I'm not really a fan. The book keeps swinging back between now and 15 years ago, which I found confusing at the beginning and annoying later on. The characters are not really sympathetic. Lisa (the girl that goes missing) is a bit of a dreamer. Evie, her cousin, comes off as underhanded. Later on it seems that she means well, but then again, she could have just opened up to Sam or Lisa about her home situation, instead of betraying Lisa to the town kids. That might have had some effect. And I'm sure she had enough opportunity to set things right later on, but she didn't. Sam, Lisa's brother, is annoyingly rational and unbelieving as a child and annoyingly closed as an adult. The most sympathetic is Phoebe, Sam's girlfriend, even though she is not portrayed very positively in the beginning. But that's not enough to carry the story.
Then there's the story itself. I think the main theme about the book (and I'm sure that's what is supposed to make the book interesting) is the BIG question: are there really faeries, or is everyone who thinks so nuts? It keeps going back and forth between the two options, in the end the story sort of chooses one of the two (and in my opinion it's not the best one even though I usually prefer it if magic wins out), but even then it's possible to argue the other way. Sure, you could call it artsy or clever or whatever, but I just found it annoying. On top of everything else, the faeries were no fun either. Overall, I suppose it was well thought out, but this was really not my thing. ( )

This book is clear proof of the old saying "You can't judge a book by it's cover." Because I was admittedly drawn into this book by the captivating cover shot of a 12 year old girl with absolutely memorizing eyes. Unfortunately, the book itself was just plain silly. ( )

It was a good mystery, but the ending was a bit weak. ( )

This was one heck of a creepy yet suspenseful story. Usually if I am not interested in the story within the first 50-100 pages, I won't finish it. This one started out slow, and somewhere in that page range, I was hooked. The story jumps back and forth over two summers, one at present day, the other fifteen years prior. The early one, a girl became missing: this girl was the sister and cousin of two of the characters.

I'm not going to go into detail, but that earlier summer, the sister, brother and cousin, were all mixed up in a make-believe of there being fairies. Up to the point when the girl comes up missing. Throughout the back and forth from that early summer and present day, the story goes flippin' weird. By the time I got to the last chapter, I had no idea what to think, except that this was a pretty creepy, ugly story, and certainly did not seem to have anything to do with the fantasy and fairies. Then I read that last chapter, and was like .... yeah.

Kudos to the author. I read the book in about two days because I couldn't put it down. Four stars ... only because the creep factor was too high. ( )

I love reading a favorite author's backlist and those older books are just as good as their newer releases. However, (and please do picture me on my knees with arms stretched toward the heavens, screaming this with deepest despair) why, dear author, why?!!

That ending!!

My poor heart had to spend a few days in recovery after that final twist.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, for me, McMahon writes childhood / adolescent experiences like nobody else in the thriller / horror genre... except maybe early Stephen King. She just plain gets kids/ tweens/ teens.

If you enjoyed Don't Breathe a Word, I highly recommend You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce. Be warned, though, the latter delves to even darker depths than the former. ( )