Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

[description from Amazon]

Alexis thought she led a typically dysfunctional high school existence. Dysfunctional like her parents' marriage; her doll-crazy twelve-year-old sister, Kasey; and even her own anti-social, anti-cheerleader attitude.

When a family fight results in some tearful sisterly bonding, Alexis realizes that her life is creeping from dysfunction into danger. Kasey is acting stranger than ever: her blue eyes go green sometimes; she uses old-fashioned language; and she even loses track of chunks of time, claiming to know nothing about her strange behavior. Their old house is changing, too. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in.

Alexis wants to think that it's all in her head, but soon, what she liked to think of as silly parlor tricks are becoming life-threatening--to her, her family, and to her budding relationship with the class president. Alexis knows she's the only person who can stop Kasey -- but what if that green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?

Review:

Had I known that there were scary dolls in this novel, I probably wouldn't have read it, because dolls creep me out. But I heard too many great things about the book, so I started reading and, luckily, found that the dolls (and, you know, the book in general) weren't that scary. More suspenseful, really.

The suspense is slowly built over the course of the book; in the first few chapters, everything is just set up and introduced. But as Alexis realizes that Kasey is becoming weirder and weirder, the plot picks up and becomes much more interesting. Alexis's hunt for clues as to what is going on with Kasey is quite intriguing since what is going on is a lot deeper than expected and involves more people than just the two sisters. Though it is a bit easy to figure out some of the things that lead to Kasey's bizarre behavior, there are plenty of twists that keep a whole load of mystery in the book.

Alexis may seem like a stereotypical character at first because she's a loner with a crazy family, but unlike other cliche loners, she doesn't want to be popular and isn't completely crazy or antisocial herself. Her ability to actually meet a boy who is interested in her, and her unique photography hobby, set her a part from other loner characters in books. She also has an entertaining, snarky voice that makes the novel that much more enjoyable.

The supporting characters were well developed as well. For example, Megan is not the typical mean, cheerleading enemy- she can be helpful and has a unique past, and Carter is not the typical nice guy- he's got a darker past as well.

Bad Girls Don't Die is not so much scary as it is creepy, but it will still give you goosebumps and keep you reading.

8/10

Links: Katie's website, blog/twitter/The Bad Girls Don't Die trailer

Hyperion/Hardcover/$15.99/Amazon/B&N/Borders/IndieBound