Enemies

I don't know if ENEMIES #4 (The Hollow) is meant to bring the curtain down on this fairly diverting Young Adult series by Christopher Golden and Ford Lytle Gilmore; if it's indeed the conclusive installment, then it's a rousing way on which to end things. While these four books haven't proven to be as overall gripping as Golden's other series (ie: PROWLERS and the more adult SHADOW SAGA and THE VEIL), it still disappoints me that this might be the final sighting of Shane, Aimee, Stasha, and the mismatched duo of Jekyll & Hyde. Oh, yes, and I'll miss the Headless Horseman, who, even though appearing only in the first book and in this one, is still the lynchpin that holds the series together. And, for one who doesn't have a head and who doesn't achieve significant "screen" time, he's certainly imbued with enough personality to leave a distinct impression on the reader. Serious plot SPOILERS now follow (really, I mean it): Months have passed since the dysfunctional Lancaster family had moved into the town of Sleepy Hollow, New York, and, by doing so, had inadvertently set off a chain of supernatural events and murders. Since that time, contentious siblings Shane and Aimee have witnessed many wondrous and terrifying things but, even more importantly, have made some staunch friends. Oh, they still have issues with each other (which came to a head with the still recent passing of their mother), but they're getting along better. Together, they've faced off against deadly water nymphs, the insidious Whispering Tree, cackling harvest spirits, and murderous gremlins. But all these horrific creatures pale in comparison to Acephelos, the demonic Headless Horseman. In the first novel, Horseman #1 (The Hollow), Aimee and Shane were seemingly able to reach an accommodation with the monster. But, now, he returns. Now, if you've been reading this batch of books, then you already know that Shane and Aimee are the descendants of the villainous Ichabod Crane, a turd of a human being who had to summon the fear demon Acephelos to protect the town from the supernatural beings Crane himself had set loose. But Acephelos's history extends further back than Sleepy Hollow. The main antagonist here (and "antagonist" doesn't sound near alarming enough) is a nightmarish entity from ancient Celtic mythology whose immense size increases via a pretty appalling method and whose one-eyed gaze either murders or drives men insane. In the course of their research, the kids unearth a personal and rancorous connection between this creature and the noggin-less one. With the crappy DROWNED bringing down the Hollow series to a low ebb, it took the third entry Mischief #3 (The Hollow) to again raise my expectations. And, now, with the wild and action-packed ENEMIES, everything is once again very copacetic in my tiny corner of the Christopher Goldenverse. With this one, Golden and Gilmore take a manic full-speed-ahead approach to the storyline. The level of intensity and peril is r