The strange title of Arthur G. Slade’s first novel (pronounced draw-ger) comes from Norse mythology and refers to the old Icelandic name for those who return from the dead because they have too much hate in them to allow rest. The story concerns three young Americans who come to spend their summer holiday with their grandfather in Gimli, Manitoba. They expect some scary legends from the old man, but not the sense of foreboding they encounter in the town and the strange happenings in the nearby woods. Almost before they have time to unpack, they are caught up in danger and ghostly warnings.

Draugr has all the classic elements of a horror story: empty graves, mysterious creatures wandering the night, and an unresolved disappearance. From the opening sentences – “Grandpa was going to murder us. Not with an ax. Not with a shovel. But with words” – the reader is gripped and hurled through a series of ever more frightening events until the horrifying resolution. Each of the 33 short chapters delivers a fright or mystery, and Slade’s taut, clean writing propels the story briskly and believably.

The main characters are well drawn, especially the heroine, Sarah, who has mystical ties to the ancient myth that seems to be triggering recent events. A strong child, she’s well able to stand up to the evil in the tale even though she receives help from her dead ancestors and a local boy who provides romantic interest.

Draugr sits solidly in the preteen horror genre yet stands above much of its competition in writing and plot development. I have reservations about giving it to an impressionable eight-year-old for bedtime reading, but older kids in the target group should get a lot of pleasurable shivers from it.