Sometimes it felt like parenting amounted to a series of questionable decisions, one after another.

-Chapter 4

 

Also: I'm thinking about the lake. What if u r right. What if it was in the lake. What if it is in us.

-Chapter 9

 

Good book, if you don't go into it thinking there might be something supernatural involved.

This book was recommended to me by a friend as "the kind of book you would like". And it is, but.... I looked at the cover and it looked like the story would be scary or at least have a supernatural component. Let's just say, it didn't.

So, on the basis of the story itself, the book is good. Set in a small town, one girl has a seizure with unknown causes and ends up in the hospital in a coma. As other girls begin getting sick, parents begin questioning things and guessing about what might be the cause of the girls' problems. Parents are understandably worried about the girls, and the girls are freaked out.

The story is told from the point of view of one of the teenage girls, her brother and her father. You get to see how each of them deals with the sickness that seems to be taking over the teenage girls in town. The brother wants to be a good man and he wants to protect his sister. The father, of course, wants to protect his children but he doesn't know what he is protecting them from. The girl is trying to figure out why her best friends are being affected and she isn't.

I didn't see the final reveal coming. But, I spent most of the book trying to figure out what evil force was responsible for the sickness. The cause ends up being twisted and surprising but not supernatural.

Recommended to:

People who like reading about teenage girl drama and issues. Just don't expect anything remotely magical.