Synopsis: The Furies are hunters. They punish people for the crimes of their parents. And now they're coming for Melanie. They've slipped into her thoughts, into her dreams and under her skin. Her only hope is to find out the dark secrets of her mother's past - before the Furies get their revenge.

Review: Kay herself says that she was inspired to write this book because 'Ever since I read about The Furies as a child, they've terrified me. They had no compassion, no sense of fair play, and you couldn't fight back. They were the three merciless goddesses of vengeance, born from the blood of Uranus; they were the Daughters of Night, the Daughters of Darkness, who drove people mad...'.

Kay is renowned for her full-length chilling fantasy thrillers, and in Fury distills her talent into a tiny novel of considerable power. Unusually for a Barrington Stoke publication, the central character is female, and the past crime which draws the Furies down upon her was perpetrated by girls. There is also a strong male character in Simon though, and teenagers for whom shorter, action-packed novels are more attractive than lengthy volumes will find that, once they have read it, there is enormous potential for further thought,discussion and research about the issues it raises.

Traditionally we think of our parents (especially our mothers) as having been (unlike us) perfect children and teenagers. This novel shows just how wrong we can be!

2008-07-21