Recommended: BLOOD WILL OUT by Jo Treggiari

Publisher’s Description

Ari Sullivan is alive–for now.
She wakes at the bottom of a cistern, confused, injured and alone, with only the shadowy recollection of a low-pitched voice and a gloved hand. No one can hear her screams. And the person who put her there is coming back. The killer is planning a gruesome masterpiece, a fairytale tableau of innocence and blood, meticulously designed.

Until now, Ari was happy to spend her days pining for handsome, recent-arrival Stroud Bellows, fantasizing about their two-point-four-kids-future together. Safe in her small hometown of Dempsey Hollow. But now her community has turned very dangerous — and Ari may not be the only intended victim.

Told in alternating perspectives of predator and prey, Blood Will Out is a gripping and terrifying read.

Rebecca’s Thoughts

The description made this book sound like a heart-racing thriller and I had to read it. But once I started, I wondered what I’d gotten myself into! I’m way too much of a scardey cat to read Stephen King, yet I’d let myself get pulled into a killer’s head! It was both uncomfortable and gripping.

The first pages are raw with emotion and I felt like I was locked into a roller coaster clicking its way slowly up the big hill. I was past the point where I could go back. There was no choice but to grit my teeth and make it through the ride because I needed to know what happened.

The stakes are life and death, but what makes the book so powerful is that you read from both the victim’s point of view and the killer’s. That makes the danger all too clear, while Ari’s point of view shows how unprepared she is for the situation she’s in, heightening the tension. Twists continue all the way to the end. Prepare to be scared and disturbed!

*It’s probably clear that there’s violence in this book, but I wouldn’t want to recommend it without making sure readers knew that. *

Blood Will Out will be released on June 5th. You can check it out on Goodreads or order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or IndieBound.

I requested an advanced reader copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Need more book suggestions? If Blood Will Out sounds good, you might also like other young adult books discussed on The Winged Pen.

Allegedly by Tiffany Jackson
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
The Takedown by Corrie Wang
Follow Me Back by A.V. Geiger