Draw the Dark - A Review

Draw the Dark - Isla J. Bick (Netgalley)

Product Details

• Pub. Date: October 2010
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
• Format: Hardcover, 356pp
• Age Range: Young Adult

• ISBN-13: 9780761356868
• ISBN: 076135686X

Synopsis

"The things I draw: They tend to die."

There are things the people of Winter, Wisconsin, would rather forget. The year the Nazis came to town, for one. That fire, for another. But what they'd really like to forget is Christian Cage.

Seventeen-year-old Christian's parents disappeared when he was a little boy. Ever since, he's drawn obsessively: his mother's face...her eyes...and what he calls "the sideways place," where he says his parents are trapped. Christian figures if he can just see through his mother's eyes, maybe he can get there somehow and save them.

But Christian also draws other things. Ugly things. Evil things. Dark things. Things like other people's fears and nightmares. Their pasts. Their destiny.

There's one more thing the people of Winter would like to forget: murder.

But Winter won't be able to forget the truth, no matter how hard it tries. Not as long as Christian draws the dark...

My Thoughts:

I loved this book. In fact I enjoyed it so much, I'm not sure how to even put into words why.

Draw the Dark starts off slow and it pulls you in, steadily weaving the story. Wrapping itself like vines around you and not letting go until the very last page. It has a very realistic feel yet there's some fantasy included as well. It's hard for me to explain really, mostly because I'm not sure how it all fit together so seamlessly.

I found myself liking Christian immediately and feeling sympathy and worry for him as well. He has this very strange ability and even after reading the book, I'm not all together sure what it is, other than its quite intriguing. His story and the mystery surrounding him and the strange town of Winter, kept me trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

There's so much involved in this story, mystery, Nazi prison camps, secrets, did I mention secrets? This town is full of them. Winter is an interesting, if not a creepy town. I was sucked right into its secrets and found myself wondering what people were hiding every time a new character was introduced.

Author's Website: Ilsa J. Bick