‘Storm Catchers’ Essay

The novel ‘Storm Catchers’ is about a kidnapping of the youngest daughter of the Parnell family ‘Ella’. The term tension means intense emotion either good or bad e.g. when opening a gift it creates tension which is exciting. This is appropriate to the novel, because it’s about kidnapping which creates tension and it’s effective throughout the novel. Atmosphere is the mood of your surroundings e.g. when you enter a dark room it creates a scary atmosphere. This essay will consider of how tension and atmosphere is created by the writer.

Ella is alone in the house. She hears a metallic noise downstairs. She heads downstairs to examine where the noise is coming from. The noise came from the living room. She switches the lights on its coming from the window. It was only broken chain hanging loose from the flower basket tapping on the window. Suddenly, she sees a huge man in the reflection. She runs in the secret passage way. While, the kidnapper tries to get in the passage way. She gets out and quickly tiptoes upstairs into Sam’s room. Ella wakes up Sam , giving him instructions to hide in his secret closet and disguises it as a game. Sam hides while Ella lures the kidnapper away from Sam’s room where he’s hidden. She runs to the garden with the kidnapper running after her. She’s trapped. He dropped her to the ground crying, rolled her onto her front and thrust a knee in her back. The kidnapper asks Ella to get up but she refuses. She felt his knee in her back and threatens Ella “Do that again and I’ll break your spine”.

The novel ‘Storm Catchers’ is set in Nequay, Cornwall. The setting is chosen in Cornwall, because they have casual storms which relates to the title ‘Storm Catchers’. The scary atmosphere is built by the cliffs and the weather. Ella refers to the fact that ‘There was a storm coming -- a fine start to the summer holidays’. The setting creates a scary atmosphere, because storms are effective at creating scary atmospheres which is used in the story