Creepy Pick: The Murmurings

The Murmurings
by Carly Anne West
Simon Pulse
2013
370 pages

Sometimes a book is so strange, so chilling and creepy, it stays with you. The Murmurings is that book. Be forewarned.

Sophie's sister Nell is found dead and Sophie knows it wasn't suicide. Nell kept hearing voices in her head before she was admitted for treatment to Oakside. She ran away  from the hospital and was found hanging upside down from a tree near an old ghost town. Sophie misses her once popular and beautiful sister; she worries that she might be going crazy, too. Sophie is starting to hear the murmurings and she can't concentrate or sleep.

Sophie wishes her mother would snap out of it. Since her sister's death, her mother has turned to alcohol and depression, rarely leaving the house, forgetting to eat, and barely existing. Sophie can't turn to her mother for help because her mother is not cognizant.  Evan, a football player from school, shows interest in Sophie--they study together and have a picnic; Evan reveals he has lost his cousin Deb; she was once a patient at Oakside, too. Evan and Sophie begin to investigate the hospital.

Just what is going on at that "hospital?"What secrets did Nell uncover? Did someone from the hospital kill Nell? Evan show Sophie a blog he's discovered online that explains the murmurings and exposes the hospital and evil Dr. Keller. Sophie decides to get answers, putting herself in grave danger and opening a door for the Takers. When Sophie realizes  the secret identity of a patient  known only as MM, she can't wait any longer. If she doesn't save MM right now, MM may die.

The Taker reminds me of Harry Potter's deatheaters, both in appearance and behavior--the Taker is horribly grotesque and evil. It feeds on the soul and kills its victims.

Recommended for readers who love creepy books grade 9-up. No sex. Some language. F-bomb. Mature situations. 

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Chick Pick: The Girls of No Return

The Girls of No Return
by Erin Saldin
Arthur A Levine Books
2012
352 pages

Deep, dark, disturbing, and dysfunctional, this story of friendships and secrets, knives and threats, wilderness and survival is totally engrossing and addictive.

Lida Wallace is being sent away by her parents "for her own good." Living at a boarding school in the middle of the wilderness in Idaho with other "disturbed" girls doesn't sound like much fun. They aren't allowed to bring a cell phone, a computer, an I-pad, or I-pod, oh, and no guns or ammo, no knives, no cigarettes, no drugs, no fireworks and no bows and arrows. Lida just wants to get it over with!


She meets her cabinmates and somehow gets through the first few days at Alice Marshall School. Enter runway model beautiful and exciting, exotic Gia Longchamps. The other girls are all enthralled by her very presence. Like an exotic hothouse bloom--Gia beguiles and seduces each of them--each of them except Boone who says to Gia, "Everything you do is a fascade, a performance."

Boone and Gia continue to hate each other building eventually to a reckoning. Lida will have to choose which girl to trust. Will she turn her back on Gia--Gia who is selfish and a liar--and a fake? Will she stick by Boone who tells it like it really is? Boone who is the most "real" person Lida has ever known?

The exciting climax will have readers racing through the last pages. The characters of Boone and Lida are spot on, and Gia is the perfect chameleon, beautiful user,and wickedly sadistic abuser of other people's hearts and minds.

The Girls of No Return is a great girl read. Anyone who loves a tragic story about problems that real girls face will love this book. The cover art is wonderfully fitting--a lone girl in a canoe looking out at a deserted lake--grayish tones fit the somber title and plot.

Recommended grades 9-up. Language, mature situations, dark behavior, sex.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

High School Pick: Fix Me

Fix Me
by Rune Michaels
Antheneum
2011
160 pages (page count from publisher's website; my copy had 149 pages)



Complex, chilling, cutting, and caustic, Fix Me is Rune Michaels' latest ya novel. This time, the characters are disturbing as well as disturbed. Leia's mother and step-father die in a car accident and she and her abusive brother live in their home with their aunt as the guardian. There is no love lost in their twisted and tormented relationship. Aunt Phoebe is cruel and mouthy, Brian is controlling and sadistic, and both Brian and Leia turn to cutting for pain relief.



When her world starts crashing in, Leia turns to the only place she can feel safe, the zoo. It is a sanctuary for abused animals after all, and it is among the animals she feels safest. She stays at the zoo all day, hiding out at lock-up time and finding an old, empty tiger cage to sleep in. Never mind the fact that Brian and Aunt Phoebe are probably looking for her; Leia knows they aren't really too worried.



The zoo owner's son Kyle offers Leia a place to shower and sleep and gets her fruit and food to eat. He tells her she can stay there at night if she'll help him out feeding the animals and cleaning their cages. Leia loves the elephants and doesn't mind the hard work. Then Tina arrives. She is a traumatized chimp who suffered from human abusers. She can't be put with other chimps and she can't be left in the wild. Leia decides that Tina will be her project--they have much in common.



Leia stops cutting for awhile but then is triggered by a stranger's presence. In a disturbing flashback, the reader learns the true depth of cruelty and shocking abuse Leia has had to live with. In the end, Leia faces her demons and ruinous past and begins the painful process of healing. The reader is left with a feeling of timorous hope.



This is not a "feel good" read; however, it is compelling and well-written and a solid page turner. Teens who like "problem" novels with grit will like Fix Me.



Recommended for high school collections grades 9-up. Mature situations, child abuse, sexual abuse, violence, cutting. Not for middle school.





FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.