I saw someone refer to this book as horror and I would say that it is NOT horror. It is the story of something horrible that happened in a small German town as told through the eyes of one of it's resident children. I don't really think there is anything "new" to this story. There's a mystery and a couple of the kids decide they are going to solve the mystery. Of course, they end up in danger in the course of their investigating. I did like the writing and look forward to reading more from Helen Grant.