Quick Summary
Little Peggy Buchanan dies when she is but five years old. While playing a spontaneous game of hide-and-seek with her sisters Elizabeth and Laura, she steps out onto her family's ice-covered pool and the ice breaks, causing Peggy to fall in and drown in the freezing water. Her death leaves her family devastated, her father blaming himself for not draining the pool before tragedy struck, her mother sinking farther and farther into a world of fantasy to escape the grief, and her two sisters left with a gaping hole in their hearts where their youngest sibling used to be.
But do the ones we love ever really leave us? Elizabeth and Laura suspect not, as they begin to see a young girl dressed in white, a girl who is both Peggy and not Peggy who vows to protect them and is followed by a black shadow that has the power to kill...
My Thoughts
Interesting premise, sometimes poor execution. I love the idea that people can sometimes go on because of imagination and an incredible attachment to their favorite characters. The idea struck me as wholly original and worth exploring more. There were a few grammatical errors and a couple of times that names were mixed up, for example Dan Phillips becomes Dan Patrick once or twice, something that I wish I hadn't caught but I couldn't help seeing. All in all it was a very interesting premise that fell a bit flat for me, mostly because the beginning and middle parts tended to drag. The last hundred pages or so, however, were fairly fast - paced, and pretty much saved the book for me. I just wish that we'd gotten to that point a bit sooner, is all.
Rating
★★★☆☆