Min’s Monster

Lila L. Pinord
Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc. (2007)
ISBN 9781589399914
Reviewed by Lynn Bee for RebeccasReads (5/08)

The other inmates at the minimum-security prison farm know Bruno as spooky and strange. The authorities don’t know it yet, but he’s a serial killer living under an assumed name. And when he breaks out, during an extreme winter storm, a young girl named Min is in serious danger.

The action takes place in a primitive Quinnu fishing village in Washington State during the 1950s. The inner beast within us all is shown to create both good and evil. Tribal legends color the action and coincidence and gut feelings direct the plot.

While the setting is interesting, author Pinord leaves the reader with a sense of uneasiness as well as many unanswered questions.

The killer cut out his own mother’s tongue so she couldn’t tell on him, but she could read the newspapers and presumably write, so why did she fail to notify the authorities? Min escapes her house once, hiding behind the woodpile while the madman gets more fuel for the fire. He doesn’t see her and reenters the house. Yet instead of running across the field to a neighbor’s home, she climbs back in a window for warmer clothing. The village has houses without electricity and running water, yet the deputy feels someone may call in information about the escapee.

Bruno is a rampaging bear of a man in both size and spirit. The mystery of his malevolence is accepted, rather than explained. Deputy Adam Cooper fights his way through the snow, toward the danger he only senses. He seems to be an average nice guy, caught up in the hunt for an escaped prisoner without real information about his whereabouts or evil crimes. Preteen Min uses every bit of spunk and knowledge she possesses to avoid the demon who has taken refuge in her cabin. Her parents have left her alone, but their absence is extended by the storm.

While the suspense in “Min’s Monster” is palpable and the Indian legends intriguing, author Pinord could have skipped the happily-ever-after ending for all the peripheral characters.