Draw the Dark: Review

Title: Draw the Dark

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Release Date: October 2010

Published By: Carolrhoda Books

Pages: 328

Goodreads Rating: 3.67 stars

Review: Christian's parents disappeared when he was just a young boy, and ever since then he's drawn and painted obsessively in an effort to remember his mother. But he doesn't draw his memories - he draws the fears of people around him. He's the reason his first grade teacher committed suicide and his aunt died in a car crash. What he doesn't expect, however, are the secrets buried in his small town of Winter, Wisconsin - and what they mean for him.

DRAW THE DARK brings a creepy and fascinating concept to life - a boy who can capture the fears of the people around him, and has a strange connection to what's known as the Sideways Place. This story combined many interesting elements (a boy with powers, art, and a small town with a dark history) together to create a premise that will drag anyone into the pages.

I also loved the development of Christian's character throughout the book. Although he struggled with many issues that certainly no ordinary teenager has to deal with, he still had a fully fleshed-out personality and felt very much like a real person. He had many obstacles that he needed to overcome, and he handled them both honestly and admirably.

However, I did wish there was more of a focus and development on parts of the story that felt skimmed over. I wanted to know more about the Sideways Place and in general get more of a feel for Christian's abilities. This was one of the more interesting aspects of the novel and so I wished to know more about it than what was given.

All in all, DRAW THE DARK was a wonderfully creepy and suspenseful novel that I enjoyed reading. The protagonist had a well-developed personality, though I did wish for more details about his abilities and the Sideways Place. I recommend this for anyone who is appealed by the premise.

Drowning Instinct: Review

Title: Drowning Instinct

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Release Date: February 2012

Published By: Lerner Publishing Group

Pages: 352

Goodreads Rating: 4.22

Review: Jenna's life is not exactly a fairy tale. She has a controlling father, a drunken mother, and a brother she used to be able to rely on until he was shipped off to Afghanistan. Now the only light in her life is her teacher, Mitch Anderson. He's a dedicated teacher and coach, a caring husband, and a man with a certain magnetism. Jenna is drawn to him, and the lines between "victim" and "happily ever after" become blurred.

Originally I was attracted to this novel because of the gorgeous cover, and I didn't know much else about the book, but one aspect that certainly jumped out at me as soon as I cracked the pages (or the digital pages, as it were) was the phenomenal writing. Ilsa Bick is undeniably a talented writer, her words gliding across the pages in beautiful, stark language. With letters alone she paints a canvas upon which this twisting, painful, and marvelous story lies.

What I particularly appreciated about the way she handled the story was her ability to get such a complex plot done so delicately and realistically. Many novels about such "impossible love" between a girl and a man clearly portray the predatory nature of the man and show the girl spiraling in her descent into danger, but DROWNING INSTINCT made it much less clear. You could easily be put in the place of Jenna and understand her conflicting feelings about him. Just as these situations are in real life, this was not a black-and-white scenario.

I was somewhat bothered, however, by a few inconsistencies in the novel. For instance, Jenna's parents were depicted as over-protective of her throughout the story, her mother going so far as to regularly inspect her for evidence of self-harm after her trip to a mental ward. But then all of a sudden, her parents just leave her alone for a week, completely trusting her. Even my parents wouldn't want to leave me at home for a week, and I'm not afflicted by the harmful disorders Jenna suffers.

All in all, DROWNING INSTINCT was a novel with unforgettable prose and a - for the most part - well-developed cast of characters to enhance a delicately handled plot. I had my quibbles with character inconsistencies, especially concerning her parents, but this remains a strong contemporary novel that I would recommend to any fan of books with hard-hitting issues.