Cry Havoc

Grade 7 Up In this suspenseful horror cum problem novel, the characters are believable and interesting, as is most of the plot. A top secret government research project on genetic manipulation that was rumored to have involved dogs has been abandoned. Suddenly the town is besieged by wild animal attacks. The government insists that all the dogs were destroyed, and there the matter rests, even as another person is brutally killed. Town attorney Jim Cooper tries to quell panic while coping with his 15-year-old daughter Cathy, recently expelled from prep school, and his wife Joan, who has been in and out of mental hospitals for years. Characterization is excellent, particularly that of Cathy, who is afraid that she'll eventually become mentally ill like her mother. The ``horror'' part of the novel, while certainly suspenseful, is flawed. No one ever suspects the government of covering up a project gone bad, or even asks why the dogs in the research project were destroyed. In addition, it occurs to only one scientist who had been involved in the genetic research that it is indeed ``his'' dog responsible for the horrible deaths. Surely other scientists would begin to wonder if one of their dogs had escaped and was doing what it had been bred to dokill. In spite of this flaw, horror fans will enjoy this gripping suspenseful tale. Elizabeth Mellett, Brookline Public Library, Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In an opening designed to manipulate the reader's emotions rather than draw them out, a savage dog ravages a toddler, and the overly familiar plot of this book is immediately apparent. Genetically engineered killer dogs are on the loose in this small Long Island town, released upon the unsuspecting populace by a disgruntled trainer with a Nazi past. It's only teenager Cathy Cooper, rebellious daughter of the town attorney, who seems truly to understand the nature of the threat. The novel's climax is predictably the confrontation between Cathy, her father, boyfriend and the dogs, and in a Boys from Brazil-like ending, the potential for more danger is implied. Sandwiched between scenes of dogs ripping into townspeople are the encapsulated relationships between Cathy and her parents. The story is told from varying points of view, with most of the characters barely fleshed out before the monsters appear. It is a plot and treatment that seems far more suited to a mass market format than to this hardcover edition. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.