The Vanished

Celia Rees

Average Rating 7/10 (1 Review)

The dark stuff sent to Fraser and Cassie's student newspaper is disturbing. Old tales are being rewritten. Tales of plague graves, and forbidden woods where children vanish. Hidden steps leading to a decaying underworld. Old songs used to ensnare the innocent. But they're just horror stories - aren't they? Then the first child is taken...

Author Website: www.celiarees.com

Review by Neina (311209) Rating (7/10)

Review by Neina
Rating 7/10
Strange stories, mythical creatures, missing children... they all add up to this amazing story by Celia Rees.

It follows the antics of three teenagers in High School - one a writer of articles, one a young budding photographer, and the other their boss - the Editor of the school magazine. Following another strange disappearance of a small child, the school magazine opens a new column called "The Psi Files", filled with different spooky stories. When more stories from the school magazine readers are sent in, the three teenagers start wondering if these tales are really true.

This book was a good, steady read, as it was neutral at the start, dark towards the middle and heart-stoppingly thrilling at the end, letting me get in touch with my 'spooky side' before things got too 'scary'. It was rich in description, which meant not only did I get a good picture of the scene's settings, I also felt like skipping huge blocks of colourful text just so I could get the gist of what was happening.

This was also a good book as it had lots of different emotions, not just 'fear'. Some were jealous, some where in love, some were worried, some were in mourning, and all this built a complex but easy-to-follow plot of different people. A great read, interesting and compelling from start to end.
Neina (31st December 2009)