March 2010

Author/s: Tim Bowler
Publisher: Oxford University Press UK
Reviewed by: Esta Burger, Age: 15 years
ISBN 13: 9780192728715

Will was in an accident and is dead. He feels himself floating and see himself lying motionless on the ground beneath a tree. Then a girl appears in his mind; he sees her clearly. She has black hair and blue eyes. That’s all he can remember about the girl and about his life. Will ends up in hospital after he miraculously survived the accident. He doesn’t remember who he is, who anybody from his former life is and what he was doing under that tree before the car hit him. He can’t even remember if it was a car.

When he eventually asks his mother and father to tell him who he was and everything else about him, they seem tense and uneasy. He discovers that he was a freak. He saw faces and heard voices and freaked people out. He also finds out he has a lot of enemies. Then he discovers that everything is true, because neither the faces nor the voices stop. And he sees the girl with the black hair and the blue eyes all the time. He is desperate to find out why this is all happening to him. The only one who believes him is Beth. She doesn’t see anything he does, but she loves him and believes in him.

Several murders take place and someone is after Will as well. He meets a little boy with black hair and blue eyes; the boy is terrified of everyone except Will. All the time the girl and the faces are calling Will, so he decides to follow them. That decision brings a disaster upon Will, as he is captured and taken away by a boat. The men that are after Will reveal themselves. Shockingly it is people Will knows. He is thrown into the ocean with an anchor tied to him. Again the girl is there and he hears her voice; she is keeping Will alive. He get loose from the anchor and swims to shore. Halfway there, the police finds him where he is floating in the water, almost drowned.

After that the truth is revealed. The utterly shocking truth – the “sickness” that Will felt hanging over the town all along. People involved in the truth are people who Will would never have suspected. In the end, everything is not all right again, but at least the faces get their peace. And the little boy, the witness of it all, gets a home. Will also stays with Beth and John Shepherd, the only people who believed him before the truth was actually revealed. Will is at peace or at least for the time being. He doesn’t know whether other voices will call him again, but the girl and the children are at peace.

I loved this story! It has the most surprising ending ever. It is shocking, but the plot is set up faultless. You would never guess the ending, so that’s why I don’t want to spoil it for you by say too much. Every teenager out there: Get this book and read it! It is brilliant. I cannot find anything negative to say about it whatsoever. I just couldn’t put the book down! I would recommend it to anyone who likes or dislike reading; adult or teenager. It is truly fascinating.

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