The Accursed Dawn — Glenn Stuart

Shortly before his fifteenth birthday, Max leaves the only home he has known to move, together with his family, to a lonely and remote island in the middle of the English Channel. His new residence turns out to be an apartment in a converted block of buildings that used to be an old military hospital. What happened there during WWII, the unspeakable horrors and torture that the inmates were subjected to, soon becomes clear to Max as he begins to uncover the truth through a series of grim and grisly incidents. Who was the Commandant at the time who perpetrated the horrors which sealed the doom of so many unfortunates? And how are the secretive and powerful men, who seem to control every aspect of the island's life, connected with what really went on in that hellish place? As Max becomes increasingly embroiled in the mystery of what happened his life, and those of his friends, are endangered. It seems that someone wants the secrets to remain hidden and will stop at nothing to keep it that way. From the very beginning Glenn Stuart sets a chilling atmosphere, and the intrigue and mystery gains pace from page to page as he increases the tension to dizzying heights. With the addition of ghostly apparitions, weird spine-chilling incidents, and a demon quite beyond normal imagination, this author has once again surpassed himself with this thrilling tale guaranteed to send chills down the spines of adults both young and old. "The Accursed Dawn" is the prequel to "The Well of Constant Despair" but can be enjoyed entirely as a book in its own right. "Cold Hell in Darley Dene" is another very worthwhile read from the pen of this most erudite Master of mystery and horror.