The Changing Man- is He Only Part of the Mystery?
If you haven't read The Changing Man, by Tomi Oyemakinde, it's one you need to pick up, a read you don't want to miss. The book opens with the disappearance of a teenage boy, Leon, as he goes to meet a girl he has never met. With a text, Leila asks him to meet her at an abandoned cottage and leaves his friend behind, along with his little brother, Ben, who needs help with homework- Leon is never heard from again.
People say Leon ran away, others say he was taken by the Changing Man- an urban myth story that seems to have been "around forever." But Ife doesn't know what to believe- all that she knows is that she wants to meet Zanna, a girl she has been texting with but has yet to meet. However, that can only be done when she gets a ride from her good friend, Malika. An urban state achiever, Ife now goes to a private school called Nithercott and is surrounded by other children very different from her. And these kids let the urban state achievers enrolled with them know it.
The Changing Man has been an urban myth forever- for all those from the town and school of Nithercott- and they seem comfortable around the scary story. In 1983 several students were being followed by someone strange and the police got involved. The students began to withdraw, and then act strange, many losing it in the end- "shouting random nonsense, or screamed, or simply froze." And that's when the students think the rumors may have begun.
The author also lets readers know that there is a difference between a myth and a legend- something I wasn't aware of- the specifics. While myths are supernatural in some way, legends are real- something in the real world causing real-world actions.
Things start to get weird when Malika turns away from Ife and starts hanging out with a girl both never liked before. And that she will no longer talk to Ife and looks like a zombie, her personality changed, seemingly gone-
When the Changing Man myth- or legend- (however it gets defined, if it does, by the end) begins to intersect with Nithercott; when Ife sees that the director of the school, Dr. Butterworth, wears a flower symbol on his lapel that appears on other suspicious adults in positions of power, a bigger mystery begins to unfold- one where the Changing Man, in the end, could be a scapegoat for something bigger that is going on. The clues begin when the kids find a hidden room in the library that is said to exist that no one knows about (and is in none of the building plans)- where the Changing Man is supposed to live.
Teaming up with Ben, the brother of Leon (the missing boy), along with some other students she has become friends with, are interested in the mystery of the Changing Man, what is going on at Nithercott- and as they learn more, things begin to get more dangerous.
Tomi Oyemakinde gives readers a horror/ thriller/ mystery- that takes you in from the beginning and won't let you go until you find out what exactly is going on at the Nithercott school, to the children, within the town and what the Changing Man really has to do with it all- if anything. Nithercott has taken in urban achieving students for some nefarious purpose- it seems- but what, and why? And, will Ben ever find Leon- or what happened to his older brother?
Happy Reading!
People say Leon ran away, others say he was taken by the Changing Man- an urban myth story that seems to have been "around forever." But Ife doesn't know what to believe- all that she knows is that she wants to meet Zanna, a girl she has been texting with but has yet to meet. However, that can only be done when she gets a ride from her good friend, Malika. An urban state achiever, Ife now goes to a private school called Nithercott and is surrounded by other children very different from her. And these kids let the urban state achievers enrolled with them know it.
The Changing Man has been an urban myth forever- for all those from the town and school of Nithercott- and they seem comfortable around the scary story. In 1983 several students were being followed by someone strange and the police got involved. The students began to withdraw, and then act strange, many losing it in the end- "shouting random nonsense, or screamed, or simply froze." And that's when the students think the rumors may have begun.
The author also lets readers know that there is a difference between a myth and a legend- something I wasn't aware of- the specifics. While myths are supernatural in some way, legends are real- something in the real world causing real-world actions.
Things start to get weird when Malika turns away from Ife and starts hanging out with a girl both never liked before. And that she will no longer talk to Ife and looks like a zombie, her personality changed, seemingly gone-
When the Changing Man myth- or legend- (however it gets defined, if it does, by the end) begins to intersect with Nithercott; when Ife sees that the director of the school, Dr. Butterworth, wears a flower symbol on his lapel that appears on other suspicious adults in positions of power, a bigger mystery begins to unfold- one where the Changing Man, in the end, could be a scapegoat for something bigger that is going on. The clues begin when the kids find a hidden room in the library that is said to exist that no one knows about (and is in none of the building plans)- where the Changing Man is supposed to live.
Teaming up with Ben, the brother of Leon (the missing boy), along with some other students she has become friends with, are interested in the mystery of the Changing Man, what is going on at Nithercott- and as they learn more, things begin to get more dangerous.
Tomi Oyemakinde gives readers a horror/ thriller/ mystery- that takes you in from the beginning and won't let you go until you find out what exactly is going on at the Nithercott school, to the children, within the town and what the Changing Man really has to do with it all- if anything. Nithercott has taken in urban achieving students for some nefarious purpose- it seems- but what, and why? And, will Ben ever find Leon- or what happened to his older brother?
Happy Reading!