Dark Eden

Patrick Carman
Katherine Tegen Books (2011)
ISBN 9780062009708
Reviewed by Ben Weldon (age 13) for Reader Views (5/11)

“Dark Eden” by Patrick Carman is the story of 15-year-old Will, a boy sent to an ominous facility many miles away from civilization to cure a phobia beyond that of ordinary fear.  When Will is sent to Fort Eden, a facility meant to cure people of intense phobias, he is not sure what to expect.  But when he finally arrives he finds a concrete building covered in evil-looking plant growth.  He was afraid.  He ran and hid inside the open concrete bunker when the other six kids traveling with him had gone inside.  Once inside though, he had no idea how to get out.  Huddled in the corner, Will heard footsteps coming down the stairs.  He was trapped.  Can Will escape detection, or will he be found by this mysterious person and forced to meet his fear?

At Fort Eden the cures had been administered to the first few kids.  Several minutes after the treatment, they returned to the rest of the group and were completely cured of their various phobias.  Although, soon after the treatment they would experience strange aches or pains.  Will does not want this to happen to him.   He hid in a room off the basement of the bunker hoping to avoid all human contact.  Will he be found by the staff of Fort Eden and forced to undergo treatment?  And could the little aches and pains be something more serious than just an after effect of the treatment?  
 
Of the two staff members living at Fort Eden, Rainsford was by far the strangest.  He mostly stayed to himself but occasionally exited his underground chamber to visit the kids and see how they were doing.  The other, a cook, was a formidable woman by the name of Mrs. Goring.  She was always grumbling at the kids, but was an excellent cook.  But with kids returning from the treatment with no memory of what passed, what can these two sinister characters have to do with the various maladies and amnesia?
  
I would recommend “Dark Eden” to people who like books full of suspense and fear.  This was a rather creepy book and I would not recommend it to people who are easily scared.  This was a very fun book and I finished soon after I started it.

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