Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

"Death is my world. Everything else, school and friends, they're just things that get in the way of my next ghost." I reach into my back pocket and pull out my athame ... the blade shines in the gray light. Something in my blood, the blood of my father and his before him, makes it more that just a knife. "I'm the only one in the world who can do this. Doesn't that mean it's what I'm supposed to do?"

Cas Lowood has been hunting and killing ghosts since he was 14; his father did it before that (until he was killed by one of the ghosts he was hunting). Now it's just Cas and his mom, and they've just moved to Thunder Bay, Canada--a very haunted Thunder Bay--in search of one particular ghost: Anna Dressed in Blood. But Anna is not like any other ghost he's ever met.

If I'm honest with myself, I know that Anna Korlov has gotten into my mind like few ghosts have before her. I don't know why. There is only one ghost aside from her that has occupied my thoughts like this, that has brought up such a stirring of feeling, and that is the ghost who killed my father.

Some books surprise you with how good they are and this is one of them. I have to admit, when I picked this book up at the library I thought it would just be a fun YA ghost story, nothing more, but Anna Dressed in Blood exceeded my expectations. It's well-written (except for Blake's overuse of the word 'smirk'), fast-paced, tightly plotted, and the main characters ring true; they have fears and hopes and well-developed back stores...even Anna. I finished the last page actually hoping for a sequel. Kudos to Kendare Blake. This is one of the better ghost stories that I've read.

Happy Ghosting!

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     Precinct 13 by Tate Hallaway

     School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins