While Graham McNamee's Bonechiller is a an award-winning thriller/folk tale, plot-wise, it's not much more than that. The monster and teenagers who are trying to escape its clutches are fairly typical, the maladjusted Danny, a badass girl boxer, a geek with mad stats and computer skillz, and his crazy, pyromaniac brother. The monster attacks one winter night in the small Yukon town, leaving Danny confused and haunted. Eventually he and his friends find a pattern of child and teen disappearances, and work to find a way to save their friend.
While I don't think this book deserves its accolades, the setting truly sets it apart from other monster stories. McNamee's descriptions of the snowy landscapes show the desolation and cold affecting the characters as they succumb to the monster's poison.
As a side note, I had never heard of the Wendigo, a human-eating monster in American Indian folklore until last fall, on a episode of The Grimms. Since then, I've come across it in multiple stories. It seems that popular culture is finally beginning to take advantage of the rich history of stories available.
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