Blending folklore and suspense into a fantasy thriller of children and teens, Chris M. Hill has created a story that is emotionally captivating and has the perfect dose of horror. Although the Shield children are the main stars in this supernatural story, there is another character that silently slips into the limelight with his mysterious statements and scary presence, Thomas Marshall, a Flannan mystery survivor.
Thomas is more than a plot device, an unexpected figure of the past. He is a mysterious survivor in a fantasy book, a kind of living echo of an unsolved real-world puzzle, the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in the Flannan Islands in 1900. Hill has given new life to such a legend in this story, making Thomas the Flannan mystery survivor, and the only person aware that some supernatural female antagonistof the past has returned.
The Legend Reimagined
Thomas Marshall hasn’t been merely inspired by the ancient times, he has been fitted right into it. The prologue presents the readers with the mystery that haunts the Flannan Isles, where a lighthouse is discovered abandoned, people residing in it disappeared without a trace. From the breezy winds of the coast Thomas, holding the burden of a haunting past returned. He comes across the Shield brothers; Jake, Calum and Adam, as they attempt to explain the sudden disappearance of their parents and sister. Calum’s unintentionally constructing a sand dragon on the beach has given birth to an evil, and Thomas is fully aware of the terror that is about to unleash.
The Fantasy of the Mysterious Stranger.
The boys are skeptical as they meet Thomas. He is shabbily dressed, weird, and talks of the horrific ancient stuff. Yet his knowledge can’t be denied. He is aware of the fossil used in the eye of the dragon. He is aware that it’s a deadly creature, a carrier of something even more malevolent. And, cold-bloodedly, he doesn’t give this presence a name, but a plain, terrified pronoun: “She.”
It is a character cliché of a mysterious stranger in fantasy, who’s here to propel them into the next stage of their journey. But Thomas is more than that. He is an eye witness, a victim and a helping in the dark times. His appearance turns the supernatural happenings in the story in a human reality. Thomas, turns out to be a living example of what the boys are experiencing now and that it doesn’t always works out well.