This is a really creepy story about a 14 year old orphan who, after a few skirmishes with the law, ends up being placed in an experimental program designed to help troubled urban youth find themselves again in a rural setting. Unfortunately, the really creepy woman who takes him in seems to have been watching him for most of his life, and the really creepy people in the small village all seem to know why he is there. Every time he tries to escape, he is found and brought back, and everyone who tries to help him ends up dead. It's a never-ending nightmare full of black magic, but luckily our protagonist has a few talents within him that, once recognized, he can begin to control.

It has been a long time since I have tried to read this series but this one is as great as I remembered looking forward to reading more soon. The characters were interesting especially Matt he starts out as your down on his luck in trouble character that learns more about himself along with uncovering something that should be impossible. The plot is interesting it starts with the event that gets Matt in trouble it then goes to Matt going to an strange place that he can't escape from things just keep getting weirder other things happen Matt gets help other things happen the story is told looking forward to where the story goes next.

I'm going with 3.5 stars on this one. Standing alone it would be an okay read, but as the start of a bigger story, it's enticing.

I have had this on my TBR since it first came out in 2006! Oh my god I did not think it was that long. I just remember buying it new and haven't read it since, it has just moved around in various different spots in my room. Well the time is now, I have FINALLY gotten round to reading it!

In this book we follow Matt, his parents died in a car crash and after getting in trouble he is forced to go to a foster home in Yorkshire - a town in the middle of nowhere where everyone in the village isn't quite right. Matt then stumbles across something way bigger than he ever could have anticipated, and he may be the only one that can save the world.

This book is pretty much action all the way through, for a teen/YA novel I certainly wasn't expecting it to be that interesting and fast paced. I really enjoyed it and was hooked from the start. 

However, although it had everything I like in a book (fast paced, bit of magic, fantasy etc.) there just seemed to be something missing. I did enjoy it but it just lacked something which made it memorable, even doing this review I had to reread the synopsis because other than remembering it was about a gate I couldn't really remember what had happened. 

I do remember that I liked this book, I liked how although it was magical and we were from the typical perspective of the 'chosen one', they didn't automatically know how to control their power, they could just try and figure out how to use them and they didn't always work. I liked reading the development and seeing the character making the mistakes before fully understanding what was going on. 

Overall yeah I liked it, fast paced, something a little bit different while still incorporating your typical chosen one trope. I liked how the character developed and not everything went to plan. However unfortunately for me the story just didn't stick with me, I certainly won't be continuing on with the series. Pretty forgetful (even if I did enjoy the story) however I would recommend the book if anyone wants a fast paced book about magic and a young boy trying to control it and stop something bad from happening

Fast listen, as I listened to this via audible. I was suprised this was a bit scary for a pre-teen novel. But then again I was easily frightened as a kid. But I cannot recommend this to Janeen at this time, she is 11. The level would work, but not the subject matter. Overall good story - not sure I will inves.t in the series. This was a special - buy the first in the series for $4.95.

A 6th grade student did a book talk on this book recently. She did such a great job of selling it I went out and bought a copy. I'm so glad I did. There was action and suspense from the very beginning. Horowitz has great pacing, he set the story up without it becoming boring. Also, even though it's a "kids" book I feel like it has some good vocabulary and adult ideas which kept me interested. I can't wait to read the others in the series.

We listened to this book on two recent road trips. Really enjoyed it. I can't wait to continue the series. The main character, a boy, has some kind of talent (telekenisis? more) but is still discovering it in this introductory novel. Portraits that watch you, a cat that's much more than a cat, freaking creepy hellhounds, a newspaper reporter that's initially indifferent and then quite invested; this is a good one.

(We actually listened to it on a Playaway player, but GoodReads doesn't seem to know about them. I adore Playaways.)