The plot of this book is so stuffed full of murder, mayhem, suicide, ghosts, romance and redemption that I hardly know where to start. So here goes–17 year old David, after being accused and acquited of his girlfriend’s murder, moves out of his house and in with his aunt and uncle, in an attempt to forget all the crap he’s been through in the past year. But its hard to deal with his own pain when his aunt and uncle are giving each other the silent treatment and his freaky little cousin Lily is giving him the evil eye. Then, to make things even worse, he starts to see a lighted form that may or may not be the ghost of his other cousin, Lily’s big sister who supposedly committed suicide. In the middle of all this creepiness, David still finds time to fall in love with the artsy hippie chick who lives in the front apartment of his uncle’s house. So, what’s a guy to do? David starts sluething around in his family history to try and learn a little more about his cousin’s death and why Lily is such a little weirdo. What he finds out will make your toes curl as this novel comes to a crashing climax. A satisfyingly scary, psychologically thrilling read.
I use this book as well in my YAL class. The students love that it is not all spelled out for them all of the time. The twists and turns are almost unnerving. Recommended for older HS readers.