The 'Flinch' app craze has swept through the students of Dread Wood High. The more you scare your friends, the more points on the app you get. At first it's fun, but soon fun is replaced by fear - especially when most rounds seem to start in the eerie Dread Wood, where the teens were forced to defeat killer spiders in the previous instalment of the horror series. The book remains on school property though using it in a very different way, referencing the previous book and keeping some of the themes, but still feeling like it's own thing. A slightly-overused school with leaking taps and scuffed floors? It's both so banal a setting (most of us can see our schools in it) and yet unsettling at the same time. The use of the fair at the end was very good. I loved how apocalyptic it all went, the chaos set against a slightly sketchy, neon-light fairground. This book does have a nice dollop of humour and, under it's spidery body, there is a heart and this does touch on dark subject matter such as child poverty, bullying, disability, pressure from parents, and a few others, which shows that our leads aren't bad, but are fleshed out and there are reasons for the way they behave and react. They know each other by name, reputation or being in classes together at primary school, but have barely spoken to each other in years. There are SO MANY references and I love love it! Scooby Doo, talk about my sweet raptors (and then decided who is who and finding out who really are the raptors), Jurassic Park/World, there is mention of anime (Gustav, yas), Harley Quinn, and more. I had so much fun finding all the references and then squeeing in delight at them. It made the book even more fun to read.

Angelo, Gus, Naira, Hallie and Collette set about to try and find a way to bring the deadly duo down, but once the Latchitts discover they're onto them, Club Loser is in grave danger. They'll stop at nothing until their evil master plan is complete. The gang find themselves in several spine-chilling situations but the chapter in the girls' toilets was so freaky! It's gruesome and creepy and funny, everything I've come to hope for and expect, as she just gets better and better with each book. I looked at the cover of this book (which is gorgeous) again after I got partway through and realised that I should have noticed that there were loads of spiders all over the book. I didn’t notice this, which meant that I had a very creepy surprise when I realised that the kids were facing off against giant spiders. I absolutely hate spiders, so I was very tense – much more than a middle-grade book can usually pull out of me. It’s a sci-fi style horror with giant spiders and mad scientists, and I loved the way that it made my skin crawl. There’s plenty of humour to balance out the scares and this is the perfect book for those of us who loved goosebumps and want to relive that feeling. Have you ever seen the film Eight Legged Freaks? I wouldn’t blame you if you hadn’t. It came out in 2002 and was only okay, but this book is like a small scale version of that. The monsters are dog sized sliders, and they’re pretty cool. The explanation for how they became dog sized is nonsense, but it doesn’t have to be scientifically coherent for it to be cool, and these badboys are cool. Also, apparently Scarlett Johannsson was in Eight Legged Freaks. I suppose not even she is immune to being in a bad film. I'm embarrassed to say that I was incredibly well-behaved at school. I don't enjoy being in trouble, or feeling like I'm doing something wrong, so if I'm going to break a rule, it has to be for something I truly believe in. The only time I got in trouble was in A-level history, and that blew up into an enormous drama that resulted in me withdrawing from the class and trying to teach myself the rest of the syllabus. I got a 'B'. And I stand by my actions!This fast paced, spine chilling, gripping, horror/adventure with a added dash of humour is the first in a series and introduces the reader to The Loser Club, Angelo, Gustav, Hallie and Niara. A group of twelve year old class mates whose Saturday morning detention turns into a terrifying battle for survival within the grounds of their school Dead Wood High. My thanks goes to The Write Reads for organizing and allowing me to participate in this blog tour, and thank you Farshore for providing me with a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction. Hallie, Gustav, Naira and Angelo don't usually hang out together at school, let alone on a Saturday. But these four teens are on detention together for their behaviour in their school canteen.

In the story, we follow Hallie, Gustav, Naira and Angelo as they are forced to come into their school – Dread Wood High on a Saturday for detention. The foursome think things couldn’t get any worse, that is until their teacher is dragged underground, animals go missing and the creepy caretaker follows them humming the tune to Incy Wincy spider. The four of them soon discover that horrors are lurking within the school, getting stronger by the minute. The group must work together to put an end to the horror, and find out why they are being watched.

The banter between these teens is often funny, even in the middle of the all-out action. The relationship that builds between this mix of personalities is heartening. Full of wonderful flawed characters that you empathise with and a good dollop of humour. Jen is an incredible storyteller.' - Ness Harbour, author of Flight I would HIGHLY recommend this book to all, and thanks to The Write Reads tour for allowing me to be part of the tour! Something else touched upon but not explored in great detail is Gus and his stoma bag. I liked the way this was handled. He has one, he jokes about it, it's there, but it's not a huge issue. It just is. It's cleverly done and I'm sure it'll find its audience who'll really understand and appreciate it, as well as those who go away thinking about it. The second book in the Dread Wood series and this time an app, hide and seek, clowns, more scary things! Perfect for Halloween!