Tick Tock Terror

Conor, an avid climber, works at Cliff Edge, a wall climbing venue, that caters to groups and individuals. There, Conor, who considers himself the “Climbing Fiend”, unbeatable and invincible, demonstrates his extensive skills and show-off personality. When the owner and operator of the next door amusement park invites Conor to climb “The Pendulum”, a scary ride with a ticking sound like a time-bomb, and to hide a package. Against his better judgement, Conor agrees when he is dared to make the climb. The ride is based on the Edgar Allan Poe story, “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

Pree is Conor’s next door neighbor, and she has recently been hired at the amusement park to work on displays. When Conor changes his mind about the climb and goes to tell Victor Varken, he meets Pree and realizes that his climb will help Pree keep her job. Pree shows him some display items borrowed from a university. They realize that, among the items, there is a valuable raven that has mistakenly been included in a display and that it is something which Victor intends to hide and sell rather than return. Bull, another worker at the amusement park, is enlisted by Conor to help him save the raven from Victor’s greed. However, after the climb, Conor overhears Victor on the phone telling someone that the climber is to be silenced forever. Conor takes the threat seriously and decides to trap Victor and involve the police.

The plot of Tick Tock Terror is intense with Conor being played to perform the climb, and then, realizing what has happened, he tries to make things right. The villains are easy to spot because of how they are described and via their behaviours. There is mystery as the reader realizes that Victor Varden’s last name means “hog” in German and Conor’s boss at Cliff Edge is named “Hogg”. Conor now understands that is how Victor knows about his climbing and that his boss is Victor’s brother.

Tick Tock Terror would appeal to a variety of readers, including readers of human interest, mystery, adventure and realistic fiction. Themes include friendship, ethical choices and decision-making. Tick Tock Terror, in addition to being an excellent class novel for individual reading or as a read-aloud for the intended audience, would be an excellent addition for personal, class, school and public libraries.