Review Detail

Three days before her tenth birthday she went on a field
trip to the aquarium. This is the day her life ended. Now, five years later she
is Alice. Her dad is Ray. But she
is not a little girl anymore, and Ray only wants a little girl. She knows he
must kill her and find a new Alice.
The thought excites her. She cant wait to finally go home. The question is;
when is it going to happen?

Living Dead Girl is both gripping and highly disturbing. Author
Elizabeth Scott takes a subject matter that is highly unappealing to other YA
authors and turns it into a short but beautiful piece of work. The short
chapters and rushed dialog forced you to feel a part of what Alice
was feeling. You could clearly picture her sadness, her hopelessness and her
greed. Though it seems like the decisions she makes are horribly selfish and
cruel, you can understand why she feels this way. The ending was both happy and
sad, and leaves you with a lot of things to think about. The story itself
reminded me of The Collector by John Fowls, a book that holds a permanent
position on my favorites shelf. Living Dead Girl will be placed next to it. It
is a near perfect novel in my eyes. Due to the graphic nature of the story it
is not for everyone though.  People who
have experienced trauma in their life may be triggered by the events that
take place. I also think the author should consider publishing a version that
has a reading guide at the end, as some teens may not know how to gather their
thoughts when the story ends.