The Christmas Rat Author:Avi Angels rarely appear so mysteriously disguised or on such missions. Eric's Christmas vacation looks like a bummer. The city is paralyzed by a blizzard, but his mother and father have to work anyway, it being the height of the holiday season. But when Eric opens his apartment door to an exterminator, he is snapped out of his boredom. Anje Gabrail... more », a pale-haired, black-jacketed, ex-military man, seems to love his work -- not only using the usual roach and mouse poisons, but a sinister small crossbow as well. Over the week-long countdown to Christmas, Eric is caught in a war of wills and survival, and he attempts to save the rat -- and himself -- from the terrifying exterminator!« less