Night of the Soul Stealer (The Last Apprentice Series #3) » (Unabridged, 5 CDs, 6 hrs.)

Joseph Delaney lives in Lancashire, England, in the middle of boggart territory.

It's going to be a long, hard, cruel winter. And there couldn't be a worse place to spend it than up on Anglezarke.

Thomas Ward is the apprentice for the local Spook, who captures witches and drives away ghosts. As the weather gets colder and the nights draw in, the Spook receives an unexpected visitor. Tom doesn't know who the stranger is or what he wants, but the Spook suddenly decides it's time to travel to his winter house, Anglezarke. Tom has heard it will be a bleak, forbidding place, and that menacing creatures are starting to stir somewhere on the moors nearby.

Can anything prepare Tom for what he finds there? What if the rumors about the evil beast called the Golgoth are true? And how much danger will Tom be in if the secrets the Spook has been trying to hide from the world are revealed?

Children's Literature

Readers will not be disappointed by this chilling continuation of The Last Apprentice series. More tightly written then the second, this third book returns to the thrill and action of the series opening. As winter approaches, Tom, Alice, and the Spook leave the comfort of Chipenden and head north to Anglezarke, where the battle with the Dark is more intense. It is in the cold of Angelzarke that they meet Meg Skelton, the lamia witch loved by the Spook, as well as the mysterious Morgan, a former apprentice of the Spook. Both cause Tom to wonder about his master s past indiscretions and his current ability to think clearly and objectively. In spite of the maturity and confidence he has gained in his months as an apprentice, Tom is confused by the deception and mystery surrounding the Spook s former life and blinded by the tragedy that strikes his own life. Delaney succeeds in creating nail-biting suspense, as Tom tries to figure out who to trust and where his loyalties belong. Fans of this series will not want to miss this latest adventure. Reviewer: Heather Christensen