Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Blake, Kendare. Anna Dressed in Blood. New York: Tor, 2011. Print. 320 pp. ISBN 10: 0765328674.

Summary:

      Like his father before him, Theseus Cassio Lowood (call him Cas) is a ghost hunter. Nevermind the fact that he’s only 17, Cas has used the athame, or ceremonial knife, he inherited from his father to send violent ghosts off into eternal peace – a veritable “ghost whisperer” with a more violent means of setting the ghosts to rest. Cas and his mother travel all over in search of spirits, acting on hints and clues from newspaper articles, witnesses, and contacts Cas and his deceased father made over the years.

      The most interesting clue Cas has received in quite a while is about a ghost in Thunder Bay, Toronto. The ghost is known as “Anna Dressed in Blood” because she is seen wearing a dress that has been so drenched in her own blood that it literally drips with gore. Anyone who enters her home is murdered, torn to shreds then sucked down into the basement, never to be seen again.
      Cas agrees to take on the case of putting her to rest and moves to Thunder Bay determined to do so. Then something strange happens one night; Cas is forced into the house by a local bully – and lives to tell about it. For some reason, Anna does not kill him. What is so special about him that she is able to resist killing Cas? What forces of which Cas is not yet aware are playing behind the scenes? Why is Anna forced to kill over and over again? What is the connection to the unknown creature that murdered Cas’ father ten years ago?

Review:

      In a word, this book is fantastic! Creepy, snarky, spine-tingling, tender – there are not enough adjectives to describe this book properly. Kendare Blake masterfully weaves a thrilling mystery with elements of horror and the supernatural. The story is highly original; I am usually the kind of person who can correctly predict major plot shifts, yet this one caught me by surprise. Additionally, the dialogue feels very true to real life teenagers.  I already have the sequel to this book on pre-order.

      Some of the reviews I read of this book complained about the gore and profanity in the book. I was going to comment on it, but then remembered that the gore and language are no worse than that found in books by the Master of Horror, Stephen King, and his books have been a staple in public and school libraries for decades. Furthermore, the book itself is tame compared to what any teenager playing Call of Duty or Modern Warfare on his or her game console would see. Indeed, the only complaint I have is that more attention should have been paid to the cat, Tybalt, and his role in one of the major plot shifts. Other than that, I have nothing negative to say about his book.

Awards:

     Neither this book nor this author has yet won any awards; I do not expect this to be the case for long.

Teaching Extensions:

     Have students read this book and Stephen King’s “Carrie.” Have students write in their journals about how important imagery (in the case of both girls in bloody dresses, scenes where people are killed, etc.) is in the horror genre. Then have students go back in the passages and look at how the adjectives are used to fully describe those scenes. What do they notice about the language? How many different adjectives are used? How would the books be different had the authors used less descriptive terms? Have students rewrite key scenes using less adjectives and sensory language to see how important word choice can be.