Pitch Green by The Brothers Washburn
♦publisher: Jolly Fish Press
♦release date: March 16th, 2013
♦hardcover, 280 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Dimension in Death, book 1
♦source: from publisher for honest review
Trona is a small,
foul-smelling, mostly insignificant town in California. Besides a
booming chemical plant, the only thing that characterizes this dismal
town is dirt, sagebrush, and an enormous abandoned mansion.
The mansion is, admittedly, the only notable addition to Trona, but it’s something everyone tries to avoid due to its creepy facade. Everyone except for Camm Smith, who is obsessed with the need to get inside.
Seven years earlier, as Camm herded a pack of little trick-or-treaters past the mansion, her young neighbor, Hugh, disappeared, becoming just one of many children who have vanished from Trona over the years without a trace. Now a senior in high school, Camm is still haunted by the old tragedy and is sure the answer to the mysterious disappearances lies hidden somewhere in the decaying mansion. Joining forces with her best friend, Cal, who also happens to be Hugh’s older brother, Camm naively begins a perilous search for the truth.
As things spiral quickly out of control, and others die, Camm and Cal discover it will take all their combined ingenuity to stay alive. An unseen creature, lurking deep within the bowels of the mansion, seems to have supernatural powers and is now hunting them. Making matters worse, they become entangled with hostile federal agents, who care only about keeping old secrets permanently hidden. Left with only their wit and seemingly ineffective firearms, they know they are running out of time. Unless they can make sense out of the few pieces of the puzzle they manage to unearth, the monster will certainly destroy them, and like so many others before them, they will be gone without a trace.
The mansion is, admittedly, the only notable addition to Trona, but it’s something everyone tries to avoid due to its creepy facade. Everyone except for Camm Smith, who is obsessed with the need to get inside.
Seven years earlier, as Camm herded a pack of little trick-or-treaters past the mansion, her young neighbor, Hugh, disappeared, becoming just one of many children who have vanished from Trona over the years without a trace. Now a senior in high school, Camm is still haunted by the old tragedy and is sure the answer to the mysterious disappearances lies hidden somewhere in the decaying mansion. Joining forces with her best friend, Cal, who also happens to be Hugh’s older brother, Camm naively begins a perilous search for the truth.
As things spiral quickly out of control, and others die, Camm and Cal discover it will take all their combined ingenuity to stay alive. An unseen creature, lurking deep within the bowels of the mansion, seems to have supernatural powers and is now hunting them. Making matters worse, they become entangled with hostile federal agents, who care only about keeping old secrets permanently hidden. Left with only their wit and seemingly ineffective firearms, they know they are running out of time. Unless they can make sense out of the few pieces of the puzzle they manage to unearth, the monster will certainly destroy them, and like so many others before them, they will be gone without a trace.
Review: Pitch Green is told in the style of a classic monster-movie horror story. It’s well told, fast-paced, and suspenseful from start to finish. An extra eerie tone is struck by adding in the voice of the monster, lurking in the dark and hungrily plotting every kill.
In the small town of Trona, a child goes missing every few years and it inexplicable gets swept under the rug. Camm has always suspected that it has something to do with the creepy deserted mansion in town. Her next door neighbor, Cal lost a brother to this mystery when they were young, so when one more child goes missing, Camm decides enough is enough. An investigation finally gets underway and Camm eagerly jumps on board to help. When the investigation stalls, Camm and Cal take it upon themselves to prove that something is very wrong inside the Searles mansion…and what they uncover is the stuff of nightmares.
Camm is whip-smart, intuitive, and resourceful. I liked her immediately and admired her more and more as the story went along. Cal, on the other hand, was hard for me to like, childish and oafish, into playing silly pranks. In certain moments you could see him hiding a lot of hurt from his family’s loss, but mostly he was just a bit of a boarish, tough guy. There was a sweet kind of siblingly love between the two from having grown up right next door to each other and the story seems to want make them into something more, but honestly I couldn’t see a girl like Camm falling for a guy like Cal for long---so I was glad the romantic inklings were kept kind of low key.
Pitch Green was certainly not short on the grisly gore, so those with weak stomachs beware! Actually, I've seen reviews of this that thought the gore was pretty tame, but I found some of the descriptions to be pretty gut-churning---but maybe I'm just a wimp when it comes to horror. :) This is horror in its purest form, spun into a compelling and entertaining creepy mystery. One to enjoy on a dark stormy night, or better yet, on Halloween, where the story actually begins.
Well, I tend to not do well with violence, but I've made it through some rough ones in the past so maybe I'll be ok with this one! Thanks for the review
ReplyDeleteThere were definitely a few parts where I got a bit squeamish, but mostly its just a fun creepy read! Very entertaining!
DeleteThat is such a cool cover and title! Camm seems cool and I love it when horror is done just right. Great review :)
ReplyDeleteI loved, loved, loved this book! In fact, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Camm, to me, came across as being much younger then she actually was. I was also glad the romance was kept more low key.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a book for everyone that enjoys horror to read. =)
Thanks for the review. =)
Sounds really good! As Im concidered 'over the hill' I hadnt had much experience with YA lit. A few months ago I saw how many great YA titles there are in my fav genre - horror/thriller. Pitch Green is going on my to read list!
ReplyDelete