Early Review - Absent by Katie Williams (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 288 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Date: May 21, 2013
ISBN:978-0811871501
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC through Librarything’s Early Reviewer Program
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through Librarything’s Early Reviewer program. Thanks to Chronicles Books and Librarything for giving me a chance to review this book. This was an interesting, engaging and short read.

Paige is dead after slipping off the roof of her high school during physics class. She finds herself haunting the high school with two other ghosts, a girl named Brooke and a boy name Evan. When rumors start circulating that Paige’s death was a suicide, not an accident, Paige decides theses rumors must stop. When she finds she can possess her classmates she decides to take drastic measures to correct the rumors.

Paige isn’t a nice character. She is selfish and ignorant, and does a number of seedy things as a ghost to take revenge on those who have hurt her. That doesn’t mean she’s evil...it just means she is a ghost and confused and in pain. She is your pretty typical teenager...except she’s dead.

The irony behind it all is that sometimes when she takes over people and makes them do things they wouldn’t normally end up doing....welll....their lives actually end up a bit better.

This story however isn’t all about Paige and her revenge. Isn’t it strange that so many kids have died at one high school? There is something going on at this high school and it is up to Paige and her ghost friends to figure it out before more students die.

This was a quick read. It was engaging and decently written. One of those books that you breeze through and think, huh, well that was interesting. There isn’t a lot that’s super original here, but it is well done. The book also does a good job of exploring the high school landscape and the cruelties that happen there.

The story touches on a number of teenage issues; suicide, GLBT issues, bullying, and stereotyping. For the most part it does just that...touches...none of these issues are really explored in depth.

Overall a good read. It’s super short, but I enjoyed it. It’s an engaging story that moves quickly and has a couple good twists in the plot. Recommended to those who like high school haunting types of stories.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- Young Adult Reading Challenge