James A. Moore, Rabid Growth

James A. Moore, Rabid Growth - Eighteen-year-old Chris Corin is having a very bad year. After his mother's death, he became the legal guardian for his fifteen-year-old sister Brittany who is going through puberty and challenging his authority every chance she can. His maternal grandmother, who he has never met and who his mother never talked about, challenges him for custody of Brittany. He is the winner of millions of dollars in the lottery but with all the paperwork that has to be taken care of, he barely has enough money to buy food.

There has been an enormous increase in the homeless population and the men are violent. One of the men who became extremely violent is taken to jail where he dies. The police lose the body and later Chris sees him walking the streets. Chris' friend Jerry, as well as other people in town, who were affected by the events that took place last year (see POSSESSIONS) are changing, becoming something other than human. Chris tries to help his friend while trying to prevent being killed or worse by the others that have changed into something alien.

James A. Moore is one of the best new horror writers of the twenty-first century as he can hold his own with the greats including Clive Barker, Bentley Little, Stephen King and Robert Mccammon. Be advised that this book should be read with all the lights on and they should not be turned off even when the reader goes to sleep. The story starts off in a mundane fashion but changes so subtly readers will feel they are in the Twilight Zone without an idea of how they got there.

Leisure, April 2005, $6.99, 323 pp.

ISBN 0843951729

Harriet Klausner