Allow me a moment to be nostalgic... I've been thinking about the good ol' days when young adult books weren't all about vampires and werewolves. When there were other terrors waiting around corners: haunted streets, innocent (oddly-incestuous) children locked in attics, and sinister games.
Why have I been thinking about this? Because Kate Kae Myers' debut book The Vanishing Game takes all of my favorite "creepy suspense" themes and puts them into one amazing book... Minus the slightly-incestuous children... but there are two twins (Jocelyn and Jack) and their best friend, Noah, living in a strange foster home called Seale House, who form a childhood group called the "The Freaks".
Now eighteen, Jocelyn is grieving over Jack's recent and very unexpected death when she receives an envelope that can only be from Jack. Inside is a newspaper clipping that details a fire at Seale House. The cause is unknown, but Jocelyn knows one thing: Jack is alive. When Jocelyn returns to Seale House and the city where she last saw Noah, she gets more than she bargained for.
So, if you (like me) enjoyed:
Down the Dark Hall by Lois Duncan
Any of the Fear Street books (my favorite was the saga)
A Deadly Game of Magic by Joan Lowry Nixon
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
Then you'll love The Vanishing Game. And if you haven't read any of these books... what are you waiting for?!
