as Kraus' impeccable sense of thriller timing spins out the terror."
Stacked: "This is one of the most memorable books I've read in a long time."
School Library Journal online: "Beautiful and horrible and terrible."
Chicago Tribune: "Bound to scare up many jaw-dropping reactions."
USA Today: Scowler author on his favorite villians in lit.
Booklist interviews DK.
Bloody Disgusting: "Redefines YA horror... An indication of Kraus's virtually unlimited potential."
Rue Morgue Magazine: "It's dark, poetic, and challenging. It wields the heavy hand of choking dread and human-on-human horror."
School Library Journal: "Tense, dark, and creepy. A perfect choice for mature horror readers."
Bookshelves of Doom: "Highly recommended. Like a trip into (and then out of) hell."
Imaginary Reads: "Bloody, frightful, and shocking, filled with tension."
Bibliosaurus Text: "Readers with the stomach for the darkest spaces of the human psyche will love it. I can’t wait to see what nightmare Kraus dreams up next."
Read the short story (written in 8th grade!) that inspired Scowler!
Dear Teen Me: DK reveals the origins of Scowler.
Guys Lit Wire: "A searing portrayal of evil. Highly recommended."
The Writing Life interviews DK.
Ingram Reviews: "Kraus has produced a story of fear, pain, vulnerability, and compassion."
Locus Magazine: "Wonderfully horrifying."
Random House Audio: Listen with the Lights On: Video & sound clips from DK's books.
Huffington Post article on Scowler and meteors in fiction.
Kirkus: "A Midwestern gothic family saga that will hook readers—or scare them away."
DK answers 5 Qs for the International Reading Association.
TLT: "A novel of terror in the very truest sense of the word."
Drunken Zombie: "Kraus demonstrated a remarkable talent here."
Random Buzzers: "Kraus thrives in writing uncomfortable situations that have the reader clenching their jaws."
Arlington Public Library: "Highly recommended for connoisseurs of the disturbing."