Getting Thin: A Ghost Story by Kaiya Hart

Getting Thin : A Ghost Story by Kaiya Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is nothing like a good ghost story. Spooky and atmospheric, you find yourself listening to every sound in the house and looking over your shoulder. Sitting around a campfire, gleefully awaiting to be scared to death by a spooky tale. Footsteps in the hall when you are alone in the house. Most of us just love to be creeped out by a ghost story. Yah, well, this just aint that story.

This particular story starts out as a charming yet bittersweet tale of a lonely, socially awkward and overweight teenager who longs for a friend. This young girl, Eva, gets a new neighbor and in the process, a new friend.

Roxy is the girl every social misfit wants to be. Athletic, vivacious, passionate and funny. The girl who can be captain of the cheerleading squad and dates the team quarterback. So when Eva sees Roxy moving in next door, she knows that Roxy is out of her league for friend material.

Roxy surprises her and over the summer they become as close as any two friends can be. Roxy introduces her love of running to Eva and before long Eva is no longer overweight but full of energy and happiness. Her happiness has nothing to do with her body but everything to do with Roxy. Their friendship is a delight to read about. Eva’s change is heartwarming and as I read it felt like Getting Thin was shaping up to be a good YA read. Yup, sure. Until the darkness falls. Until Roxy is brutalized and murdered. Until Eva’s world is torn apart by Roxy’s death and she starts seeing glimpses of Roxy, who in spite of the lovely girl she was when she was alive, is a frightening and evil vision. Even to her best friend who still loves her.

Eva vows to avenge Roxy’s death. In time she realizes who the killers are and is convinced Roxy wants her to make them all suffer a death as horrific as Roxy’s was.

Followed and hounded by a police Detective, haunted by an evil and twisted version of her best friend, Eva is losing her grip on sanity. Eva is becoming an avenging angel and her targets are catching on.

Here is the book summary:

When Roxy was alive, she was the perfect friend. When Roxy was alive, she was the girl everyone wanted to know. When Roxy was alive, she was the girl everyone fell in love with. The trouble is, Roxy isn’t alive anymore and now she is looking for payback. Even if it means destroying her best friend in the process. This is a tale of Eva, one girl haunted by something more than just her best friend’s tortured spirit. Her sanity is Getting Thin and she is starting to become the one person she never wanted to be. For Eva, Roxy is the key to finding herself and sometimes discovering who you really are isn’t a good thing.

This is not a YA. This is not a spooky ghost story. There is no gentle, otherworldly-atmosphere of restless ghosts who can’t find peace and pass over. Instead, this story is gritty. It is hard. It is heart-breaking and frightening and it causes you to pass in to the mind of vengeance and become hopelessly taken for a ride that can’t possibly end well.

I freaken’ loved this book! This type of story, one in which can surprise and shock me, is why I read so much. The storytelling is brilliant! Kaiya Hart smoothly escorts her readers willingly in to hell on earth and smiles politely as we thank her profusely.

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