(The Black Symbols)

Jennie and her younger brother Magnus are sent on vacation to their grandmother in Jutland. Unfortunately it turns out that she really doesn't want their company. She's allergic to Jennie's cat, refuses to enter their room -- which just happened to be the room their grandfather died in -- plays the same tune on the violin over and over and over again, and spends most of the night muttering in the basement instead of actually sleeping in her bed. Magnus is soon convinced that she's a witch, and when Jennie one day catches her ritually sacrificing a mouse and discovers weird symbols over her bed that makes her forget things, she's not entirely sure she doesn't agree.

I'm not usually a big fan of the whole horror genre, but I tend to make an exception with Nick Clausen, and thankfully his newest book completely lived up to my expectations. In style it most of all reminded me of the Witch Saga by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, which is definitely not a bad thing! I used to love those books when I was younger!

I got a small giggle out of the reference to one of his other books - I always enjoy when authors use inside jokes like that in a manner discreet enough that people not in the know don't even realize that they're missing out on something.

Like his other books, "De sorte symboler" has a somewhat open ending, although fortunately not quite as open as I at one point feared. As it was, it seemed much more in line with the atmosphere he attempted (successfully) to create.
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