(Cover picture courtesy of Tighe Chemidlin.)

In the future, in a place called Satellite City, Cosmo Hill enters the world, unwanted by his parents.  He’s sent to the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys.  Freight class.

Here, the boys are put to work by the state, testing highly dangerous products.  Cosmo realizes that he must get away, and escapes with the help of the Supernaturalists, a group of kids who have the same special abilities as Cosmo—they can see the supernatural Parasites, creatures that feed on the life force of humans.  The Supernaturalists patrols the city at night, hunting the Parasites in hopes of saving what is left of humanity in Satellite City.  But soon they find themselves caught in a web far more complicated than they’d imagined, and they discover a horrifying secret that will force them to question everything they believe in.

As a book reviewer, I hate to use clichés, but there really is only one word to describe The Supernaturalist: unique.  Eoin Colfer’s more famous Artemis Fowl series and even his stand-alone novel, The Wish List have overshadowed his brilliant science fiction novel.  Written with the humour and imagination I have come to expect from him, The Supernaturalist is absolutely brilliant.

Cosmo is pretty much your stereotypical protagonist in the beginning, but as the story progresses, he develops at a very natural pace.  And as he slowly finds out the truth about the Parasites, we really do see an interesting side of him: the brave, more daring side.  His struggle to fit in with the Supernaturalists, who have a group dynamic similar to that of The Thief Lord, also makes him identifiable with pretty much every adolescent in the world.

Eoin Colfer inserts so many plot twists and turns in The Supernaturalist that I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t be able to guess the ending, which is a huge surprise.  The surprise ending is a whopper, but it’s also incredibly satisfying and brings some closure to this novel.  For once, I have nothing to criticize about a book’s ending because Eoin Colfer was able to finish it in a pinch.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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