Synopsis: Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas’s life.

Review: This book came along with some serious hype - hype that can be 110% backed up. This book just plain out rocked it!

A paranormal YA book with a twist is probably how I would describe this.. but it is truly so much more. It is creepy, gritty, intense, at times funny and strangely sweet. I really enjoyed that it was unpredictable (although it didn’t stop me from trying to figure out the ending anyways!).

I think it’s fair to say that YA books are really lacking when it comes to books written from a male perogative. So it’s nice to have a real kick-ass male protagonist. And further more, he sounds completely cute. I developed a little bit of a crush on him, I’ll be honest! The fact that he hunts down ghosts and wipes them out is even cooler. He’s a bit quirky and he’s not a typical 17 year old!

When Cas’ father is murdered by a malevolent ghost, Cas feels it’s his duty to pick up where his father left off. He has taken down a number of them before he hears about a ghost they call Anna Dressed In Blood, so called because she was murdered in a white dress which turned bright red with blood when her throat was cut. She kills anyone that dares to enter the house she used to live in… so far she’s up to 27 kills. He knows straight away he needs to meet this Anna and kill her for good before she hurts anyone else.

But when Cas meets Anna she spares his life? Why? He doesn’t know, but he plans on getting to the bottom of it and finding out why and then finishing the job he came to do. This proves to be more difficult than he first thought, so he enlists in some help.

What results is a moving, ruthless story that I just didn’t want to finish! It is completely compelling and has you reading page after page just to find out what happens next. Kendare Blake writes in such a colourful and vivid way that at times I had goosebumps.

Absolutely brilliant book, I highly recommend this read!

Rating: 5 out of 5