Synopsis
Something strange is happening in town. There are constant earthquakes and the streets are flooded so that people have to wade around in the water and several houses have had their basements destroyed. In addition, the rats have started coming out of the sewers and can now be seen on the streets.
13-year-old Asta is having a hard time at school, she has no friends and Úni, who used to be her best friend, now only hangs out with the coolest gang in the class. To escape everything, Asta usually goes to the large plantation just outside town. One day she sees a girl in a yellow raincoat who observes her. It turns out to be Lóa, who has just moved to town. They become friends and life feels better. But then one day Asta dips her head under the surface of the water in the river and what she sees there changes everything. She stares into a pair of glowing eyes that sit in a grotesquely large face. A beast that lives in the water-filled tunnels under the city.
With 14 illustrations by Bárður Dal Christiansen.
Reviews
"Silja Aldudóttir excels time and time again to write scenes that make the reader go: Oh no, what is Asta doing now? Or: What will happen now? What sort of monster has she discovered this time? When one challenge is settled, the next knocks on the door, and the questions of friendship and the monster’s future are constantly shaking the ground (...) it can be read by all age groups, because there is a depth in it, an ecocriticality and existential questions giving the reader something to think about and hopefully take to heart." – Helle Thede Johansen (nlh.fo)
"With a sharp pen and inspiration from her hometown she has created a realistic world with a sinister atmosphere: The ground is shaking, rats are everywhere, basements are flooded, sewers are full to the brim and a gigantic creature is demanding resurrection." – Helena Kannuberg (Dimmalætting)
"I recommend that you read this book. It is easy to read and exiting and new things are happening constantly." – Bjalla B. Dalsgarð (STROK (Children's magazine))
"This is perhaps the best children's horror I've read this year, and is an incredibly creative and exciting middle grade book." – (https://skrekkbibliotekaren.blog/2025/08/28)
