ISBN 9781925324976

June  2016

Random House Australia Children’s

$19.99

Fleur Ferris certainly has a knack for creating really intense and gripping narratives.  Those who loved Risk will really eat this one up.

Ebony Marshall is known to all in her town as Black – not just because of her name but because the majority of people believe she is cursed. Three of her close friends have died and there is a malevolent belief that Black has jinxed them. In her final year of school Black is counting down the days until she can leave the small town with its ignorant and hurtful residents. In the meantime she keeps her head down and loves her part time work at the water plant her father established (particularly working with Ed, her dad’s assistant). At present her father is away working a dream in the Antarctic while Black and her mother get on with day to day living.

Black feels she can cope with the social isolation but when her date for the formal – new boy in town Aiden – ends up in the ICU, Black’s battle becomes more than just rejection by the locals. Father Ratchet and his cohort of ‘Whisperers’ are determined to rid the town of Black’s ‘demons’ as they have done to others before with murderous results.

This is not a book for the faint-hearted. The tension, the intense action and the ignorant cruelty are very convincingly told and readers will find themselves on the edge of their seats with trepidation.

Highly recommended for readers from around 13 years upwards, particularly those who can handle some serious ‘creepiness’.