En smakebit på søndag - The House in the Cerulean Sea

Oj vilken fart det har blivit på läsningen i januari! Hösten var ju så fruktansvärt seg, men efter nyår fick jag liksom ny energi och nu går det undan.

Just nu läser jag The House in the Cerulean Sea av T.J. Klune. Boken handlar om Linus Baker, som arbetar på The Department in Charge of Magical Youth. Hans jobb är att överse omsorgen av de många övernaturliga barn som bor på olika statliga barnhem; att se till att de har det bra och inte utgör en fara för sig själv eller andra. En dag får han en kallelse till ett möte med Extreme Upper Management, de chefer som styr över departementet, och får då veta att han ska skickas ut på ett alldeles särskilt och mycket hemligt uppdrag som rör en grupp extra farliga barn.

He flipped open the first file.

    Attached to the top was a photograph of a young boy of perhaps six or seven years of age. He was smiling rather devilishly. He was missing his two front teeth, his hair was a mess, sticking up all over the place, and his eyes were - 

    Well. They looked as if they were suffering from red-eye effect, the flash happening too quickly for the pupils to react. There was a ring of blue around the red. It was certainly chilling, but Linus had seen it many times before. Just a trick of the light. That's all it was.

    Underneath the photograph, in blocky letters, was a name.

    LUCY.

    "A boy named Lucy," Linus said. "That's certainly a first. I wonder why they chose ... the name ... Lucy..."

    The last word came out choked.

    There, written in clear English, was exactly the reason why.

    The file read:

    NAME: LUCIFER (NICKNAME LUCY)

    AGE: SIX YEARS, SIX MONTHS, SIX DAYS (AT TIME OF THIS REPORT)

    HAIR: BLACK

    EYE COLOR: BLUE/RED

    MOTHER: UNKOWN (BELIEVED DECEASED)

    FATHER: THE DEVIL

    SPECIES OF MAGICAL YOUTH: ANTICHRIST

    Linus Baker fainted dead away.