When Theo and Rachel Matheson head for Auckland to spend a fortnight with their uncle and aunt, they are prepared for the usual entertainments that the city can provide. Both are twins. Apart from both having red hair, there is nothing remarkable about them - or so they think. But their relatives have curious neighbours who seem to take an unnatural interest in the red-haired twins. And once they meet the extraordinary Mr Jones, their holiday begins to take on a course of its own.

Beneath the supposedly extinct volcanoes that surround the city giant creatures are waking from a spellbound sleep of several thousand years. Their goal is the destruction of the world & time is running out. The Matheson twins are horrified to discover that they have a strange and awesome destiny: only the red-haired twins can save the world from the terror that lurks under the mountain.

Accolades

Winner of Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book 2004.

Author Biography

Maurice Gee is one of New Zealand's best-known writers, for both adults and children. He has won a number of literary awards, including the Wattie Award (twice), the Montana Award, and the New Zealand Fiction Award (four times). He has also won the New Zealand Children's Book of the Year Award. Maurice Gee's novels include the three books in the Plumb trilogy, Going West (winner of the Wattie award), Prowlers, Live Bodies (winner of the Montana Award) and Ellie and the Shadow Man. He has also written a number of children's novels, the most recent being The Fat Man, Orchard Street and Hostel Girl. Maurice lives in Wellington with his wife Margareta and they have three children.