Review of Boy Heaven by Laura Kasischke

Format: Paperback
Genres: Mystery, Horror, Cheerleaders,
Pages: 230
Publisher: McMillan
Release Date: 05/05/2006
Find The Author: Wikipedia ¦ Twitter

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UK Readers: Check if this book is on RISI


Around a campfire sit a group of girls telling gruesome and spooky urban legends:

There's the girl who, for a joke, wrote a love note to Satan, signed it in blood, and burnt it and who was found in the morning naked, hanging from a jump rope in the garage. The man who tied heavy chains around his murdered wife's body and tossed her into a lake, then came home to find her sitting in his chair--smiling, soaking wet.

And this: The three girls, Kristy, Desiree and Kristi, who sneaked out of cheerleading camp in their red convertible one summer afternoon and flashed a smile (and a little bit more) at two boys in a rusty pickup truck. Suddenly the boys were everywhere, hiding in the woods at night, stalking them.

Boy Heaven is their story...



I picked up Boy Heaven expecting a cool, creepy campfire read, filled with heart-pounding moments and lots of suspense. And probably a lot of running around a forest. Sadly, I couldn't be more wrong. This story would be better marketed as 'Vapid girl's non-adventures at cheerleading camp with a random twist at the end.'

The way the story is told is very slow. Pages and pages of thoughts from Kristy, who was determined to tell us everything about her life. For 230 pages, I was surprised at how long the book actually felt, especially as there was an entire chapter dedicated to explaining why Kristy found policemen friendly. 

I'm not joking. It was 5 pages long.

Kristy is very, very high on my list of most annoying characters. I did like her some at the beginning but it became pretty clear that this girl was shallow, rich and had everything she wanted. She didn't particularly care about people, only herself. There was one sort of friend in the camp that was clearly very ill, mentally or physically and she never once asked her if she was okay or even attempted to get her any help. Just bizarre.

Boy Heaven was ultimately a let down for me, as I expected so much more from it. However, it did really pick up at the end for a super creepy campfire read, as long as you cut out most of it. Worth the read? I'm not sure. 



Comments

  1. Hmm, the blurb sounds cool. But yeah I'd expect a good horror story too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6:42 pm BST

    I would pick up this book if I had just read the synopsis. Bummer, that is not as scary as you would expect. I don't think I am going to read it =/

    ReplyDelete

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