Author:
Genre: YA Suspense/paranormal
Release Date: August 7th, 2018
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: ARC requested from publisher for review, which did not influence my opinion
My rating: 3 stars
Synopsis:
Something is wrong with Marianne.
It's not just that her parents have split up, or that life hasn't been the same since she quit dancing. Or even that her mother has checked herself into the hospital.
She's losing time. Doing things she would never do. And objects around her seem to break whenever she comes close.
Something is after her. But a first attempt at an exorcism calls down the full force of the thing's rage. It demands Marianne give back what she stole. And Marianne must uncover the truth that lies beneath it all before the nightmare can take what it think it's owed, leaving Marianne trapped in the darkness of the other side.
My Review:
This was a book that caught my attention when I first heard about it. I am a big fan of paranormal stories, and I love a good ghost story, especially possession or even poltergeists. In fact, when I was a teenager, I used to check all the nonfiction books on poltergeists and other ghosts out from the library all the time. While there were points in this that were spooky, all in all I wasn't blown away. I get that part of the author's plan was to leave us wondering the whole time just what was real and what wasn't, hence the reference to the movie Black Swan on the back cover. However, it also references Paranormal Activity, and that made me expect some more jump in your seat type of moments. It's possible that this is a story that just would need to be on screen for the effect of losing time and creepiness around the edges to do anything really for me. And I could totally see this as a movie. I feel like in this case, I'd probably appreciate it more. For a book it just didn't grab me enough, soon enough, for me to be blown away by it. I still gave it 3 stars, because as I said, I could see it as a movie doing a good job at scaring me. And I'm sure there are others who enjoy that kind of story in a book, so I don't want anyone to not pick it up because of my issues with it. I think if you've been interested in reading it, you should just think about whether the things I look for in a story are the same as what you look for, and if not, then you should definitely give it a try! That's what so great about books, there are so many different types and different stories and different writing styles out there, there is something for everyone.
