7 Souls

Title: Miller, B. & Orlando, J. 7 Souls.  New York: Delacorte Press, 2010.  Print.

Overview:  Mary Shayne is beautiful, popular, and loved by all.  On her 17th birthday all of that will change.  Waking up naked in a window display at Crate & Barrel is nothing compared to what happens that night.  When Mary is killed she learns that her friends weren't as true as she thought.  After her death she's forced to relive the day that she died with a twist - she's living it as her closest friends, taking over their bodies.  With each one she sees a memory they have of her and a reason they'd want her dead.  Hopefully, if she's lucky, she can figure out who killed her and how to keep it from happening again.

Critical Analysis:  I started reading this book at 11:30pm when I crawled into bed.  A while later I realized I was almost halfway into the book and it was 2:00am.  It was almost painful to stop reading, but my job requires a great deal of patience and coherence, something you can't get on zero sleep.  I turned out the light and found myself awake again at 7:30am unable to go back to sleep because I just had to finish the book.  I got up and finished it with moments to spare before I had to leave for work.

This book was amazing.  Not only is it a thriller, but it has my absolutely favorite thing ever - character growth.  As Mary lives the day she died through the eyes of her friends she learns just what kind of person she is and how she was seen by everyone around her.  The pain she causes others grows as she moves from friend to friend and lives one of their memories of her, a memory of a time she hurt them either knowingly or unknowingly.  I couldn't stop reading and I didn't want to.  The first half of the book records Mary's last day, the day she dies.  You see her image of herself, the way she interacts with the ones around her, and the events leading up to her death.  The second half of the book has Mary "possessing" her various friends and living a moment in their life on the day that she died.  It's a psychological thriller, another thing that's a favorite of mine in both books and movies alike.  In all areas this book delivered and I could be happy reading it again right this minute.

Book Recommendations With Similar Themes:

1. Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood by Eileen Cook.  In 8th grade Lauren did something so horribly humiliating to her best friend, Helen, that Helen's parents packed her up and moved to another city.  Such a huge betrayal isn't easily forgotten and Helen's spent three years obsessing over what happened that day and exactly how to get back at Lauren for it.  Now Lauren's the cheerleading captain, dating the star quarterback, and the most popular girl at school, but not for long.  When Helen moves back she's got a new look, a new name, and a very detailed plan on just how to get back at Lauren for what Lauren did to her.  Revenge is going to be very sweet.

2. Dead Girl Walking by Linda Joy Singleton.  Amber Borden has just had a near-death experience.  Unfortunately, when she recovers she makes a mistake and ends up in the body of the most popular girl at school, a girl who just tried to commit suicide.  Amber isn't sure what could possibly be wrong in such a perfect-looking life that would warrant a suicide attempt, but she's about to find out.  If she can get her classmate on the right track maybe, just maybe, she can get back into her own body.