The Switching Hour by Damaris Young

I read this in a day- broken up by my working day- which I couldn’t wait to get through so I could get back to this fast paced, energetic and spooky tale. One to read with the light on, so deliciously spooky!! Loved it.

Amaya and little brother Kaleb live with Granny Uma in a land stricken with a serious drought. There is little food and water left and they live simply using the land and their goats. A deadly drought is creating havoc on the eco-system.

The drought is not the only deadly creature lurking in the nights though. When a drought comes, so to comes the Badeko, a stalking creature who feeds on the dreams of children.

All villagers must be locked up in their homes by the time the Switching Hour comes so the Badeko cannot steal them away. Already many families have lost a child, only to lose all memory of them by suffering from the Sorrow Sickness. The worst thing happens to Amaya when she neglects to lock the door and wakes to find Kaleb missing.

Here begins the true, heart stopping, fast paced adventure. Amaya sets off to find him and bring him home. With trusty sidekick Tau, her pet goat and new friend Mally met along the way, a series of unfortunate Badeko tricks make them learn to trust each other and protect themselves as best they can.

I loved that my heart was in my throat throughout the entire book, that I was worried to read further and that I sometimes needed to pause and catch my breath. When a book can make you feel as though you are part of the plot, it is a winner!

A brilliant book! The cover illustration by Kelsey Buzzell brings the truth of the spooky story to life and it was because of this I was immediately drawn to the book. The saying “Never Judge a book by its cover” is completely wrong in this instance- I judged it correctly and couldn’t wait to read it! I was not disappointed.

Congratulations Damaris Young on such a wonderful story!