The Ninja Reviews... Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

In this compelling, unforgettable, and completely revolting novel, young 15-year-old Alice  narrates the tale of the last 5 years of her life with Ray. Her name isn't really Alice, and there was once a time before Ray, one she cannot totally grasp anymore. She has been sexually and emotionally abused by Ray, brainwashed by his constant dribble of conversation, and starved to keep her body small and childish. As Alice begins to turn from child to woman, Ray convinces her to help him search for another little girl in order to complete their family.

But Alice isn't fooled. She knows what happened to the Alice before her...and what happened to that Alice's family. Though Alice longs for death or any sort of escape, her weak emotional state leads her to help Ray on his search for another little girl

Living Dead Girl is easily devoured in one sitting, with the bleakness of Alice's life easily felt by the reader.  The non-graphic nature of this book does not make the message any less disturbing, instead it forces cold chills down your spine as you read about how lifelessly Alice takes her physical and emotional abuse.  The well written descriptions about how Alice feels about her abuse instead of graphic portrayals of the abuse will probably haunt the reader more then they could ever imagine.

I encourage caution when reading this book.  The shroud that author Elizabeth Scott keeps around Alice and Ray's interaction can be disturbing. Please keep this in mind before picking up this well-written but frightening novel.


This book is on YALSA's top 10 nominee 2009 books for teens. You can see the list of nominees here.