Twelve-year-old Penny Carson is looking forward to a long, hot summer of doing nothing more important than building a fort with her friends, a group of neighborhood boys. Her family has recently moved to the suburbs of Philadelphia, and Penny enjoys exploring the woods and the creek near her home. Little do her parents know that dangers lurk even in the idyllic suburbs. When household pets mysteriously turn up dead and fires threaten to destroy their fort, everyone blames the violence on Caleb Devlin, a no-good older teen who is back in town after a stint in juvenile detention following some unnamed violent crimes he committed years ago. Gradually, though, Penny begins to suspect that Caleb is not the one responsible for this new wave of terror.

Penny is at a difficult age. She's not sure if she wants to kiss the boys or play flashlight tag with them. She hates the bra her mom buys for her, but she is also embarrassed by the childish sundress she is forced to wear. For some inexplicable reason, she remains drawn to her neighbor Amy, an older girl who recently hit puberty and immediately became verbally abusive to Penny and her friends. As Penny investigates the grisly threats in her neighborhood, she also explores her own conflicted feelings about growing up.

THE CREEK contains some scenes of gruesome violence. These graphic situations, including threats of rape, seem to aim the book at older readers. Penny and her friends, however, are preteens and, in many ways, seem even younger than they really are, as they play tag together and become really excited when they get to go to the local ice cream parlor. Older readers may be turned off by Penny's childishness in many scenes, and younger readers may be truly frightened by the creepy "calling cards" left by the killer. If THE CREEK finds an appropriate audience, however, persistent readers with strong stomachs will enjoy unraveling the grisly clues.