Title: The Dead House
Author: Dawn Kurtagich
Series: N/A, Stand-alone
Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller
Publisher: Orion Children's Books
Publication Date: August 6th 2015
Pages: 440
My Rating: 5 stars
Thanks to Orion Children's Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book via Netgalley, in exchange for a honest review.
Carly gets the day.
Kaitlyn gets the night.
Elmridge High burnt down 25 years ago. Three people died, and one went missing. Carly Johnson hasn't been since, is she still alive following what became known as the Johnson Incident. Now, when a diary of her identical twin sister, Kaitlyn, is found, it opens up an investigation of what happened all those years ago, the only issue is; Carly didn't have an identical twin sister. Video footage, the diary, police files and first hand witnesses shows a story that is more complex than anyone originally expected. A story of two girls in one body, cult-like rituals, friendship that goes beyond the normal and an extreme case of dependency.
This is a story of mental illness in a unique, gripping way and it has a slight paranormal twist on it. The Johnson Incident just became a hell of a lot darker.
This book had me on edge the whole time I was reading it!
At first, part of me genuinely believed that Kaitlyn and Carly were two separate people, their personalities are so clear and well written that it took me as a shock when I learned they were the one person. The author approached this topic in such a unique way, with mental health awareness rising in YA, dissociative personality disorder is rarely something you read about, and when you do, it's written in quite a confusing manner. But this was so coherent and elegant it took me a bit by shock to be honest!
The formatting of this book was another highlight for me, it was easy to tell what parts were the diary, what parts were video footage and so on.
This book is also pretty emotion evoking. There were parts where I just wanted to cry and I really wanted things to work out for this character, I wanted her to beat her demons. But it's clear from the beginning that she wasn't going too.
I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a mysterious thriller that will break your heart and keep you on edge the whole time you're reading.
5 gripping stars
Labels: 5 Stars, ARC Review, Guest Post, Mental Illness, Mystery, Netgalley, Review, Young Adult
