I realized the last two books didn't have thorough reviews, so I thought with this one I'd go into more detail as to what I did not like so much about it.

One refreshing thing about this book; you get a parent's perspective. Up until now, every teenagers parents are either dead or always 'at work late/travelling into the city for the night' which is a cheap way to write off characters so you don't have to deal with them. I remember in the last book a character came home to an empty house and only then remembered his parents were away for the weekend. :S:S Yeah; that happens ALL THE TIME.

Every book has an outcast, a token weirdo, who always believes in the Blair Witch even though the main character of that novel does not. Random dreams of being in a forrest are a common theme; as are the destroying of property. Creepy feelings that seem to 'come out of nowhere'. And everything is speculation. Nothing is really confirmed. It's all questions upon questions. No real answers are given. Each book seems to end with that story being believed by only the characters it affected (even though numerous, random, gruesome deaths appear in each book) and is explained away by the media.

An annoying thing that happens regularly is the unlikelihood of the events. Such as, the main character of this story, Kayla, her mother doesn't want her daughter to talk about this Deep Creek Lake place, a place Kayla has been to and has a T-shirt that bares its name. When Kayla goes looking for the shirt one night, she finds it in shreds with bloodstains on it! OMG! But when she confronts her mother in the morning; she admits it got ruined in the wash and the stains are lipstick, but Kayla believes her mother did it on purpose.... why? If her mother didn't want the shirt in the house; surely the easiest thing to do is toss it out? Another quibble; the mother refers to her coffee as java at one point. In my entire life I have never heard it called that; and it just reaks of someone not wanting to use the word 'coffee' twice in one paragraph; ironic because there are many points in all books I've read so far with repetitive verb/adjective use. I was taught not to do that in primary school :S

I have an issue with the way women are portrayed specifically in this book. Two female cousins and one of their boyfriend's go off to the forrest; and freak out at every mention the guy makes of leaving them alone. Because two women couldn't possibly make it out alive without the aide of a male :S

I understand that the movie itself was open to interpretation; and didn't give answers, and that was the point of it; the viewer is supposed to make up their own mind about the 'truth'. But these books give apparent 'answers' to questions that the movie asked. You never saw a death in the movie; the first guy went missing, Heather found his teeth later on, and the remaining two were last seen from the camera's POV and the viewer is told they all disappeared as no bodies were found. So, then why, in the books, are bodies piling up everywhere? The Blair Witch seems to attack campers all the time; making her attacks seem less rare. And if all of these books are supposed to come off like 'true stories', there would be better documentation of it. Not just the notes from one kid who keeps 'case files' on everything Blair Witch he comes across.

This book also fails in that it seems to mirror the movie, at some times almost exactly. Three campers go into the woods, filming as they go, one goes missing, the other two look for him and get lost; and then find that they have been walking in a circle even though they were sure they were walking in an opposite direction, one girl hears the missing guy's screams for help at night and goes to follow him,

Is it really worth documenting the movie in book-form all over again with only a few changes?

The silly 'cliffhangers' continue. I noted a few this time; these are actual endings to chapters, these are the final words, nothing more:

1. "No!" A strangled voice called from the doorway. "Not another word!"

2. Gavin's frozen eyes burned into mine. He was already dead! [Turns out the kid wasn't dead at this time; apparently he didn't know he sleeps with his eyes open o_0 He does die later on, his head being ripped off by a rope made of mist, but the lead character decides to tell everyone it was a bear attack :S]

3. "I can't see anymore!" he cried. "Kayla, hang on. I can't drive!"

4. "Is anybody listening?" he cries. "I can't see anything... I can't...Help me! Please! Somebody, HELLLLP!" The tape cuts out.

5."Oh, my God, Erin," she sobbed. "I'm being buried alive!"

There comes a point when ending every chapter with a scream loses effect. And it happened in the first book. How this series was given 8 books, I'll never understand.

If you're wondering of the ending, the boyfriend is killed the same way as Gavin, and the two cousins make it out alive.

Read the book cover to cover in 2 hours; not worth it. ( )