This autumn’s publishing schedule is packed with heavy hitters. Piers Torday, he of The Last Wild, has made a surprise swerve into fantasy in time for Halloween. Midnight Treasure (Hachette) is a classy take on the vampire and werewolf genres that dives into the myths of Torday’s Transylvanian heritage.
Immortals rule the land and humans have been reduced to serf-like subsistence. Young werewolf-to-be Tibor is nearly of transforming age; his guardian, Orlov, meanwhile, is a powerful “vampir” who sends Tibor on a gruelling mission to find a mysterious treasure that reveals itself once a year. What transpires is a high-stakes parable of friendship, powerful minerals and environmental damage flecked with Indiana Jones-style derring-do.
