Spree

Spree

Jonathan DeCoteau

Paranormal

153 pages

Older Teen

Warnings: Character death, mentions of sex, underage drinking and driving, violence

After pre-gaming her ex-boyfriend's party, Fay DeSoto gets behind the wheel and subsequently  kills herself and a schoolmates mother and puts her two best friends in the hospital. When she dies, she becomes a taker, a spiritual being that exists to take lives. When she finds out that her death may have triggered another student to kill others at the school's championship soccer game, she makes it her goal to try and stop him by using her death day wish to be allowed to try and stop it.

Writing Style: 9/10

I thought it was good. There were a few mistakes, but nothing so terrible that it took away from the story. I also think that the scenes with Fay's mother were incredibly well written. They really hit me hard. It may be my own impending motherhood influencing my emotions, but I feel like it was more than that. That DeCoteau really just wrote her well.

Plot: 8/10

There were a few small times that the plot was a little confusing, such as why Fay had to wish for the chance to stop Zipper instead of just being able to stop him, but for the most part it flowed very smoothly and really held my interest.

Originality: 10/10

The only book that I've read that really has a plot that's all that similar is The Wish List by Eoin Colfer and even that book had some stark differences. You don't often find that there are such original novels, at least in my opinion. This could just be a sub-genre that I've completely missed, but I think that this is a very original novel.

Enjoyability: 9/10

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. DeCoteau definitely had a few good morals that he was trying to get across in this story, but I feel as though they came to the story naturally instead of having to be forced. I also think the fact that this was so enjoyable was very important, as I believe it deals with many touch issues that are very important.

End: 9/10

Unexpected and excellent, although the last page seemed a little cliche.

Overall: 45/50

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Has anyone read the book? Am I just completely missing a sub-genre? Let me know what you think of this review in the comments or suggest an independent book for me to read!