Candy is not a horror story, but it’s not sugar sweet either. This book is scary on many levels. There were scenes when I couldn’t help but peek a page forward – just a glance – to get some hint of who might get hurt and how.

It was scary to read how messed up Candy was. And for me, as a parent of teenagers, it was very scary to see how a normal high schooler like Joe could get swept up into such danger. He never gives up his place as wholesome innocent victim. And he’s definitely out of his element, almost paralyzed with fear in his worst moments.

Joe is the narrator, and he opens the book with a flashback, so I knew early on that one way or another he had to survive. As the problems and anger and threats escalate, it’s not so easy to assume as much for anyone else. The coincidences and conflicts are too much at times, too much for a five star rating, anyway. But once I hit page 50, I wasn’t in any mood to stop.