Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Synopsis
The town of Opum Oppidulum is home to the freezing Lake Beluarum and its rumored monster. On an island at the center of the lake is an asylum from which no one has ever escaped. So how will Rex, whose father, Ambrose Grammaticus, has been imprisoned there under false pretenses, prove that Ambrose is not insane? And if Rex can free his father, will his evil stepmother drive them both to madness?
Is The lunatic's curse appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 10 and up.
A middle grade gothic mystery featuring a boy trying to rescue his father from an asylum on a monster-haunted lake. Contains themes of false imprisonment, an evil stepmother, and atmospheric suspense, but no graphic content.
What to know going in
This book has mild violence, no sexual content, and clean language. Content notes include domestic violence, imprisonment, and mental illness (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
A creepy adventure about a boy trying to prove his father isn't crazy and escape from an island asylum with a lake monster nearby.