Skip to main content

Review: Beyond by Graham McNamee


What if your own shadow turned against you?

Jane is not your typical teen. She and her best friend Lexi call themselves the Creep Sisters.

Only Lexi knows why Jane is different from anyone else: Her own shadow seems to pull her into near-fatal accidents. Jane is determined to find out why these terrifying things happen, and to overcome her shadow enemy.

But her sleuthing with Lexi connects her own horrors to the secret history of a serial killer ...


My thoughts
Beyond is a YA ghost story. I have mixed feeling about it on the whole as it really wasn't what I expected it to be.

What I liked
I really liked the main character Jane and I loved her relationship with her best friend Lexi. I liked the dynamic between the two of them and loved the scenes where they were together. I also loved getting to know Jane's family and pretty much thought she was a really solid character especially when you consider all the rubbish she's been through over the years.

What could have been better
This book has a huge heading on the proof copy stating "If Stephen King wrote YA...." and actually I don't think it lived up to that statement. Yes it is a ghost story and yes it is creepy but I didn't really find it all that chilling or scary and actually found myself a bit bored by the ghosty scenes. The story tries to be fast paced and actions but actually I found it a little bit lacking and without any real story to get my teeth into and maybe that was due to the fact it wasn't an overly long story.

All in all a creepy read but certainly not a scary read. You wouldn't need to keep the lights on for it. 

Comments

maryom said…
How odd - I found it really scary. Lots of adult ghost stories - Woman in Black, MR James stories - leave me unmoved but this didn't. I wonder what others think?....
Unknown said…
I haven't read this one yet, but I like the idea of a ghost story. Too bad it didn't pull you in.
I loved Jane and Lexi's friendship so much-yay for YA female friendship! I found the ghosty stuff very creepy but I'm a wimp and it's not too hard to do.