4 ducks 
I do not read horror usually. Almost every time I do pick up a creepy book, I am disappointed with the read and frustrated. However Rising was the exception. It is an introduction to the Second Death series and I did not expect to like it. I was wrong and now I want to read the series. That is one of the highest compliments I can give to any book or author, that I want to read more.
Rising starts out slow and gives only tantalizing hints of where the story is headed. I felt compassion for Jessie, whose mother has buried her grief in sex and booze. The author captures the angst of a teenage girl living with neglect, abuse, and grief very well. The build up is steady with events building the suspense in a way that left me knowing something was coming, but barely prepared me for the intense ending that grabbed me like a monster and smashed all my preconceived notions about the story into mangled bits.
Was Jessie justified in the path she took? That is like asking if it’s ever alright to be a homicidal maniac. No she wasn’t justified. Did she have a choice? I believe she did not. She was only fourteen and not able to resist a powerful force that took advantage of her pain and emotional distress. What I liked about this book was that Jessie wasn’t some snot nosed brat who didn’t care about anyone but herself. That would have been Marie. No Jessie was a good girl for the most part who was vulnerable because her home life was a mess. Brian Rella did an excellent job of “speaking in the voice” of a 14 year old girl and she was very believable.
Since this is a novella that focuses on Jessie and her life, the other characters are really only snapshots. They are like the straws that are stacked up, one at a time, that finally break Jessie’s good nature and then evil uses the cracks they created to call her to itself. Over all, it’s a good read and despite not liking horror, I will read Watchers of the Fallen.
This sounds like one I’d enjoy reading myself. ::eyes the TBR pile with a pout:: When I can whittle that mountain down.
It’s a novella. Not too long, but careful there is still Watchers of the Fallen and a second book following that one. 😉
Have you seen the list I’ve got to work through still? I thought I’d have at least finished the “promised” stack, and I’ve barely scratched the surface.
Your stack? I can’t see anything over MY stack. LOL
::Laughs:: Definitely time to come live in your library. I’ll bring mine, too, so we can’t see the world.
Don’t tempt me.