The Pet

Fairly bland YA horror from the veteran writer-anthologizer. The town of Ashford, New Jersey, walks in terror of the Howler, a deranged ex-soldier who likes to rip throats and howl and who leaves no witnesses to his bloody murders. Meanwhile, glum, put-upon high-school student Don Boyd has problems at home and at school. His ambitious father, the school principal, is mired in contract negotiations with the teachers (the latter take out their frustrations on Don). The school's football heavies dislike Don; they bully him and arrange nasty practical jokes. Den's mother is adulterously involved with another teacher. Neither parent approves of Den's fascination with animals (Don wants to be a veterinarian), throwing out his realistic models and tearing down his posters. Soon after disposing of a schoolgirl, the Howler traps Don in the park. Later, the authorities find Don in a state of shock and, nearby, the dead Howler, thoroughly mangled. Don is acclaimed as a hero - but what's really going on? Well, one of Den's posters featured a magnificent galloping black horse; somehow, the horse has faded from the poster. . .only to show up as a looming presence snorting green fire, eager to stomp Den's tormentors.) However, the horse threatens anyone who upsets the sensitive Don, no matter how trivial the cause - and Don isn't sure he can control the creature. The horse-poster premise isn't particularly believable, and Grant makes no effort to substantiate it. Too, Don is a weak, resentful, and unsympathetic hero, and readers who easily tire of adolescent yak and agonies will soon lose interest. Still, it's all agreeably restrained and competently developed: overall, a considerable improvement on the grisly comic-book Nightmare Seasons (1982). (Kirkus Reviews)