Step Aside Winchester Brothers, There's a New Guy in Town

For some reason I've been on a horror kick recently and have read some truly disturbing YA novels.  The most chilling read I've had lately is:
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Cas Lowood has unusual skill.  Like his father before him, he kills the dead.

Since his father's death at the hands of a powerful spirit, Cas has taken up the family knife and carried on the tradition of ridding the world of malevolent ghosts.  Everything changes when Cas receives information about an unusual ghost, Anna Dressed in Blood, who has more kills to her name than any spirit Cas has come across.  Suddenly the past comes back to haunt Cas and he must rely on new friends if he plans to survive the fight with Anna.

Kendare Blake has created a world in which things that go bump in the night are very real and likely to kill you.  Cas is an interesting and wonderfully flawed hero, while Anna's character opens the story to new directions that the reader doesn't expect.  Secondary characters are just as important and well-developed and help bring Blake's world to life.  Anna Dressed in Blood perfectly balances horror, action and emotion to leave the reader anxiously waiting for the next volume.

Recommended for readers of:

Robert Liparulo, Stephen King, Richard Yancey, Maureen Johnson

Bloody Anna is a Bloody Good Read

Anna Dressed in Blood is one of the most original, deeply creepy and engrossing novels I’ve read recently.  The story certainly lives up to the eeriness of the cover art and is an interesting mix of supernatural horror and forbidden attraction.

High school student Cas Lowood has spent the last several years hunting ghosts, carrying on the family tradition that resulted in the death of his father.  The reader is introduced to Cas while he is on the trail of a ghostly hitchhiker who sends cars off the bridge and into the river where his body was dumped.  That “kill” is ordinary and Cas quickly starts looking for the next specter causing trouble.  When Cas hears about Anna Dressed In Blood, who has been haunting and killing since the 1950s and he feels compelled to investigate.  But none of his experience has prepared him for the reality of Anna and when Cas actually comes face-to-face with her all bets are off.

I’ll be honest – this book actually gave me a few nightmares.  Not because of Anna; she is intriguing and tormented and freaky yes, but there is another character that I truly gave me the chills.  Readers will feel compelled to finish this book in one sitting so as not to be too overcome by the death-by-ghost possibilities.  Kendare Blake is a talented writer who’s second novel bursts onto the YA Paranormal scene with a bewitching tale.