Dread Watch by Jared Agard can best be described as a supernatural thriller for middle graders.

Main character Caleb Meyer is struggling with unresolved trauma stemming from his father’s accident. When he pranks a bunch of bullying classmates while they are in a haunted house, he discovers a pocket watch in an old trunk. Though he leaves the watch there, he begins to obsess about it, certain that if he can have the watch in his possession, all his insecurities will vanish. But the watch is just a gateway to something more sinister: a dark world inhabited by the souls of countless victims, and terrorized by a malevolent creature known as Darkwater.

The story is fairly gripping, enough that I found myself flipping to the next page to see what might happen next. It is written for a younger audience, so the language isn’t prosy or beautiful, but written to enforce action. The characters felt a little two dimensional, in my opinion, but the story itself is fairly solid and it is an engaging read. Overall, I think it would appeal to action/adventure readers, particularly young boys, and for anyone who has read The Ash House by Angharad Walker or The Worlds We Leave Behind by A. F. Harrold.

Review copy provided by Chicken Scratch Books

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 11 mild obscenities;1 scatological word.

Violence/Gore: Many instances of violence and gore, including but not limited to multiple moments where characters are subjected to a traumatic replay of a devastating train wreck; a character often lies to his parent; report of bullying; report of a character going crazy and threating harm to family members before crashing his bike through a window; characters are scared of a haunted house; a boy has a nightmare; a boy has a black eye from a fight; a boy suspects a girl is lying about something; a boy gets angry; a character feels afraid of their dad; a boy yells at his mother; discussing of a past train wreck and various hauntings; a character is attacked by shadows; a ghost urges a boy to steal a powerful artifact; two characters feel their life force sucked into an object; characters are trapped in a supernatural plane; characters are in danger of losing their lives; characters are frequently chased by an evil character known as Darkwater; characters leak black essence from their skin when they are afraid; a fortress’ walls displays screaming faces and demons; characters are trapped in mental torture chambers; characters are attacked and fall into darkness; report of a murdered woman; characters must face their fears to escape a prison; a man uses children to manipulate a woman; characters use fear as a weapon; a man is held and dragged away.

Sex/Nudity: Many instances, including but not limited to a few times where characters hold hands; a boy is told to tell a girl he loves her; a boy often stares at a girl he likes; a girl tells how a father left her mother to marry another woman; characters are teased about being in love; a young man and young woman kiss several times; a male and female character are described as being “lip-locked”; a woman reports being loved by a madman.

Mature Subject Matter:

Divorce; Death of family members; Murder; Suicide; Hauntings; Train wreck.

Drug/Alcohol Use:

None