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Sunday 20 November 2016

THE GATHERING (Shadow House) by Dan Poblocki


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My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My daughter picked this up for me from the library the other day. It's a book that caught my eye because it looks so spooky. And since I finished writing my own creepy NaNoWriMo story on Friday, I thought this might be an appropriate reading reward. :)

Poppy lives in a group home for girls and she sees another girl in the mirror behind her. Marcus feels distant from his family and can hear phantom music. Azumi keeps returning to the forest where she lost her sister and can't let go. Dylan and Dash are about to leave the sitcom they've been a part of for years and Dash keeps having weird nightmares about his brother.

All five kids have been invited to Larkspur for very different reasons. When they get there and start talking to each other, they realise that something isn't quite right. Kids with masks roam the house. The corridors sometimes seem endless. Doors appear and disappear. But the one thing that becomes very clear is that they're in big trouble.

This house has secrets, a dark mystery, some sort of connection to each one, and it's determined to imprison them...

First of all, this book is so nice! The creepy cover, the black and white photos, the grey pages and hidden symbols all add to the mystery. And the story hooked me in instantly and didn't let me go. I pretty much read it in one sitting because it was SO GOOD!

The story is told in the POV of all five kids, which was the perfect way to keep the story moving and the pacing perfect. Not to mention that the spooky factor and building tension sucked me right in. I wanted to know what was going on, and although the mystery will no doubt continue in the next book, some really bizarre answers are revealed.

This book is seriously creepy. Disturbing. Intriguing. And I loved the kids! All of them have flaws and weaknesses, which make each one uniquely interesting.

I loved it!



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