Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood

By Kendare Blake

Published by Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC, 2012

320 pages (hardcover)

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life. (from barnesandnoble.com)

What a weird and messed up story.

But I mean that in a good way.

Kendare Blake did an amazing job of building a world where we need ghost killers like Cas to keep us all save from those evil ghosts who do more than say “Boo!” The characters were well developed (mostly) and I think the reader can really understand the motives and actions of each character.

Also, the book was creepy and eerie and a good ghost story. I don’t want to spoil any of the book for you, but there are ghosts that tear people apart but then those people stay around as spirits themselves. CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEPY.

HOWEVER, for all the descriptions of Anna, I didn’t feel that I understood her or why she did/didn’t do things. She is a main character (shoot, she is the title) but I was more confused by her than anything. And the ending kind of confused me, but I am hopeful that many of my questions will be answered in the sequel.

Yes, there is a sequel and I will be reading it soon. I really do need to know what happens to all the characters!