If Thine Eye Offend Thee

T. K. Sheils
Mundania Press (2006)
ISBN 1594261172
Reviewed by Joe Graham for Reader Views (5/07)

As the book opens, the reader knows that something terrible has happened at Pine Hollow District High School since the school has been deserted since the first Friday in December.  And then Sheils takes the reader to the heart of the story which is a tale about high school students who are rehearsing for a production of the Scottish play, “Macbeth.”  Bob Massen, the teacher-director is working with a diverse group of students who include a blind Lady Macbeth, Alisson Nordstrom, the football captain, Paul Spears who is playing Macbeth, a black student who is playing MacDuff and the gung-ho cheerleader, Jennifer Dale who is playing Banquo.  He is assisted by a history teacher, Melody Gordon. As the students work on the play, they are unaware that they are being snowed in by a freak storm until they are alerted to the fact by Sam Pollock, the night caretaker.

From there, the students and their teachers decide how they will handle being snowed in inside a dark, drafty school building, which of course is the perfect setting for strange happenings which are not long in coming.  Unknown to the kids, a representative of a mysterious Clan has come to Pine Hollow to seek revenge.  The Clan members are believers in the old, Norse gods and one of their members has broken the rules of the Clan and members of the Clan who were immortal are starting to die.  The Clan decides that the only way for the Clan to survive is for Ulgren to find Thorvald and his family and make them mortal so they will die and thereby save the Clan. Thorvald’s daughter has chosen to hide herself in Pine Hollow, but Ulgren has discovered her hiding place and has come to take care of her.

As the story continues, the reader learns that each of the members of the cast of “Macbeth” have had previous encounters with the Clan that they were not aware of. The kids begin to realize that there is something very scary and frightening in their dark school. The reader is trying to figure out who is Thorvald’s daughter as there are several possible candidates and as the suspense begins to mount, the reader wonders if anyone will survive until the rescuers arrive to dig them out.

If the reader loves scary stories with lots of mystery and danger, then this book is just right for them. I had fun reading the book even though at times it was a little intense. The author does not spare the reader when it comes to the violent scenes in the book.  And for lovers of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” the author makes some interesting correlations between the characters in “Macbeth” and the gods of Norse mythology. I would definitely recommend the book if the reader’s tastes in movies runs to the horror genre because the reader will definitely be horrified before she or he finishes reading “If Thine Eye Offend Thee.”

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