Sunday 24 January 2016

Isabella's Reading Corner: The Dead House



The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich
Published September 15th 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers


The Dead House is about Carly and Kaitlyn -  two souls who inhabit the same body. Carly appears during the day and Kaitlyn at night.  Are they suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, as they are diagnosed or is there something supernatural involved? When Carly ‘disappears’, it is up to Kaitlyn to find out what happened to her.

From the moment I picked this book up I couldn’t put it down. The story is told through a series of journal entries, notes, interviews & film footage transcripts. I was concerned that this might create a disjointed and difficult to follow storyline, but that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, I found the unusual format contributed heavily to the sinister & unsettling atmosphere. While I was reading, there were quite a few creepy, crawly moments where I was looking over my shoulder!

This is a gorgeous book. If you are a fan of spine-chilling horror & psychological thrillers, I think you will very much enjoy this unique and eerie Young Adult novel.


From the publisher:
Three students: dead.
Carly Johnson: vanished without a trace.

Two decades have passed since an inferno swept through Elmbridge High, claiming the lives of three teenagers and causing one student, Carly Johnson, to disappear. The main suspect: Kaitlyn, "the girl of nowhere."

Kaitlyn's diary, discovered in the ruins of Elmbridge High, reveals the thoughts of a disturbed mind. Its charred pages tell a sinister version of events that took place that tragic night, and the girl of nowhere is caught in the center of it all. But many claim Kaitlyn doesn't exist, and in a way, she doesn't - because she is the alter ego of Carly Johnson.

Carly gets the day. Kaitlyn has the night. It's during the night that a mystery surrounding the Dead House unravels and a dark, twisted magic ruins the lives of each student that dares touch it.

Debut author Dawn Kurtagich masterfully weaves together a thrilling and terrifying story using psychiatric reports, witness testimonials, video footage, and the discovered diary - and as the mystery grows, the horrifying truth about what happened that night unfolds .



You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on The Dead House here.

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