The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington is a thrilling fast-paced read with a mean girl ghost who will stop at nothing to find out what happened to her.
The story focuses on Jade, a high school senior who just moved to a new town. She has kind of a dysfunctional family that only becomes more challenging when Jade discovers that the house she is living in was a murder house and the ghost of the girl killed, Kayla, is haunting her young brother. Jade has to discover who killed Kayla in order to get her to leave, all while navigating the ins and outs of being at a new high school.
Jade is a strong character that has some quirks and doesn’t fall prey to the lure of popularity. She stays true to herself and as a character tends to not fall into the cliches sometimes found in books with high school social circles. Alexa, Jade’s first friend, is a fun character who has difficulty with social interactions and expects Jade to leave her once the popular kids take notice. She definitely brings in a fun, light element to the story. Then there is Donovan, Kayla’s ex-boyfriend who is reluctant to talk to Jade, and Kane, the all-star athlete from the wrong side of the tracks that may be using Jade to fill the Kayla-shaped hole in his life. All the characters are clearly fleshed out and believable.
Harrington manages to build tension throughout the novel. There are also diary entries from Kayla scattered throughout the pages giving you a glimpse of who this girl really was and what she really thought of her friends. While the who-dun-it maybe not be hard to figure out, the motivation for why will keeping you guessing until the very end.
The Dead and Buried is a spooky, intelligent read that will having you reading late into night.
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