Friday, September 19, 2014

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake



Theseus Cassio (better known as Cas) kills ghosts, he inherited the "business" and the athame (the knife needed to "kill" the dead) from his father, who died years ago during a job. He and his mother now move from place to place, following the leads he gets on ghosts. The ghosts Cas kills are usually known for killing people, angry and confused at how their own life ended. Then Cas hears about Anna; Anna has killed anyone who crosses the threshold of her home, from families who have moved in, to drifters passing through looking for a place to sleep. However, the first time she sees Cas (after viciously attacking another student who ventured into the house with him) Anna lets him live. To top it off, as Cas approaches her to get more information, he lets her live as well. As he works to learn Anna's secrets he also begins to close in on a secret from his own past.

Parts of Anna Dressed in Blood have a true ghost story feeling. The ghosts are tragic and creepy, the settings are dark, and people get brutally murdered; Anna's dress is covered (at times dripping) with blood and her eyes are nothing but black. The portions of this book that were about Anna and her death were haunting enough to make this reader turn on an extra light and make sure the door was locked. However, once the book really dug into Cas's past the book begin to feel like more of a supernatural thriller than a ghost story. Both parts are fast paced and suspenseful, but personally I was much more interested in the atmosphere surrounding Anna.

Lisa

Anna Dressed in Blood is an Abraham Lincoln 2015 Nominee. Check out the book trailer.

If you like this you want to give these a try:
Unbreakable by Kami Garcia
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

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