Skinned by Adam Slater

The Shadowing series. Egmont, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-4052-5364-2
(Age: 11+) Having defeated the first wave of creatures from the netherworld, the hunter Fetch, with the help of the spirit Jacob and his dog Doom, Callum Scott continues to battle the next onslaught of creatures as The Shadowing begins. This time, Callum needs to summon all of his chime child powers to locate and defeat the witch-like creature Black Annis who lures, murders and devours children. Aware of his need to improve his knowledge and skills, Callum employs his spirit ally Jacob to train him during the night and his new friend, and supernatural authority, Mellissa to teach him the knowledge he needs to fulfil his chime child duties. As more mysterious disappearances of children are reported across England, Callum and Melissa begin to realise the gateway to the Netherworld is opening at a faster rate than first thought, and that the Black Annis is not the only creature that is intent on devastating the world of the living. A coven of evil creatures is planning something much more sinister.
Like the first book in The Shadowing series there are quite gruesome descriptions of the murders of children, which seem more explicit than the first novel, and are no doubt the aspect of the book that makes it most attractive to upper primary and lower secondary school readers. This said, younger readers should be warned that this imagery could cause nightmares.
Adam Fitzgerald