Hell's Underground

Series · 4 books · 2007-2010

By Alan Gibbons

Books in series

Scared to Death

2007

Late one night after a strange journey to Whitechapel in East London, Paul makes a new friend, John Redman—daring and enigmatic, just as Paul longs to be, away from his cloying mother (his only family, so he thinks). Redman immediately charms Paul as well as Jude—a girl they meet on a night on the town. A few days later, Paul learns that Jude has mysteriously died, and Redman has disappeared. Soon after, one of Paul's teacher dies suddenly—frightened to death—near where Jude's body was found. Paul senses that Redman is involved. His new friend is dangerous. But so, we learn, is Paul. In uncovering the truth about Redman he learns shocking facts about himself. There's an evil curse loose in his family and Paul is the latest inheritor. The spree of death—camouflaged as copycat Jack the Ripper-style murders—will continue until Paul confronts the demon in himself head on.

The Demon Assassin

2008

Having once risked everything precious to him to halt King Lud's progress from the ancient bowels of London to the city's modern streets, teenage Paul Rector knows his task is far from over. Paul also knows that, like his brother John and his great uncle Harry, he is both demon and man. Will it be fate that decides which side wins out? To find out, Paul takes Hell's Underground back to London of the Blitz in World War II and becomes involved in defeating Harry Rector's plot to assassinate Prime Minister Churchill. His main weapons are fire and fear. Along the way, he learns more about the Rector curse and once again endangers not only his own life, but the lives of the people he comes to regard as a second family.

Renegade

2009

In his third adventure, Paul has met his most audacious—and powerful—ancestor yet, Samuel Rector, who seemingly has the entire East End in thrall to him in the 1830s. His legion of "rat boys" use terror and menace ordinarily, but with the demon seed inside them, their powers know no end. Their only match is Paul, the renegade, the one member of the Rector clan determined to strike each poisoned generation from the family history. But nobody is stronger than Lud, the King of London, struggling against imprisonment in his cell where the city's five gates meet.

Witch Breed

2010

A thriller and a horror story—the fourth installment of Paul Rector's dark journey into the dark heart of London When Paul arrives in 17th-century London, he expects to be thrown into a life or death struggle for the three gates that imprison the ancient King Lud. But the battle doesn't come. Instead, Paul roams alone, learning how to survive in a city where all the talk is of the savage civil war that rages beyond its ramparts. Somewhere underground, Lud is waiting in his crypt, preparing to rise again. War, fear, and want are his tools. But Paul, too, has his own weapons, and he is gaining strength and losing inhibitions about using it. Meanwhile, beyond the city, innocent women are being killed for it is so easy to claim that they are witches. One woman—whether innocent or guilty—possesses the only power available that can help Paul in his quest.

Author

Alan Gibbons

Author · 28 books

Alan Gibbons is an author of children's books and a Blue Peter Book Award. He currently lives in Liverpool, England, where he used to teach in a primary school. His father was a farm laborer, but was hurt in an accident when Alan was eight years old. The family had to move to Crewe, Cheshire where Alan experienced bullying for the first time. He began to write for his pupils as a teacher, but never tried to get any of his work published. Gibbons trained to be a teacher in his mid-thirties and starting writing short stories for his students. Later, he began to write professionally. In 2000, he won the Blue Peter Book Award in the category "The Book I Couldn't Put Down" category for Shadow of the Minotaur. He was a judge for the 2001 Blue Peter Book Awards. He was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2001 and 2003 and shortlisted twice for the Booktrust Teenage Prize. He has also won the Leicester Book of the Year, the Stockport Book Award, the Angus Book Award, the Catalyst Award, the Birmingham Chills Award, the Salford Young Adult Book Award and the Salford Librarians' Special Award.