Here’s the thing about stuff I’ve read by Parrish….I love the characters, the writing flows smoothly, there’s a spine-tingling pleasant creepiness, and I get invested…and then the story ends. Her stuff always feels too short for me because i want to linger in the story world she’s created.
And that’s pretty much the case here, too. High Schooler Morgan had a bad encounter with her ex boyfriend, was involved in a car accident that took the life of her little brother, and now is trying to survive high school despite troubles at home and rumors at school.
Her best friend Sevren and his dog are Morgan’s main emotional prompts. So when one day Morgan ducks into the nearby abandoned hospital to avoid the ex boyfriend and encounters a magpie and a mysterious camera, Sevren can barely forgive her for exploring the hospital without him.
And now strange things are happening whenever she uses the camera. Can Morgan face her fears and her own guilt and save those she loves?
Morgan and Sevren’s relationship is the bomb, the hospital descriptions super creepy, and the magpie the best character ever (although it does do a tail flip a little often).
Whilst starting as an angsty teen contemporary, the story flows into a more horror-esque finale that satisfyingly connects Morgan’s inner emotional landscape with her relationship conflicts.
Just wish we had more time with creepy hospital and more time with Morgan wrestling with her guilt stuff before its resolved 🙂
Parts of this realistically depict Morgan’s conflicted teen sexual relationship with her ex, so be warned.
What I Should Have Said 