Review: Immortal Remains - Rook Hastings

"You see, the girls that died - it wasn't by accident.  They were cursed, every one of them.  Cursed to meet a horrible death..."  Charlotte swallowed.  "And I'm going to be next."

Four freak accidents.
Four mysterious omens.
Four signs of trouble.

Shadows are getting darker and the town of Woodsville is getting creepier by the hour.  Something is coming, something old and evil.

Weirdsville Series:
Nearly Departed
Immortal Remains



Review:
I really enjoyed Nearly Departed so I was looking forward to revisiting Woodsville and the characters in Immortal Remains.  I was expecting a creepy read but Rook Hastings outdid herself and Immortal Remains was positively scary in places.  If you're a fan of ghost stories then I'd highly recommend this series but you might have to sleep with the lights on afterwards!

We were already introduced to the main characters in Nearly Departed but we get to know them even better in Immortal Remains.  Hashim is still the popular, sporty teenager he was before but he is struggling to deal with the events of the previous book.  He sees ghosts everywhere he goes but is living in denial and has stopped speaking to the others because he just wants to forget everything that has happened.  He doesn't want to think about the reality of the events that are taking place in Woodsville and I can completely understand how he feels.  He is a likable character but features less in this story - although he still has an important part to play - and I'm hoping we get to see more of him in future installments to the series.

Kelly is one of the popular crowd who used to bully other members of the group.  She was the character who I wasn't expecting to like at all when I started reading the first book but she quickly became my favorite character in Immortal Remains.  We already knew she has a tough home life but we get to find out more about her life in this story and you can't help but feel sorry for her.  Since starting to hang out with the others she is being ostracised by her former friends and is losing her popularity, this is difficult for her to deal with but I was pleased to see the way her feelings changed throughout the book.  Kelly is tough and she has attitude - she had me laughing out loud on several occasions with her snarky one liners.

Bethan is the goth girl with blue hair and a ghost blog that everyone at school loves to tease.  She has never really fitted in before but seems to be finding her place within the group.  When she is contacted by Charlotte (a pupil from the local posh school) via her blog Bethan is the one who gets the others involved.  Four of Charlotte's friends have died in mysterious circumstances and Charlotte believes that they were all cursed after playing on an Ouija board - she thinks that she will be next.  She asks the friends to help her but will they be able to free Charlotte from the curse?

Jay seems to be the glue that holds the group together, without him I get the feeling that the others would drift apart and head in opposite directions.  Jay was very much the geek in the first installment but he is starting to shed his nerdy image and I'm curious to see if this continues in the next book.  All of the characters are very lifelike and remind me of people I was at school with.  It is very easy to relate to each of them and I think the story is more frightening because it reminds me so much of being a teenager and the things that used to give me nightmares when I was younger.

I would highly recommend this series to any fans of a good ghost story - if you enjoy a spookily good read you'll love both of these books.  I'm looking forward to seeing what Rook Hastings comes up with next.

Source: Received for review from publisher HarperCollins

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.