Boy Heaven

by Laura Kasischke

They were seventeen, with perfect tans and perfect bodies. They planned on a joyride in a convertible on a hot summer day. They planned on skinny-dipping in a beautiful, secluded lake. They planned on making it back to camp before anyone noticed they were gone. What they didn't plan on was being followed by two guys in a beat-up station wagon. . . . Their day soon takes a drastic turn -- all because Kristy Sweetland smiled at the wrong time, in the wrong place, at the wrong boys. Now the girls feel prying eyes on them all the time -- during pep practice, on the path through the woods, outside the window of their cabin. The boys are stalking them, leaving threatening notes on their beds, and watching their every move. Boy Heaven is a provocative, page-turning mystery, and a must-read for anyone who loves an urban legend.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Fiction, Horror, Contemporary, Thriller, The United States Of America

288 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 2006

About the author

Laura Kasischke is an American fiction writer and American poet with poetry awards and multiple well reviewed works of fiction. Her work has received the Juniper Prize, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Pushcart Prize, the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Emerging Writers, and the Beatrice Hawley Award. She is the recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as several Pushcart Prizes.

Her novel The Life Before Her Eyes is the basis for the film of the same name, directed by Vadim Perelman, and starring Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood. Kasischke's work is particularly well-received in France, where she is widely read in translation. Her novel A moi pour toujours (Be Mine) was published by Christian Bourgois, and was a national best seller.

Kasischke attended the University of Michigan and Columbia University. She is also currently a Professor of English Language and of the Residential College at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She lives in Chelsea, Michigan, with her husband and son.

Reviews

[Nomes · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

haha. I don't know where to begin here...

This is an urban myth book: three cheerleaders smile at the wrong creepy guys. The guys then follow them back to a cheer-leading summer camp in the woods... dun dun dun. AND whatever happens, this story becomes the ultimate spooky story to tell outside in the middle of the night...

Gosh ~ the beginning of this book has the most gorgeous prose and a chilling prologue which is an absolute teaser. Grabs you right in.

The prologue was awesome (alluding to the future). Creepy and tingly and very camp-stories in the dark-esque. It captured me and I really wanted to know what happened/was going to happen.

Then the story lurches back to the present where the three girls are all at yhe cheer-leading camp in the woods. During the present narration there are lots of flash backs pertaining to Kristy's (main characters) life at home, back at high school, her relationship with her best friend, anecdotes about boys and sex, etc. It was all well written, with lovely imagery and sentiments and interesting anecdotes.

Problem was ~ I kind of didn't care for all this. I just wanted to get back to the camp and the creepy guys and the mystery of what was going to happen.

Regarding the mystery/creepy stuff ~ there's some fabulous foreshadowing and bouts of paranoia and scenes that just reek of tension. Particularly towards the end ~ the build-up is quite intense and I really really wanted to get to the climax.

AND it was twist-y and Eww and not what I was expecting (congrats for having me not guess What Was Going To Happen). (don't know what I expected really, except to be stunned and freaked out). It also features this kind of epilogue thing-y which is haunting and surreal and very cool.

So, why the 2 stars?

I got a bit bored in the middle. Blame it on wanting to fly ahead to the climax. Also ~ it's got some edgier content. well, obviously, being a kind of slasher urban legend book. BUT that didn't bother me ~ there was just A LOT of sex going down and general cheer-leading bitchiness that I find tiresome to read (I don't find sulky teenagers that appealing, although the main character was fine). Mainly, I just felt all the other back story and broader picture was a little unnecessary and i would've liked to stick more to the crazy stuff going down. But then I guess the book would only be a novella.

It was a pretty funky read though ~ and one you fly through, with quality writing (both the prose and the building of tension). If this book was a movie it would be a B-Grade summer horror thriller: cute girls, skinny dipping, hot life guard, things that go BANG in the night and a bloody climax *cue horror music and screaming girls*

* it's for upper teens. content plus.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is hardly a typical book selection for me. It had been sitting on my shelf for a year already by the time I gave it a try, and even then it was just the book I grabbed blindly on my way to bed for the night. To its credit, I read the entire book in a couple of days. I'm not normally a fan of this kind of literature. It's the kind that they call young adult in some bookstores only because the main characters are teenagers. The thing is, I've read quite a few books targeted at adults that broach fewer "taboos" than this book did and they do it with a greater sensibility in their approach. This one was a bit over the top.

It was a pretty good ghost story. Or maybe it's wrong to call it a ghost story. Is a ghost only a ghost if the person they are born out of is already dead? Maybe I'm just mincing the details too much. Anyway, the thing that this book does best is take the reader along on the psychological train wreck of being haunted or stalked by something creepy. It follows three teenage cheerleaders, Kristy, Kristi, and Desiree, at cheerleading camp (yes, I almost put the book down for that alone). They are your typical self-absorbed, petty, contradictory messes that you have to anticipate a writer creating as filler in most high school dramas, basically three overfilled barges of mental baggage. Top it off with the story being written in the first-person view of one of those aforementioned messes, Kristy Sweetland, and you've got a world-class narcissist on your hands.

It opens with an unplanned afternoon excursion to go skinny dipping at a local lake that goes terribly wrong thanks to a few relatively creepy local boys playing stalker after crossing paths with the girls at the local gas station. Okay, so the beginning reads like just about a thousand movies I've consistently avoided like the plague of American cinema that they are. There's the predictable chase through the backroads of nowheresville, the narrow escape, and the triumphant taunting of their pursuers wherein they decide to give them a taste of what they missed by baring all from the waist up as they cruise past the gawking hormonal creeps. Yes, I even suffered through the nauseating descriptions of each girl's chest as compared to that of insecure Kristy. Where it all picks up is in the aftermath of that ill-fated trip.

Back at camp, their victory is short lived. Of course, the stalkers somehow aren't through with the girls yet, not after getting a look at the three of them topless. The girls try to return to business as usual, Kristi going back to sulking, Desiree angling her way into the pants of the attractive male camp counselor, and Kristy standing by to envy her loose friend for her carefree and vivacious ways and of course, obsessing over how every other girl at camp views her. The author does a pretty thorough job of making you root for the stalkers or perhaps an oversized alligator from the lake with an overdeveloped appetite for self-obsessed teenage girls. That last part was just a suggestion, but I think it would have been worth a closer look.

Anyway, the boys begin turning up in the woods outside the cabins to stare and generally creep the girls out and one by one the three of them begin to unravel in their own little ways. This was the real fun of the story, comparing their different descents into paranoia and the measures they went to to protect themselves, none of which really helped. If they were even remotely likable people, I suppose at one point I might have started feeling bad for them, especially the sulky Kristi who seemed fit for a straight jacket pretty early on, but that never was the case here so it kept the fun simple for me. I could have done without the chronicles of Desiree and her boy toy, but I suppose it was a necessary piece of the whole unfortunate puzzle. You can't have a sex-crazed supporting character sit around eating ham sandwiches for the entire book…unless of course she's waiting to get groove back or something.

Overall, if this book were made into a movie that stayed true to the original text, it would be rated R for sure, and not just because of the flashing scene toward the beginning. There is enough sex in this otherwise to make sure of that. But it's a good psychological thrill ride. There are some pretty tense moments. The writer has an absolute mastery of metaphor and the descriptions of everything from the scenery to the characters' expressions are chock full of vivid imagery. The plot is a mixture of clichés and overdone twists, but the end scene and the final plot twist are both fairly alarming. Bottom line is while I wouldn't make the mistake of suggesting this to any random teenager, I wouldn't call it a bad book for the rest of us. Give it a try when you're after a fast, mindless summer read and I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is one of the most beautifully-written books I've ever read. it's so atmospheric that I can't get the sights and smells out of my head. from the title and cover, I thought it was going to be sunday-afternoon trash reading, but it just sucked me in. I wish more YA books could be this well-written.

[PageGoblin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75/5 🌟

[prisca💋 · Rating 3 out of 5]

c’est celui que j’ai le moins aimé de l’autrice, même si l’ambiance qu’elle installe est toujours si étrange et mystérieuse.

[Taylor Fenner · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 of 5 Stars!

The first time I read Boy Heaven was twelve years ago. I was thirteen and at the time this story creeped me out. Years passed and I lost track of the book but never forgot the story, eventually managing to track down a used copy online. And so as a now-twenty-five-year-old-woman I read this book for the third time.

Boy Heaven is about a girl named Kristy who attends cheerleading camp with her best friend Desiree. There they meet a redhead also named Kristi and one day decide to ditch camp and drive to a nearby lake to skinny dip. Along the way they attract the attention of two boys in a station wagon who decide to follow them. The girls decide to turn back for camp and see the boys following them so they decide to flash them. Unbeknownst to them this event causes a disastrous chain of events. Soon Desiree and the redheaded Kristi insist they're seeing the boys watching them at the camp but the other Kristy doesn't believe them, thinking they're losing their minds.

With the help of the camp lifeguard, T.J., Desiree and Kristy discover the truth about what really happened the day they ran into the boys in the station wagon, a truth that will change all of their lives forever.

This book is an okay read. It's told in a very strange way - like you know how someone starts talking about one subject then before you know it they've off-shot into about a hundred other topics that you wonder how they were connected to the original topic to begin with. That's how this story is written. Originally it starts with a camp counsellor telling horror stories around the campfire, and the Desiree and Kristis' story is one of them then we hear the story in Kristy's perspective with a bunch of offshoots to things that happened in her past that aren't really but sort of are connected to the main story.

It's not as eerie of a story as I thought it was as a teenager but the ending - the fate of the three girls still gives me an uneasy feeling and reminds me why I never liked telling scary stories in the dark as a kid.

Overall, I like this book but I think there are a lot of things that could have been cut from the story.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think one of Laura Kasischke’s strongest talents is her ability to create a believable character. When we read young adult fiction, or even watch teen movies, there’s usually that overly revered popular girl, who is so wicked that the audience spends most of the movie wondering how she got to be so popular in the first place. Kasischke doesn’t make that mistake in Boy Heaven. With Kristy, she’s revered because she’s pretty and nice, but she’s not the prettiest—that’s Desiree, who doesn’t even have any other friends because she’s, as Kristy admits herself, Desiree is a slut. Not only is she easy, but she’s also mean—she has “a handful of snow for a heart,” she cheats on all of her boyfriends, etc. And then we have Kristi, and when I first saw that there was a Kristy and a Kristi, I wondered why Kasischke bothered doing that. But Kristi and Kristy are nothing alike.

Kasischke’s grasp of character and her skill at characterizing not just these three girls but the cheerleaders and counselors and small characters they encounter while at this cheerleading camp is so breathtaking that I was ten pages into the story and already felt like I knew them, like I was friends with them, huddled in the backseat of the little red Mustang with them, smiling at boys with them. These weren’t just characters—they could have been any real girls in the world, and I think that’s what made this book so very startling for me. Whatever Kristy told me, as a narrator, I believed. I believed the ghost stories and the fact that she heard screaming in the woods and everything she told me about her family. I felt as though I was her diary, the secret confidant she reveals she still writes every event of her life in.

Another strong point of this novel was how Kasischke warned us of what would come with subtle metaphors and similes. She compares Kristi’s freckles to blood spatter, uses terms like “knife” and “sliced” to refer to seeing the flame of a lighter flick to life, and other strangely out of place terms and phrases that are subtle enough that someone might not notice them but out of place enough, for the lightness of this story at first, for us to completely overlook it. As you read and things become more serious, these comparisons and word choices begin to make sense, and you remember them.

The pacing of this book was magnificent, something I struggle with in my own writing, as well as the characterizations. It wouldn’t have had the same effect on me, I think, if the girls were flat characters, chattering cheerleaders and revered popular girls without rhyme or reason or flaw, but because they were so real, the story itself struck me. This isn’t a cast of characters or a story I’m likely to forget. Even by the time I’d reached page 160 and nothing of significant importance had happened yet, I was so drawn in to the mystery, my expectations were so high from the book’s summary as well as the general tilt of suspense, that I had to keep turning the page. That’s an art. I think what I learned most from Kasischke’s work is pacing and character, and I hope I can carry that art into my own writing.

[Below · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is terrible. It's poorly written, with godawful sentences such as “The gooey blackened melodrama of roasted marshmallows.” No, seriously. It is incredibly misogynistic - there is constant victim blaming in it - for example when the guys start to follow them Desiree blames Kristy for it because she smiled at them, basically this is the equivalent of 'but her skirt was too short' as an argument. The horror in it is barely there and not that creepy anyway, and half the time the author instead focusses upon random pieces of backstory for the main character rather than the actual plot. I don't like the characters, they are horrible people. Kristy and Desiree mock another girl for being 'frigid' (hello there shaming of virginity!) and Kristy laughs about a boy who just dropped dead of a heart attack. The note at the end told me that it was set a while back, but the only thing that gave me that tip-off in the book was the lack of mobile phones and I still don't know when it's actually meant to be set. I know it's meant as an urban legend but you could at least give me a decade.

[Laurelas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I did not expect that! (did I think when I finished the book)

While the book starts like a typical "girls smile at wrong guys" kinda way, therefore giving a dangerous feeling right from the start, it does not exactly end up being what you think it will be... It's more of a story of teenagers, with a little eerie feeling throughout, and some beautiful prose about what it feels like to be a teen.

Some characters are more annoying than others, there's some slut-shaming and general teenager meanness, but somehow, that was kinda to be expected. (but the slut-shaming is really not cool though)

It was a fun Summer read, the kind where you expect something bad to happen any minute, but in the end... well you'll see !

(also, the whole story is on point regarding all the stories you hear these days about women being stalked by creeps, how girls are sexualised pretty early on, etc, and how, on the whole, being a girl seems to be more dangerous than being a boy in our world...)

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

So this was a re-read of a book that stuck with me from about ten years ago. It was the twist that stuck with me and I was really looking forward to reading it again to see if I still liked it. I did not.
I just found this book so problematic, I don't know if I didn't notice before because I was so young or because I knew what was going to happen this time through so I was more focused on the writing than the mystery but I found myself making loud noises of disgust frequently through this book. Slut shaming, virgin shaming, body shaming, girl on girl hate and a whole host of other things just made this book an uncomfortable read for me.
The twist and the ending of this book was fantastic, something I personally haven't come across before or since reading this ten years ago, and I would love to have been able to love the entirety of the story, I'm sad that I just can't.

[daisy · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is possibly one of the worst books I have ever read. there was zero plot until the last 10 pages and even that was a massive reach. there was pro cop propaganda and lots of slut shaming. just shit overall.

[Josie Dusack · Rating 5 out of 5]

when i was in 8th grade my english teacher, Mrs. F, had us all write an essay/review on a book of our choice. we then mailed the review, a letter, and our copy of the book to the author for signing. I chose Boy Heaven, obviously. Mrs. F had set real expectations for us kids, making it clear that more often than not, authors didn’t write back.

cut to freshman year, its *high school* baby. i was ecstatic to see that Mrs. F posted on my facebook wall, writing “Hey you…mail call.” I received a package that week in homeroom. Laura had sent back the signed book reading:

“For Josie — With all my best wishes for your reading and your writing!”

and a letter back that reads:

“Josie — Thank you so much for your kind letter and generous review. I hope we meet in person someday soon. Your writing is really strong, so keep writing! -Laura”

I still have the book and the letter after all of these years; i know that i always will. i just finished the book again and feel so inspired (and spooked!). Laura’s writing is honest and visceral, she captures what it’s like to be a girl at 17 so accurately. The end will leave you jumpy, even on edge. I’m so thankful for Mrs. F and Laura, what inspirational and creative women. We love Michigan authors 🫶

[Shauta Marsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laura Kasischke has mastered writing about the dark-side of teenage girls. And most of her books revolve around this subject matter but these aren't feel good books there are usually dire consequences for her characters. And many times you think 'Shit I would have done or did that same thing when I was that age.' She understands the thought processes and pressures of these characters and if her books aren't set in the teen/childhood years most of the characters problems stem from those times in the character's life...as with anyone. I highly recommend any of her books though this one is not her best it is still pretty good.
This book in particular is about cheerleading camp and starts out where a counselor is telling urban myth type stories in that particular area. She starts telling one that is "true" and that is the story of Boy Heaven.
There are three central characters to this story Kristy, Kristi and Desiree. The story is written in first person by Kristy Sweetland.
"I felt powerful being pretty-but I also wanted to be good. I believed in God. And in Jesus. And in "Pretty is as pretty does" which is what my stepfather used to say whenever I stood in front of the mirror too long. I didn't know what that meant exactly. Could pretty do anything? I wasn't a verb, I knew that much. Under some circumstances I suppose it could be a noun. But I tried to be humble and nice anyway."
The central question of this story ends up being just this. It also dissects how the character sees herself versus how she really is.
"I wasn't like Desiree, with a handful of snow for a heart(Once she'd stuffed a gum wrapper into the Salvation Army bucket outside the mall pretending it was a dollar, and when the bellringer had said, "Thank you miss! God bless you!" Desiree replied, "God bless you too," with such sincerity I couldn't help laughing, although I also knew I could never have done a thing like that.)"
I won't go into it much more it's a great book, beautifully written, and well worth your time but if you are just starting to read Kasischke's books I would start with The Life Before Her Eyes or Suspicious River or White Bird In A Blizzard. If if I had to comapre her to another author I would say Joyce Carol Oates. This author should be better known that she is. I think she isn't as well known because her last name is so difficult to say or spell.

[Rhonda Filipan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kasischke's writing is lyrical, and it's easy to see that she's a poet. I loved her novel "The Life Before Her Eyes," so I thought I'd give "Boy Heaven," her first and only young adult adult novel (YA) a shot. Be forwarned: the ending (that last chapter) is quite surprising, and I can see why some critics called it a narrative trick that would make readers feel cheated. Instead, try to remember that the novel was written for older teens (i.e. profanity and sex), so this ending may be suitable for them. At times, I found the flashbacks intrusive and thought they weren't woven as seemlessly into the story as they were in "The Life Before Her Eyes." Still, I raced through the book quickly, and despite my age, still love a good YA ghost story!

--Rhonda Filipan

[Mee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Definitely hted how there were these mini-stories in about ALL parts of a single chapter. First it would be about the present and then suddenly flashes into a past back story about whatever, then it would all be confusing if it's back in the present or it's still in the past, and then there would be MORE stories that aren't even connected to the story in focus!! Seriously? That's just so confusing.

So this story was actually quite unexpected, and it was at the same time predictable. It was a surprise because there wasn't really any story to hold on to, like okay we get it, it's a ghost story, then boom, it's done. Like serioussslyyy? You end it right when it was already at the climax? Great job. Great job.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover is wonderful at depicting what the story is on the surface: candy-bright summer fun, carefree, irresponsible teenagers sneaking out of camp for a few hours, with flashbacks to how two of them knew each other before as well as how they interact at camp. It makes you forget the prologue, which tells you this book is a scary story told around campfires - until the boys they flashed on the road start stalking them, and it escalates into an extremely dark and unnerving ending. It's an imagery-laden book, and as another reviewer commented, the story wouldn't be very long if you only heard the campfire version - but although not much happens, you need that time to get comfortable in their world, because it makes the ending have that much more impact.

[Diana Gomez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just remembered reading this in maybe 2009-2010, and I had to find it, because I thought I might have imagined it.

Eventually I want to find a copy and read it again. This book haunted me.

I *think* i remember the twist (as it's part of what haunts me) but I didn't remember the sex-heavy bits that other reviewers mention, although I don't doubt it's a big part of the book.

I remember flying through this and feeling like I was watching a horror film waiting for a jump scare.

3 stars because I don't think I loved it, but it definitely left its mark on me.

[Set · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the cover of the book when I was a teen and picked it up. I was very satisfied and extremely surprised with the ending. I usually already guess the ending halfway through a book but this one was sublime and totally unexpected. It's a good book to take to the beach or camp if you're going on a vacation. The writing style was clear and it's a fast read.

[Czarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending gave me chills since I was alone at home when I finished reading this.

[Ninon · Rating 2 out of 5]

C'était une bonne lecture, mais j'ai l'impression qu'il manque quelque chose à la fin. Ça me frustre car j'aurais aimé en savoir plus, et la dernière phrase était TRÈS et TROP vague.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's the thing- depending on how you want to interpret this book my rating is going to differ, VASTLY.

I give this a 4 star because I am interpreting this in the way I want to: a shit post. I'm choosing to view this book as being heavily satirical and having commentary about the camp fire ghost stories that girls get told when they're young to learn how to watch out for themselves. The type of stories that have every girl from a young age looking over their shoulder anticipating something bad because that's what happens to girls, right? Bad things.

If I interpret this story in a way that this story IS one of those lessons to be taught to young girls then I give this a 2 star. Here's why: the characters are not good. They're all really shitty to one another and to girls in general. These are the types of girls who always feel in competition with other girls. And if that's the lesson this author wanted to convey, that's a lesson I can't get behind. Which is why I choose to interpret this as a self aware shit post.

This is one of those books that's so campy that you can't help but smile at it. Even the cover is campy. You think it's gonna be this book about girls who go to a summer camp and there's boys and they fall in love but nope. This ain't that. I think this is a brilliant story and has some really nice descriptive prose. There were certainly times I got bored when there was a flashback chapter about something but overall the tension is built up really nicely. I kept expecting something to happen because I knew something was going to happen. Especially because on page 108 one of the characters says,

"I just know something terrible is going to happen."

And then the twist! What a good twist. I never for a million years would have guessed that and I don't know why because it's the such a typical twist! I think because the tension is built up so well and you've heard this kind of story so many times before, right? Girls who get talk to or smile at the wrong boys and then bad things result and bad things to do result here just not how you think!!

This was a really fun story. I highly recommend but do not in any instance take any part of this book in a serious way. It's way more fun to consume in the mindset of this is satirical and campy and the stuff that might make you mad is there on PURPOSE.

[Anne Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plongée dans l'adolescence et la superficialité, mais seulement en apparence.
Le style précis et quasi hypnotique de Laura Kaschichke emprunte tellement aux images de cette période de la vie aux Etats-Unis qu'il en devient poétique, sucré et cinématographique : la chimie des produits de beauté et du corps sous toutes ses manifestions, les couloirs du lycée et les cancans, la beauté des filles qui les rend presque interchangeables et la balourdise parfois troublante des garçons, l'immaturité et le sentiment que le monde n'a que du bon à nous offrir malgré nos actions d'écervelées. Une menace, perçue ou réelle, n'altère pas ce faux-semblant de sécurité, tant la beauté et le sex-appeal fonctionnent comme une arme contre la peur et les conséquences du risque, comme une réminiscence de l'enfance et de sa pureté, qui se mue durement en égoïsme et en manipulation.
Un twist à la fin, oui, cinématographique là aussi, et en droite ligne avec l'évolution du personnage principal dont les sourires masquent quelque chose de plus inquiétant.
Il est toujours remarquable de construire un roman, même court, sur une trame presque secondaire face aux fils d'anecdotes dont le récit est tissé. C'est le cas ici. Et le choeur puissant des cigales fait écho à celui des pom-pom girls, tous deux éphémères : la fin du camp, c'est aussi la fin de l'adolescence et de l'innocence. Les cigales meurent, les pom-pom girls muent avec leurs fêlures.

[Kat Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 stars boosted because Laura Kasischke is such a good writer. So for whatever reason, I didn't realize this was a YA novel, despite the title and seeing a small thumbnail of the cover when I requested it from the library. It was the last novel by her I hadn't read, but honestly, it seems pretty mature in style and themes for a YA reader--reminiscent in voice and descriptive detail of Jo Ann Beard's In Zanesville and Jayne Anne Phillips's Sanctuary, although there's more melodrama here.

I wouldn't quite call this a thriller, but there's an undercurrent of violence and simmering sexuality set against the backdrop of cheerleading camp (I personally would have been more interested in a general summer camp, but whatever). What made this book special was Kasischke's voice and the brief chapters that weave through time; some readers will think these chapters are tangential, but they actually serve to deepen the character and her friendships. Ultimately, the middle section dragged a bit, and I wanted to spend a little more time reflecting on the twist . . . which kind of goes against the point of a twist ending, but given this absolutely crazy thing happened, it seemed kind of lame to just give this reveal and be like, "okay the end."

[Crabbygirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

[guessing at the star rating / mining my old FB notes now that they are almost impossible to find]

i often make book lists after reading my favorite bloggers, but i don't always remember who recommended which book and for whom. (i take note of books for me, as well as pepper & fierce) when this YA one came in - innocence title and slim width - i thought it was pepper. well, thank-god i read it first! it's the kind of scary tale told around the campfire and was VERY effective in that sense. the tension kept building and i thought this would be a great alternative to those horrid Goosebumps series that my daughter likes to read. but the characters - so smutty! more flawed than redemptive. i tried to give it a chance (because maybe the ending would provide a moral judgement to counter point all this bad behavior) but no - the beautiful cheerleaders keep their perfect lives and the world keeps turning.

[Bybyberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this book ten years ago, never read it, found it at my parents house and brought it along for my three hours long train ride and....it was perfect! I swear, reading is truly all about timing lmao.
Deliciously atmospheric, the tension truly creeps up on you and builds up page after page. I think the cheerleading camp setting is a perfect choice, and the narration going back and forth between memories and the present is well executed. The main character is also both fascinating and believable.
The twist is interesting, though I'm not 100% sold on everything. But the book definitely doesn't take you where you think it will.
Overall, a nice, catchy read, perfect for getting out of a reading slump.

[Chloé le feufollé · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’ai lus ce livre d’une traite à 23h30 et fini à 4h du matin et je n’ai pas eu envie de le poser.

L’histoire au premier abord m’a attiré parce que je me suis imaginé un scénario très “film d’horreur slasher américain” et plutôt sombre voir trash mais le trash n’était pas au rendez vous.

J’ai mis seulement 3 étoile mais j’ai passé un super moment de lecture.

Ca m’a fait l’effet d’un Tarantino “death proof” mélangé à un film d’horreur du type “souviens toi l’été dernier ou autre film thrilled avec des filles en danger dans un camp près d’un lac.

L’histoire n’Ai pas sanglante mais pourtant l’autrice avec sa plume envoûtante, poétique et glauque nous met en tension et j’ai adoré ça.

[navelliaa_books · Rating 1 out of 5]

Le seul truc positif de ce livre : la plume est très fluide et donc c’est agréable.

Mais sinon, c’est très long pour rien. Il n’y a pas d’histoire. Ou celle-ci aurait pu tenir en une dizaine de page. On nous parle de la vie passée de la protagoniste mais ça n’a aucun utilité.

Ce n’est absolument pas un thriller, parce qu’on est pas du tout dans un schéma de suspense. Juste on suit une fille de 17 ans, en colo de cheerleaders. Le « dénouement » est nul et en même temps, on a pas vraiment d’enquête ni de suspense donc bon.

Bref, gagnez du temps et ne lisez pas ce livre.

[Romane Pl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thriller bien écrit. Un camp de pom-pom girls et des jeunes filles qui vivent dans la séduction et dans le regard des autres, surtout des hommes. Elles fuguent un instant, charment de jeunes hommes et cela s'avère être un meurtre. Au volant d'une Mustang rouge elles montrent leur poitrine à ces jeunes hommes et ils se retrouvent morts dans un ravin. Alors leurs fantômes rôdent sans cesse autour du camp.

[Marion · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author always delivers the right blend of unheimlich and disturbed American way of life. This makes the book a page turner whose images stay with you.

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was decent. I knew what was going to happen though early on, it wasn’t too hard to figure out.