Ghosting by Edith Pattou

Summer:

" In a hot summer night in a midwestern town, a high school teenage prank goes horrifically awry. Alcohol, guns, and a dare. Within minutes, as events collide, innocents becomes victims—with tragic outcomes altering lives forever, a grisly and unfortunate scenario all too familiar from current real-life headlines. But victims can also become survivors, and as we come to know each character through his/her own distinctive voice and their interactions with one another, we see how, despite pain and guilt, they can reach out to one another, find a new equilibrium, and survive."

After opening to the first page of this book and realizing it was in poem format I almost shut it and returned it to the library; I am so glad I chose to read this book instead of returning it. The poem format works for this book and it turns into this gorgeous flowing of words and ideas. I am not a poem person, and I hate reading poems but this was easy for me to keep up with. Each of the eight individuals poetry style is different so after two cycles of transitions through all eight I could tell who was who without looking at the top of the page. I highly recommend this book, it is haunting and leaves the reader wondering what if? It is also a story of healing for the eight characters, and I can’t imagine it being told without the poem format. Pattou is also able to give each of the eight characters a unique voice, something that I’ve never seen any other author do successfully with multiple points of view. It’s almost as if someone took a real life story and turned it into a book.

Rating: 10 out of 10. This book is a masterpiece, I have read hundreds and hundreds of books and none of them compare to this one. Highly, highly recommend.

Content Rating: 3 (16-18). This book is in this age group because there is a bit of swearing, there is also teen partying, a couple instances of kissing and the climax of the novel might be a little too much for young readers.