Book Review: Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publish Date: February 8, 2011

Hardcover, 242 pages
Fiction, Young Adult, Paranormal, Horror

My Review:
Why I read this: I loved Wake by Lisa McMann and received the e-galley from Simon and Schuster.

How is the novel driven: Plot.

My thoughts: What a thrill-ride.  I was sucked right into this book from the beginning and who wouldn't be.  It starts with a missing girl in a small town and a girl who is OCD trying to come to terms with that and herself as a new school year begins.

I liked Kendall, I'm not familiar with OCD personally, have seen instances of it on tv, but no one that I know of has it, so I found this to be interesting that the main character of the book has it.  It was interesting to see how she deals with that and life.  I liked the small town feel of the book.  Cryer's Cross is tiny, has all of it's high school grades in one class and everyone knows each other and helps each other out.  Jacien is new in town and seems aloof and hard to get to know at first, but when the second teenager goes missing, Jacien starts to play a bigger role.  I really liked him as well, he was hot of course, but there was something more to him in the book.  He was moody but a good soul and it made him likeable even when he really wasn't.

The storyline kept me intrigued.  It was like YA horror with teen angst, good parents and a small town built in.  I really enjoyed the book and was so into it I could read it in the room with my husband and two kids who were watching tv at the time.  It was that interesting to me.  I felt like I was in Cryer's Cross and looking at Jacien and Kendall and the other members of the community.

I also liked Kendall's parents, they were involved in her life for the most part.  They knew her comings and goings and who she was running around with and I liked that.  Kendall also had a respect for her parents that is lacking in a lot of books, so I feel those were positive things that added to the story for me as an adult.  I think the teenage crowd will relate as well.  It's not a perfect relationship, but it does seem to be a healthy one.

My only complaints were the book was a little choppy.  That may have been smoothed out in the final copy a and it may just be me.  Some of the events were a little jarring and I felt it jumped around some.  Did that detract from the overall story - no, not really.  I still loved every minute of the book.  It's an entertaining and quick read.  I really wish this type of book had been around when I was a teenager.

My Rating: 4.25/5.0


About the Book:

The small town of Cryer’s Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn’t that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain.

When a second student goes missing—someone close to Kendall’s heart—the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall’s not sure she can hold it together. When she starts hearing the voices of the missing, calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she’s losing her grip on reality. But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school—messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there—Kendall decides that crazy or not, she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t act on her suspicions.

Something’s not right in Cryer’s Cross—and Kendall’s about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried.

About the Author:

Lisa McMann is the New York Times bestselling author of the WAKE trilogy (Wake, Fade, Gone). She grew up in Michigan and now lives in the Phoenix area with her husband and two kids.

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FTC Information: I received this book from the publisher, Simon & Schuster review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.