It’s the last day of school and Archie Coombes is looking forward to his summer break with his friends, Chris, Oliver and Athena. The anticipation would’ve been perfect if it wasn’t for a penny on the front doormat of his home. He could see immediately that it wasn’t a dropped coin, but a placed one – right in the centre of the O of his family name. When it instantly reappears after he’d tossed it in the garden – in exactly the same place, he knows something truly weird is happening.

The strange man in an old-fashioned brown suit, staring at his front door in the dead of night, doesn’t help either. But this is nothing to what’s coming to Archie’s seaside town of Seaham.

Seaham’s always been a quiet town on the Oregon coast, but job opportunities and excitement have risen due to the development of land right by the sea. It’s on private land, belonging to the original settler family of Charles Langdon. Seaham streets are named after the family members even including his dog, but no-one has lived in the crumbling Langdon mansion for decades.

When caves “like Swiss cheese…” are discovered while excavating the cliffs, the development grinds to a halt. Some are unhappy about the possible loss of money flooding into Seaham, but some seem terrified by the actual digging itself.

Archie’s friend Oliver is one of the worried. He has a feeling something isn’t right. Prone to seizures that doctors have labelled epilepsy over the years, and also known for his feelings amongst his small friend group, they brush his worries off. Until at least, worse problems rise around them involving the entire town.

The brown suited man Archie saw that first night of unease, is only one of three. They have been in Seaham generations before, and while they observe the inhabitants, they have returned with a mission in mind with only Archie and his friends to stand in their way.

Intriguing, full-of-action and positively creepy, The Stars Did Wander Darkling is a gripping read. It immediately brought to mind Stephen King’s IT, and Stephen Spielberg’s The Goonies as it is based around a group of friends growing up in the 1980’s, using bikes for their transport and combined courage and loyalty to one another, to defeat evil.

Growing up in this era connected me to this novel, and I think its middle grade horror label can and should be stretched into young adult readers. There are many disturbing scenes so this is not for the faint hearted or gentle 9+ reader. The build up to the final clash between good and evil is delicious, but the ending is one to ponder. Hopefully there will be a sequel to explain this further.

Told in third person from multiple viewpoints in Chapters named from Friday to following Thursday.

Author – Colin Meloy

Age – 9+

(2023, Action, Coastal, Seaside town, Development, Caves, Evil, Family, Adventure, Growing up, Friendship, Body snatchers, Crumbling mansion, Historical, 1980’s, 1987, Murder, Mystery, Video, Movies, Betamax, Loyalty, Courage, Siblings)