The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy [Review]

3.5 out of 5 Robots!

The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy 
Genre: YA Thriller/Mystery
Release: August 18, 2015
Hardcover: 400 Pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
My Copy: Publisher
Reviewer: Shannon

Book Summary:

Twelve years ago Stella and Jeanie vanished while picking strawberries. Stella returned minutes later, with no memory of what happened. Jeanie was never seen or heard from again.

Now Stella is seventeen, and she's over it. She's the lucky one who survived, and sure, the case is still cloaked in mystery—and it's her small town's ugly legacy—but Stella is focused on the coming summer. She's got a great best friend, a hookup with an irresistibly crooked smile, and two months of beach days stretching out before her.

Then along comes a corpse, a little girl who washes up in an ancient cemetery after a mudslide, and who has red hair just like Jeanie did. Suddenly memories of that haunting day begin to return, and when Stella discovers that other red-headed girls have gone missing as well, she begins to suspect that something sinister is at work.

And before the summer ends, Stella will learn the hard way that if you hunt for monsters, you will find them.

(Courtesy of the Publisher)

Shannon's Thoughts:

This book was sufficiently creepy, but it did get a little bogged down in side plots and length. 

Here is what I liked:
**It was creepy.  Jeanie and Stella disappeared, but only Stella came back without any memories of what happened.  Then another little girl is discovered murdered and Stella starts to remember disturbing things about what happened to Jeanie.  Things just get creepier from there.  The main question seems to be is there a person doing this?  Or something more a long the paranormal?

**I liked the character arcs that both Stella and her best friend Zoey take, because let's be honest.  They were not very nice girls.  But they start to come around.  Zoey takes the longest, but I do admire her loyalty to Stella.

**I liked that all the main characters grew up together and were all friends at some point.  To me, that background really added to the story because they were all tangled up in Jeanie's disappearance.  It made it a lot more complicated.

**I also liked Sam, although he had a bit of that sad puppy thing going on, but he was a good support for Stella and a catalyst for her to change her attitude.

Here is what I didn't like:
**My main problem is that this book is just too long.  It is almost 400 pages and it feels like it sometimes.  I think it could have done with some paring down because the story slips away from the main plot.

**The characters, especially Zoey, are kind of hard to take.  Stella and Zoey are kind of your typical "mean girl" popular girls.  Zoey is particular nasty at times and controls much of Stella's life.  But as I mentioned above, they do get better.  Thank god.

**The romance definitely gets in the way of the main plot.  The book is split pretty evenly between the mystery and the romance.  I just thought for the genre, this book was heavy on the romance and it detracted from the main plot. 

Overall:

A fun, creepy book even though it could have maybe used a little more paring down.

Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.