What worked:
The author spends the first fourth of the book developing a creepy, scary atmosphere. A young girl named Beverly is grabbed by a bony hand in the first chapter and she’s dragged into the dark, ominous forest. Several unrelated characters are introduced who will be the focus of the rest of the story. Byron, Beverly’s best friend, realizes the disappearances have now affected him personally especially when a ghoulish man with a wide-brimmed hat and trench coat appears in his room. Lucas has always been creeped out by the scarecrow in his father’s cornfield but he can’t believe it might actually be moving on its own. Then there’s Mary whose family just arrived in this small town. She’s looking for a little excitement before Beacon Point bores her to death but little does she know what’s lurking in her new home. The author uses descriptions that affect several of the readers’ senses. There are shadowy images of eerie creatures lurking beyond the light, scratching and whispered voices just out of sight, and branches seem to grab characters causing their spines to tingle.
Readers are left to their own imaginations as they try to understand what’s going on in Beacon Point. The current incidents seem to have nothing in common and occur in different parts of town. Different characters encounter a bony hand, a scarecrow, deerlike beasts, and a crow-headed witch. Beverly is almost home from soccer practice, Lucas is in the cornfield by his farmhouse, and Byron is inside his own bedroom late at night. Why are these eerie things happening to these specific characters? Adults and children have been taken in the past but is there something they have in common? Why are kids disappearing now? The characters all know nothing good happens after sundown.
A radio station sits alone atop a hill just outside of Beacon Point. The transcripts of a radio broadcast are presented every few chapters to fill in the gaps of what’s happening. However, the characters begin to wonder if the voice is warning them of potential dangers or if it’s actually part of the threat. Radio static suddenly sounds from televisions and telephones and adds to the unnerving mood. The radio broadcast shares the background history of the area around Beacon Point and describes disappearances that have been going on for a couple of hundred years. These past incidents bear striking similarities to the attacks happening now which lets readers know the evil has been on the prowl for hundreds of years.
What didn’t work as well:
Too many characters pop up throughout the book and are then snagged by different creatures. Readers try to figure out their importance as they’re introduced but then they’re gone. Each one feels like a false alarm, kind of like the little boy who cried wolf.
The Final Verdict:
This book shares a spine-tingling story that young readers will love. The vivid, graphic language will overload readers’ senses and keep them engrossed until the exciting conclusion. Overall, it’s a very entertaining tale and I recommend you give it a shot.

I knew Scarewaves would have some good monsters in it because that seems to be one of Trevor Henderson's specialties - he did create the fantastically scary Siren Head, after all! And this book delivered. Boy, did it deliver.

This is the sort of scary children's fiction I absolutely adore. It's written perfectly for that middle grade audience, the language is simple and easy to read but it doesn't patronize and Henderson doesn't dumb any of his ideas or cheap out on the scares. It's very reminiscent of the scariest stories you'll find in Alvin Schwarz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. For that reason, I would definitely recommend this only for kids who truly love a scary story and can handle any potential nightmares resulting from reading Scarewaves - I was one such kid, myself!

And, honestly, I heartily recommend it for grown readers as well. Henderson starts the scares early and the story only escalates from there. By the last third of the book I was holding my tablet, white knuckled, needing to know how it ends and if our protagonists survive. Again, for a children's book, this was genuinely terrifying. The copy I have is an ARC so there are illustrations missing, but I am looking forward to reading this again post-release to check those out (I'm assuming they'll be of the monsters. Even without the illustrations though, Henderson does a great job at describing the creatures - I could easily visualize each creepy, crawly one of them.

I also enjoy the occasional interspersal of transcripts from the radio show that features as the plot device. As a kid in the 90s who listened to late night radio (sneakily, under my bed covers), it gave me nostalgia vibes, and also added an anthological air to the story... and I hope that's what this is the start of because I would absolutely LOVE to see more childrens' horror from Henderson. He's a fantastic story-teller with a vivid and demented imagination.

I think this will definitely be in my end of year top 10 for 2023.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic for this early copy. I really enjoyed this! I was really looking forward to this, if you’ve seen Trevor Henderson’s art you know why. Unfortunately since it’s an ARC, only a few illustrations were included. The ones I saw were great as expected and I’ll probably buy the book once released just to see the rest of them! Overall, this was a really solid middle grade horror that I would have LOVED as a kid. It was really freaky at times! My only critique is that specifically in the first half of the book, it felt like the story was overshadowed by scares. I wanted to know a little more about our characters and their relationships with each other. This was mostly resolved by the end. The beginning almost felt like a short story collection all set in the same town, which was cool. This gave off big Fear Street vibes with a sprinkle of some internet influenced folklore. I’m really looking forward to what Henderson does in the future!

I picked up this book in my search for books for my *almost* middle grader which will hold his interest. I can absolutely say this one will. It was creepy and atmospheric and such an interesting read. I will definitely be recommending this as well as adding it to his TBR this fall!

This book was SO FUN! It gave me goosebumps meets scary stories to tell in the dark vibes and I looooooved it! The scenes with the monsters specifically were so well written and full of so much tension, I couldn't put it down.

My only issue was with the end, it seemed a little rushed and didn’t really give a lot of explanation. Other than that I had a really great time!

I am a big fan of middle grade horror and when I saw Trevor Henderson had an upcoming release I just knew I had to check it out. I have been a fan of Henderson's illustrations and artwork for some time now, so I just had to know how those same thoughts that created some amazing and terrifying images would translate into words and a story. And I can say YES YES YES! Some of these monsters in Scarewaves are absolutely terrifying to imagine as an adult, let alone as a younger reader. I devoured this book and know my younger self would have, too. This is the kind of book that awakens the horror-loving self within and sets readers up for a lifelong relationship with horror in all forms of media. In addition to the horror, Scarewaves brings together all the small town vibes and ALL the friendship and camaraderie. This is the type of book you might pick up at one of those school book fairs and know nothing about it, but then it turns out to be on of the best things you've read and a book that will stay with you for years to come. There are some truly tense scenes and absolutely horrifying imagery with some of these monsters, and I can say that I will not be looking out my windows at night towards the trees behind my house ANY time soon.

I can't wait for more stories from Trevor Henderson as Scarewaves proves his talents are so multifaceted and that he is just a true gem in the horror community for all ages.

Unfortunately, as excited as I was for this book, it simply wasn’t for me. I found the story disjointed and nothing propelled me forward.

There were so many points of view that felt repetitive without getting to know the characters, I found myself speed reading just to get through them. We’d meet a character once, they’d see a monster, and usually not be seen again—repeat. The only character I was interested in at all was Mary, and maybe Lucas, because she was actually fleshed out (as much as she could considering the book is only 200 pages with what felt like at least 10 POVs). Mary had motivations/goals and I was curious what would happen to her. But by the 60% mark we still didn’t even have a plot. The characters felt very passive, there was a lot of backstory or “recapping” what happened in a scene instead of feeling like I was experiencing it with the character. It felt like each chapter was only there to show a spooky scene the author wanted to write and describe a monster. But, with no attachment to the characters, it did nothing for me. I also got to a point where, since all the POVs mostly sounded the same, I couldn’t even remember if we’d met the character before or not. I think this book would have been better suited to an anthology opposed to a full novel.

The concept and pitch sounded fun, but overall, it just didn’t work for me.

“Scarewaves” by Trevor Henderson is a spooky read for any middle-grader obsessed with Goosebumps. The small town of Beacon Hill is crawling with monsters, not that any of the adults will believe the stories. A group of kids all being haunted by their own monster must band together to themselves and the town. Behind all the scares and classic monster lore is a story of a bunch of kids who believe themselves to be misfits finding their place and friends. A perfect read for right before Halloween.

I would have gobbled this up as a kid. Incidentally, I thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult. Spooky and eerie and thrilling. A !just read for kids into darker stories as I was.

Trevor Henderson, celebrated horror artist, makes his fiction debut with Scarewaves, a love letter to the Scholastic Book Fairs that helped mold many a writer into the person they are today. The result is a book that pays homage to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Goosebumps while maintaining a style all its own. Henderson cobbles together a loser's club that curses a little less often, bringing together kids from various backgrounds (new-to-town, lives outside town, popular crowd, etc.) to take on the evil of Beacon Point. The addition of the radio transmissions are a nice touch and nicely supplement the creepy small-town vibe. Something is wrong here and it always has been. Scarewaves makes for a fun, tense story with lots of frights, all topped off with Henderson's recognizable artwork decorating the pages. I look forward to another trip to Beacon Point in the near future.

Really fun to read and truly creepy at times. I think the writing style itself could be improved in some parts, but other than that, a really solid horror book. I will be recommending it to younger readers.

This was a super fun, eerie read! The atmosphere was on point and I loved the little world the author made up. I had chills constantly.

This will no doubt be a winner with kids who like a good scare. Set in the 1980s when walkmans and radio shows were still a thing, a small, rural town must deal with its long history of bizarre creatures that like to steal children.

The story unfolds from multiple perspectives. One girl is snatched by a creature in the woods while walking along the road. A boy is terrorized by the scarecrow in his cornfield. Another girl is freaked out by something living in her attic. Another boy is being watched by a herd of deer with human faces. Another boy is doomed to the clutches of a creepy man lurking in the shadows. As the kids lay out their stories, Alan Graves, host of the BCON Radio Mystery Show, contributes his own stories about the town's sordid past. Turns out, the local lore goes way back, and it's not pretty. It all eventually comes together as the surviving kids make a plan to confront the creatures and find their missing friends.

All the adults in the story are lame. I'm sure the author fully intended that. If I had more time, I'd love to analyze the heck out of that one. As for the plot, most of it was great, but as is often the case with supernatural stuff, it can be hard to pull off an ending that makes sense. I was not satisfied with the way it went. I almost deducted another star for that, but decided the creepiness of everything prior to the ending was well worth 4 stars. If you have a budding horror fan, who is heading in the direction of Stephen King, you can give them an early start with this.

The best MG horror authors know how to dance between being creepy and being too creepy. They almost understand that it’s so much easier for their intended audience to believe in weird stuff, which means there’s hardly any “this cannot be real.”

Trevor Henderson joins Katherine Arden, Clive Barker (The Thief of Always), and others as a truly good MG horror author. He fleshed out his characters just enough to make MG readers happy, and then he tossed in an array of different monsters. And, of course, no adults would believe them. This setup causes a group of preteens and teens to join forces to defeat the monsters, in the grand tradition of Stephen King’s It.

This book doesn’t offer more than a MG audience can handle, but it was surprisingly eerie at times. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.