Triskellion

Opening Sentence: "...The creature drove its body again and again into the glass, unable to understand why the air had suddenly become impossible to move through, desperately searching for some way out..."

This is a seriously good YA paranormal thriller. Author Mark Billingham and television scriptwriter Peter Cocks collaborate on their debut novel, the first of a planned fantasy trilogy. I am actually a big fan of Billingham and when I found out he was half of the pseudonym Will Peterson, I figured if this book was half as good then it should be OK, in fact it was much more than OK!!

Fourteen-year-old New York City twins Rachel and Adam are uprooted to spend the summer in the home of a grandmother they barely know in the aftermath of show more their parent's divorce. But when they arrive at the idyllic English village they are stunned at the hostile reception they receive. Triskellion is one weird village, the day they arrive the train station is empty, village streets are deserted, they are punched in the nose by two youths and even their frail Granny Root is oddly distant. Things take a darker path the very next day when Rachel and Adam see the two youths who attacked them being severely beaten by a dark mysterious person deep in the woods the next day.

Why do the villages hate the twins so much? Who is Gabriel and what is his connection to the bees? Does any of the mysteries have to do with the ancient chalk circle just outside the village? Dangerous gun-toting residents, a mysterious past, and some very big secrets mean Rachel and Adam will have to use their wits and extremely good intuition to survive long enough to solve the mystery that has been kept secret for over 2,000 years. show less

Posted to my Livejournal in January 2009:

The book jacket caught me on this one, both the cover and the description of the plot. And I liked the book, though I'm not exactly sure what the hell happened at every turn. I don't think authors should hit their readers over the head with What It All Means, but in this case, I needed the various mysteries to be tied together a little bit more. Twins Rachel and Adam are sent to stay in a tiny village in England with their grandmother while their parents divorce, and this village has a disturbing past which Rachel and Adam, because of their birth, seem destined to uncover for all to see. A preternatural young boy named Gabriel makes friends with the twins, but he has an agenda that is opposite of show more the villagers -- he wants to uncover the truth, they want to hide it. There's a three-sided blade called the triskellion, a chalk circle on a hill under which something important is buried, a TV crew angling to film an archeological dig of this hill, and villagers meeting in secret in the woods to do terrible things. Oh, and there are bees -- lots of bees. Sometimes, this really reminded me of The Wicker Man, but in a good way, not in a "Nicolas Cage running through through the woods like an idiot and falling into one incomprehensible plot hole after another" way. There's the whole bee thing, and the close-mouthed small town villagers with a dark secret, and the pagan rituals, and wow, this really is like The Wicker Man. Except this has an alien. I think. Like I said, I'm not sure what happened at the end. I wouldn't say this is an excellent read, because the writing was a little flat, but I did really find the mystery intriguing, and I liked the heavy, atmospheric mood, so if there is a second book like Amazon says there is, I'll read it . show less

Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com

In the midst of their parents' ugly divorce, fourteen-year-old twins Adam and Rachel Newman are sent to their mother's home village in Great Britain to stay with their grandmother - but Triskellion proves to be no safe harbor amidst the storm.

From the moment of their arrival, the twins are treated with suspicion and hostility, with every building in town marked by a strange "symbol of three intersecting crescents forming a continuous pointed clover leaf, bound by a large circle." It is from this symbol (a triskellion) that the village takes its name.

Essentially cut off from civilization with no telephone, Internet, and hardly any television, the boys' suspicions deepen further after the pair meets show more Gabriel - a boy their age who seems to vanish at will. When a communiqué of the local beekeeper thrusts the isolated hamlet into the spotlight, Adam and Rachel discover there's more than a town's secret at stake as their entire world is rocked to its foundation.

Will Peterson makes his young adult debut with a page-turning, nail-biting, two-for-one special. Part paranormal, part mystery, TRISKELLION is unlike any other book in its genre. Peterson explores legends of the past, the psychic connection between twins, archaeology, and prophecy in one fell swoop.

While I still don't understand the significance of the bees, or how they're tied to certain characters' psychic abilities, and I was somewhat disappointed to find more questions than answers at the end, TRISKELLION kept me up for three nights straight, desperate to find out what happened. Good thing there's a sequel. show less

While nothing about this book, from the plot to the prose, stands out as amazing, it was a fun and pleasantly suspenseful read. Older readers (adults I mean) will probably figure out the central mystery fairly early on, but good pacing and writing keep the reader engaged. I wanted a deeper explanation of the "ancient secret" the novel uncovers, and I thought the two main characters sometimes did and said things out of character for American 14-year-olds, but I expect that these quibbles won't concern the middle school readers I'll pass this book on to.

argh. I didn't really like this book and I just wanted to find out what happened and be done with it. And then the last 10 pages were actually interesting and now I have to read the damn sequel. grrr.

American twins Rachel and Adam have been sent to stay with their grandmother in a little English village called Triskellion. They start having dreams and meet a rather mysterious boy, Gabriel. They slowly start to discover some of the secrets of the village and become friends with an archeologist who is digging under the local chalk circle. This is the sort of book that will have turning the pages to find out what will happen and what it all means but at the end many question are still unanswered. This is the first book in a trilogy so hopefully all will be revealed by the end however I think Peterson may have tried to cram too many different threads into this book - archeology, Celtic myths, aliens, bees and psychic bond between twins.

This is a fast-paced adventure that middle readers ought to love. When their parents divorce, Adam and Rachel Newman are sent to England to live with their grandmother in the little town of Triskellion. Triskellion is a town with a rich past, full of secrets which some prefer remain hidden. Sinister townsfolk, ancient artifacts, and supernatural elements combine to give Adam and Rachel a summer they will never forget. Adam and Rachel are appealing characters and easy to identify with, but some of the villains seemed a bit caricatured. I wasn't convinced by the way the archaeological excavations were portrayed, and the ending left me a little bit cold. However, as a whole this book reminded me of some of my favorite readers from my show more preteen and early adolescent years, such as Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Shadows on the Wall, and I think it could very well get kids interested in learning more about Britain's rich prehistoric past. show less