A frightening, disturbing, and gripping read. The author gets right inside character's head and the stark way the book is written offers just enough explanation as well as leaving just enough horror to the imagination. I like that Ray's background is explored a bit, showing the reader how he became the way he is. I find the ending a bit too dramatic and a bit predictable but it is fitting.

Besides a peek inside the mind of a kidnapped and abused girl, I'm not sure what this book offers to young readers, since there's no real lesson here (not that there needs to be) and it seems more to be about shock value. Still, this was an addictive read, the kind of book that you can't put down (and it certainly is slim enough to finish in one sitting), and the story haunts you long after you've finished it. ( )

Disturbing difficult read. ( )

It was hard to read this one and I ended up quickly skimming much of it because the depiction of unrelenting abuse was so disturbing. Very well written. I'm having a hard time deciding if it's really YA, though. I'm certain I couldn't recommend it to anyone younger than a senior in high school. The ending was unsatisfying to me, but I think I can see why the author chose to end it the way she did. ( )

This is a stark, brutal, and quick read but not very graphic.

Living Dead Girl (LDG) is the most disturbing and upsetting book I've ever read---an honor previously held by Towelhead. LDG is the harrowing story of a 15-year-old girl who was kidnapped by a pedophile when she was just ten-years-old. Renamed Alice by her sick and twisted captor Ray, Alice has spent nearly every day of the last five years trapped in Ray's house being raped, beatened, and threatened.

Ray has kept Alice in a perptual girl-like state by starving her; forcing her to wear genderless clothing; and giving her birth control pills to stop her period. Unfortunately, Ray can't stop nature and Alice continues to grow as does Ray's disgust for her womenly body. At this point, Ray decides he needs a new little girl and he wants Alice to help.

Because she wants to finally be free of her daily torment, Alice agrees to find Ray's new victim. Alice's desperate and painful tale will have you almost rooting for her. I won't give away the ending, but needless to say that it was unexpected.

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This was just creepy and raw and disturbing. I read it in one sitting.

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