Living Dead Girl

Reader reviewed by Lauren

This book was disturbing and frightening and amazing. It takes a really touchy subject and turns it into a gripping story that had me hanging onto every word. I was sort of shocked while reading it but also impressed that Elizabeth Scott decided to write about this racy subject and in such an elegant (though graphic at times) way. Very good read for mature teens. I wish I would have picked this up sooner.

Reader reviewed by Sab H.

This story was utterly disturbing; so powerful and so horrible at the
same time. A moving story about a kidnapped girl who has been living
with her captor for five years. It's painful to picture this, to
acknowledge how unfair life is for some people. It was really hard for
me to get through the pages, so helpless to do anything, just keep
reading. Scott's incredible writing steals you away into this girls
life, to her terror, it let you in in her fear.

The cover is
just as disturbing as the book. I loved it. How messed up can a human
being be? How can awful experiences change you, shape you? This book is
for strong heart-ed readers, but I dont have enough words to praise this
book, it's just unbelievably amazing. I don't think you'll ever read
anything so unforgettable. Definitely a must-read.

Reader reviewed by Nikki

This book, at times, was hard to read. The detail was so bold. Things in this book, it shouldn't happen in real life. However, the things this book features, it's not all completely fictional. It happens in real life. It's hard to know that. This book really opens the eyes of readers of all ages. It's a sad story. It's so realistic. The feelings the main character shows in the book is overwhelming. You'd think the author is writing about something that's happened from experience! It's an extermely powerful read!

Reader reviewed by Kaycee Joy

  Ten year old Alice was kidnapped by Ray, a disturbed and abusive man. She has learned to give Ray what he wants in
order for her to survive, but she no longer wants to survive, but to
die. Dying is her only way out. She is now fifteen years old and is
getting too old for Ray's liking. She must find a replacement girl for him, so he can finally be done with her. Will she go that low to help him, or will she find help?
  If
you liked books like Go Ask Alice, Lovely Bones, Speak, or other abuse
related books you will enjoy Living Dead Girl. It was very disturbing
to be in the head of such a damaged girl, but you knew how much she
hurt and why she was so damaged. It was a very upseting but good book.

Reader reviewed by Minerva V.

For those of you who have read previous YA novels by Elizabeth Scott...be warned.  Living Dead Girl is not a teenage romance; it is a gripping, dark novel about a fifteen year old girl who has been living with her abductor, Ray, since the age of ten.  Elizabett Scott does not shy away from an intense narrative that at times reads like an intimate dream sequence, or rather, nightmare.  The ugliness of sexual abuse and abduction, as well as the sinister pleasure motivating pedophiles, will be a shock to many readers who have very little knowledge or experience with the subject matter.  Childhood sexual abuse is something you hear about on the news or something that happens to someone else, but through the author's use of the first person point of view, this novel takes your further into the realms of darkness than possilbe on a news report.  It is amazing how raw and brutal the narrative reads and with that in mind, readers will face many instances in the novel inappropriate for anyone under the age of 16.  I mean, I'm a lot older than 16, and I found many of the scenes to be disturbing.  It's not that the scenes are explicit, but the bare, gritty details of those things Alice chooses to share are darkly intimate and painful.  In Alice we hear the voice of an empty, souless body only availbe for Ray, her abductor.  Her mental state has been warped to the point that she will do anything to have someone else take her place.  The only ray of light in this novel is the end, although it is ambiguous and any hope taken from it will be on the part of the reader.  I commend Scott for writing something so compelling and original.  She has graduated from entertaining YA fiction to something more of literary genius.

Reader reviewed by Liz C.

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.

Reader reviewed by thea

do not read this book if you are highly emotional. It is terrifying, sad, and horrible, but good. It is the story of a little girl who is kidnapped and must do whatever her kidnapper wishes. she dreams of escape, but it is futile. Her kidnapper is mentally unstable, because of his own truamatic childhood experience, and thus, takes his inner conflicts out on little innocent girls. It is hard to read, but utterly unforgetable.

Reader reviewed by cosmicdustbella

Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was. When Alice was ten, Ray took her from all she knew. Her friends, family, and even her name. Since then she has learned to be obedient, submsive, to endure all pain, and to remain a young, the way Ray wants.

Now she is fifteen, and Ray still has her. The first Alice was fifteen when Ray tired of her, will he do the same to her? All she can think of is ending the * she has been in for five years. She can run, but that would put her family in danger, and she could never live with that. So day after day, she waits.

Then she finds out that Ray does not want to get rid of her, he wants to keep her, and to get a daughter. Another little girl to do what he wants with. And he wants her to find the girl for him. Now she thinks she has a chance to escape, but it would mean someone else taking her place. Can she do that to someone else?

Most authors want to hear that you could not put a book down, but this was not one of those. Elizabeth Scott's terrifying tale will make you put down the book, then pick it back up again as the disterbing story continues. Kudos to the author who takes such a difficult subject to breech, and she does it perfectly. Definatly a book for mature audiences, it is not easy to forget and will stay with you. What happens in the book is not because the girl was more weak, timid, or foolish. Her captor is oportunistic and clever in a way that would fool even most adults.

Reader reviewed by Tasha


On an elementary school field trip to the aquarium, a ten-year-old girl gets abducted. She gets named Alice, by her kidnapper Ray, and leaves behind the sweet innocent girl from 623 Daisy Lane, becoming a shell of a girl who has been both mentally and physically abused to no end, essentially making her a living dead girl.

All Alice wants is to escape from the pain she faces everyday and the only possible way she thinks she can escape is through death. Then an even more horrible thing happens Ray asks her to find a replacement for her. Now its her task to find another innocent girl for Ray to prey on. Could this be her release, or will Ray dispose of her just like the last Alice?

While this book is completely different then anything else Elizabeth Scott has written, it is just as remarkable. The book leaves a lasting impression on your mind as you read. Trying to imagine everything that Alice has to go through in the book is mind-boggling and it truly makes you realize how horrible people can be and how grateful people should be that they dont have to endure the same evils as Alice did. Scotts brilliant writing style shone through this dark novel, making it come alive in the readers mind. The emotion that seeps through these pages is absolutely incredible. Youll want to scream out loud at the horrors that you encounter and cry out in frustration at the events that unfold. This is truly a haunting and unforgettable novel that everyone needs to read. It gives a one of a kind view into a world not much is known of, and one in which we all hope never to visit.

Reader reviewed by stephanie

In the last five years, the narrator has been held captive and abused by a man named Ray. She has been held against her will and is completely powerless against him knowing that making one false move will risk her familys lives. Now fifteen years old, the girl renamed Alice knows that she is the second girl who has been abducted by Ray. She also knows that the girl who came before her was killed when she turned fifteen because she had outgrown her child like body. Now Alice is hopeful that her own demise is approaching where she can finally be free from her captor. Ray, however, has no intention of letting go of her. Instead, he orders her to find a new little girl and train her to Rays tastes. Alice is forced to make the decision on whether her pain is enough to allow someone else to take over her pain or to save the girl and sacrifice herself. Ray does not realize what it is that Alice longs for and she does not realize what sinister plan Ray has up his sleeves. This book will definitely leave you hooked until the end. Short and bitter, Elizabeth Scott brings another unforgettable book.