Darkside by Tom Becker

Becker, Tom. 2008. Darkside.

This one was a nice book for the R.I.P. 3 Challenge. It was an adventuresome story of two boys who happen to be half-and-half though they don't know it. Half darksider. Half lightsider. What is the Darkside? In this case, it is an underworld of London. Old Queen Victoria cleaned up the ton alright, but she sentenced all the lowlifes to Darkside...and placed them under the leadership of Jack the Ripper. Now all this time later (the book is set in modern times), the descendants of all those poor criminals are still confined to this region...a place most folks don't know about at all, a place where most are fortunate not to stumble in. But these two boys Jonathan Starling and Ricky Thomas aren't quite so lucky.

Ricky Thomas is kidnapped from a school field trip. He's taken--quite against his will--into Darkside. Jonathan foiled the first attempt of his kidnappers, but ultimately, he ends up being chased into the Darkside anyway. Unlike Ricky, he knows what he is in for...at least a little bit. His father, Jonathan's father, is thought to be a bit crazy, a bit insane with his mutterings about Darkside, etc. But these mutterings and his father's writings help the boy out in the long run.
Jonathan is seeking the help of a wereman named Carnegie. (The term werewolf being insulting to him.)

It's an interesting book full of plot twists (some original, some not) and containing lots of adventure--fights, chases, close calls, etc. And it's the first in a new series.

Generally speaking, I liked it.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews