B+ | If there are two words I could use to describe this book, it is haunting and creepy. This book have me goosebumps in the best of ways. It had be on the edge of my seat the entire time not just because of the twists and turns we were forced upon while we walked with the characters on the road, but also because of all the horrors they encountered.
Title: Rules for Vanishing
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 24th 2019
Synopsis: In the faux-documentary style of The Blair Witch Project comes the campfire story of a missing girl, a vengeful ghost, and the girl who is determined to find her sister–at all costs.
Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her–and who won’t make it out of the woods?
It’s been exactly one year since Sara’s sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn’t know whether her former friends no longer like her…or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to “play the game” and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca–before she’s lost forever. And even though she’s hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends–and their cameras–following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.
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Table of Contents
— REVIEW:
I actually bought this book last year, just before Halloween. I had intended to read it for spooky month, but I got busy and I put this book on the back burner. But this month, I’ve been feeling — well, I’m reading as many spooky books as I have, basically. Why? Just what I’m in the mood for and boy, oh boy. I was not disappointed.
I was hooked from the beginning.
There’s a diverse cast of characters here.
When I first opened this book, I admit that I was a bit worried I was just going to end up seeing plain white toast. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to see a bisexual main character, with a Black and an Asian side character.
Now, as an #ownvoices reader, I was excited to see that Becca was Asian. But I have some issues in regards to this.
It didn’t specify what type of Asian we’re talking about here. If you’re going to write in an Asian adoptee, be clear about what Asian we’re talking about. After all, Asia is NOT a monolith. We are not all East Asians and even here you need to be specific if we’re talking Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. Sure, cookie crumb points for adding an Asian character and mentioning the racism in the town potentially influencing how the town responded to her disappearance, but you need to be clear about what Asian we’re talking about here.
I also found that the way Becca’s parents were so dismissive of her disappearance made me uncomfortable. I am not an adoptee, but having seen so many reports of white families who adopt Asian children treating them poorly — well, it kind of sickened me to my stomach. Was intentional due to what is later revealed in the book or something else? And look, everyone grieves differently.
But selling/getting rid of your Asian child’s stuff eight months after their disappearance? Yeah, it didn’t sit well with me at all.
Still, don’t let this dissuade you from reading this book. Despite my discomfort, I still found this book to be an excellent one that I really enjoyed.
The book’s strength is in Marshall’s ability to make things tense and spine-chilling.
I don’t read too many horror novels. Despite the fact that the last few books I’ve read are horror/mystery, I haven’t really read too many until now. However, it doesn’t erase the fact that I personally found this book to be very eerie. I found myself putting the book down a few times because I’d just get the heebie-jeebies. I love me some good horror that gives me the heebie-jeebies.
The things that happen throughout the book and the people they encounter? All of this play a role in the creep factor.
Some of the descriptions of the horrors they faced were cool, but what really made my bone chill and what I absolutely adored? It was the tale of Dahut and about the city of Ys. It added a sense of mystery and wonder to the book, driving me forward to get to the answers. I also adored the interludes where we’d get snippets of blog posts and news articles talking about this mysterious road. It made things feel more real.
When an author can keep my attention like this throughout a book, that’s some good writing.
Not once did I get bored throughout this book. There was something happening on every page. Breathing? What’s breathing?
And look, I don’t need action in every page to keep my attention. The mystery and sense of dread and spook are enough, especially when it’s done right. My attention was pretty much on the mysteries in this book: what happened to Lucy? What happened to Becca? Who/what is Dahut? What happened to the city of Ys? Why does the road exist? What happened after things went down and why are the characters being interviewed by Ashford?
It was these questions that hooked and drove me.
Sure the characters were interesting. I did care about their safety. But they weren’t the things driving me to finish the book. Not that this is a bad thing, nor am I saying the characters were boring. It was just that I found the plot and mysteries more intriguing than the characters living through it.
Do I recommend?
Yes, absolutely. Despite the issue with Becca’s ethnicity not being specified and the discomfort I felt over her parents’ reaction, I still recommend.
But I especially want to recommend it to podcast listeners. It has a similar vibes to some of the mystery/paranormal serialized podcasts that are out there. If you have ever listened to The Black Tapes podcast (I’ve never finished it personally so please, no spoilers) or even the first season of the Limetown podcast and you enjoyed them, I think you’ll end up enjoying this book.
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