Three teenaged misfits from seriously dysfunctional families spend their summer days together in a series of misadventures that culminate in a horrific act that defies understanding. This is a very unsettling look into the mind of evil disguised as madness. The ending was an unexpected twist. ( )

Okay - I shouldn't have been surprised at the conclusion to this novel - but I was! What a fascinating first work. This is more of a novella, than a novel - which makes it a great in between read. It was good enough to make me immediately order the author's other book- "Little Birds." However, I have to admit that "Little Birds" didn't hook me in the same way "The Dead of Summer" did. It's almost gothic in a weird way - you have this impending sense of doom, which the structure of the story helps to invoke. I don't want to give away the ending - but Wow! However, as other reviewers have noted - expect to be disturbed in ways you didn't expect. Thought provoking to say the least and an excellent debut! ( )

I found The Dead of Summer to be a chilling and compelling look into the world of three young teenage misfits. In a series of flashbacks we are told the story by Anita. A loner all her life, Anita and her family moved to London from Leeds after the death of her mother in the 1980’s. She doesn’t fit in at school and the only friend she is able to make is Denis, a slightly slow boy. Through Denis she meets Kyle, who lives across the street from her and whom she has already noticed and been attracted to. Kyle is the leader of the group and the other two always follow him.

We are told at the beginning of the book that there was a event that left everyone but Anita dead. As she relates her story to a psychiatrist many years later, she fills in the blanks and we are shown what actually happened that summer. We learn about each of the children’s background, from Denis’s overprotective, religious mother to Kyle’s younger sisters’ disappearance a year earlier. This is a disturbing, yet riveting story that I found very hard to put down. Definitely not a book for the faint-of-heart.

The Dead of Summer is Camilla Way’s debut novel, yet she has produced a well crafted plot that keeps the reader engrossed. Her skilful manipulation keeps the book fresh and unpredictable. There are times when you find a book that really speaks to you, and for whatever reason, this book spoke volumes to me. ( )

A great read and gripping right up to the surprising end. This is a deeply unnerving and cleverly written story about 3 teenagers....well 4 really... and one summer in the eighties. All the characters are deeper and more flawed than they first appear. I read this in one sitting as I just couldn't put it down. ( )

I am now officially a Camilla Way fan!

Having read Little Bird last month, and now The Dead of Summer, I can't wait to see what Camilla Way writes next. Although similar in some ways, these two books were also wonderfully different and both had me gripped to the end.

The Dead of Summer follows three 13 year olds through the long hot summer holidays as they mooch about, getting into minor scrapes and avoiding the evil bully, Mike.
It is written from the point of view of Anita. She has mixed parentage, lives in a council house and is raised by her Dad after her mother's death.
Her mates Danny and Kyle have similarly difficult backgrounds and the three of them are all potentially social misfits.
Anita is recounting that summer to a child psychologist and as we follow her version of events, we gradually come to realise that all is not as it seems.
The twist at the end was quite a surprise.

Excellent new author, highly recommended! ( )