Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Teenager Zoe’s world seems to have fallen apart around her.  Her dad passed away; forcing her mom to move them to a rundown apartment in a different town.  Her mom is now scrambling to find a job, and the insurance company is claiming Zoe’s dad never existed!  To say nothing of Zoe entering into a new school.

But Zoe gets a glimpse of hope when she ditches school one day and finds an old record store.  In the back room there are strange white records with veins running through them that turn out to be people’s souls!  And, she can see her dad’s … it will only cost her a lock of hair.

But seeing her dad isn’t enough, she wants to talk to him too!  That can be arranged as well, for a price!

Then, one day the shopkeeper claims not to know her, which leads her to following him in the middle of the night on a life or death adventure that Zoe may not escape.

This is the first book that I’ve read from Richard Kadrey.  I’ve heard good things about him, so I was hopeful.  And, the book started out good.  The story engaged me easily enough with Zoe, the loss of her dad, the struggles she and her mom face, and of course Zoe’s dream brother, Valentine!  And, this is a small book so it reads pretty quickly.

But somewhere toward the end I found myself losing interest.  I’m not sure why as there was plenty going on, but I found myself tiring of life in Iphigene with Hecate and her children.  I was glad to see Zoe get back home and to see how her adventure changed her outlook on life and her personality in general.

I would not classify this as a bad book, but was apparently not my cup of tea.  It was well written and the characters were engaging.  I think those that enjoy a good fight for survival kind of story will really enjoy it.

This is classified as a Young Adult novel, but I wouldn’t suggest this book for a younger audience like some YA selections because it’s a very dark read.