Black Cairn Point by Claire McFall

Hot Key Books, 2015. ISBN 9781471404870
(Age: Yr 10-12) A real page turner. Themes include: psychological thriller, supernatural, pagan ghosts, truth, teenage relationships. A great psychological, supernatural thriller. The setting is a remote beach in Australia where there are propertied ruins of a pagan existence. Five friends set out on a weeks holiday to have a break from school and the mundane life at home. Little did they know when they set off that not all of them would return!
The story weaves between the current day and happenings on the secluded beach. In the present Heather, who is in a psychiatric hospital, is trying to prove what she believes happened on their five day ordeal. The only person who can verify her story is Dougie who is in a non-induced coma.
All starts well with the teens enjoying the trill of an adventure. Tensions are raised after a hike where 3 of the teens find what they believe to be an ancient brooch from a Pagan burial ground. This is when the two stories start to differ. Heather has one supernatural explanation of menacing evil while Dougie's version is quite different. What is not under suspicion is what happened to their friends.
Wendy Rutten