The cover of The Replacement definitely wins the contest for creepiest book cover ever. No one else at the library even wanted to hear me talk about the story after seeing the cover. Now I, on the other hand, love the cover, and it really matches the creepiness of the tale inside. Mackie Doyle is different than everyone else in the small dismal town of Gentry. Even though it says right on the cover that he’s a replacement (a changeling, if you will), it takes a while for the reader to really understand what that means. Apparently, the town of Gentry has a dirty secret that no one has spoken out loud about for a long time, and Mackie is determined to make them face it. Because he’s the one replacement who didn’t die young like he was supposed to. Mackie can’t live with the horrors of his life anymore –his sickness at the smell of blood, the way his skin burns if he goes onto consecrated ground (awkward since his dad is a minister) – and he can’t stand watching other people suffer, like his classmate Tate, whose baby sister has just gone missing, so he finds his way underground to Mayhem and wages war with all kinds of demons to save the town of Gentry from their grasp. The underworld creatures are so creepy, and there’s romance, too. I don’t usually like horror books, but the combination with fantasy kept me from putting this one down. Review by Stacy Church
