Review by Jill Williamson
Chris Buckley moves to Solitary, North Carolina. His mom has divorced his dad and they are on their own, living in a tiny cabin in the woods. That’s a little weird for Chris, having lived in the suburbs of Chicago, but worse is having to make new friends at a school where no one seems to look at anyone. What’s with this crazy town, anyway?
Then Chris meets Jocelyn and everything changes. He makes it his life goal to get to know her better, but she’s mysterious as well and has secrets she doesn’t want to share. Slowly he learn more about the town of Solitary. About missing kids. Bizarre nightmares. Unexplained deaths. Something horrific is going on in this town, and Chris vows not to let anything happen to Jocelyn.
Wow…I don’t know what to say about this book! It was creepy and intriguing and sucked me in. I couldn’t put this thing down. It’s written in a strong first person point of view from Chris, our teen hero. Thrasher gets deep into Chris’ mind and life and we know what it feels like to be him. We are completely wrapped up in his world… in Jocelyn.
It’s genius writing, in my opinion. Just…don’t expect the super-mega happy ending. If you like warm fuzzies at the end of your books, you might avoid this one, because, well, it’s heavy—at 392 pages—and might cause some damage when thrown against the wall. LOL
All that to say, creepy, cool, dark story. I believe it’s the first book in a series that takes place in the town of Solitary, so we’ll have to see where Mr. Thrasher goes next. God is in this book. It was just a little depressing for me. As a writer, I like to torture my characters too, but I just can’t leave them there! Maybe it’s the mom in me…who knows. I’m excited that this book is out there though. It’s very cool.
*Update: I’ve since read books two and three and I’m totally hooked. (Click on “two” or “three” to read my reviews.)
Age Range: 16 and up
Genre: thriller
Part of a Series: The Solitary Tales, book one
Pages: 392
Publisher: David C. Cook
Released: 2010
Wow as ive read your review i got hook on it. cant wait to read that too. I hope i can get a copy of that.