Description
When Jude Sinclair is killed in a hunting accident, Lyssa and George feel like their lives have been upended. George is angry - she and Jude have unfinished business - while Lyssa is bereft, unable to accept that he's gone.
In the wake of his death, Lyssa's behaviour becomes strange. She disappears at night and seems increasingly exhausted and sick. When George questions her, Lyssa confides that she's spending her nights with Jude, and an escalating series of disturbing events convinces their classmates that Jude has returned.
George assumes Lyssa is responsible for the 'hauntings' and decides to follow her at night. She is horrified about what she learns and knows that if it continues, it's sure to cost Lyssa her life. . .
Review
When Lyssa arrives at Milford, an elite boarding school that she attends on a full scholarship, it is so far away from her seaside town down the coast that she is totally unprepared for what happens next.
Lyssa is taken by the rich and smooth-talking Jude, whose family have links dating back to when the school opened. But their relationship becomes all-engrossing, and whenever Lyssa tries to take a step back Jude ensures that they become even closer.
Lyssa is roommates with George who seems to just want to keep to herself, after something bad happened last year.
After a fight, Jude dies in a shooting accident. But Lyssa doesn’t want to let him go - and it seems that her wish is granted, as he returns to her in his ghostlike form, even more determined to own her. A slow possession takes place using witchcraft, and Lyssa is fading away from the world. George notices and starts to tell Lyssa of the all-controlling hold that Jude had over her - but Lyssa doesn’t want to hear it.
Can George free Lyssa from the hold that Jude possesses over her before it is too late?
As noted in the book’s content warning there are dark and supernatural themes, depictions of physical and psychological harm, and complicated grief that all feature in this story, and it is certainly not a love story. It is a dark and thrilling horror story exploring the hold that a controlling and manipulative person has over two girls’ lives. Ultimately hopeful, it is well written and will appeal particularly to readers who enjoy supernatural stories. I found it hard to put down, and the reader is always hoping that Jude will fail in his wicked endeavours. Given the content, this is best suited to readers aged 14 years and up.
