Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release: August 30, 2011

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story... Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay. When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home. And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

From its first pages, Anna Dressed in Blood is a book that wraps its way around and through readers’ minds and doesn’t loosen its grip even after the final word is read. Personally, I was very much looking forward to Anna based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews I had read, and I was not let down. I totally get why people are so in love with Anna Dressed in Blood.

I don’t really read a lot of ghost stories or ones that involve ghost hunters or whatnot. And even though Anna Dressed in Blood is both of those things, it has so much more. It’s chilling from start to finish, with intricate storytelling and scenes that may paralyze readers from turning the next page. I know that there were parts of this book that definitely freaked me out, and I don’t get scared easily.

Kendare Blake has a really clear writing style that made the story that much more enjoyable and exciting. The pacing was perfect, and while there were some clichés and details that I personally didn’t see a need for, it didn’t hold my enjoyment of Anna Dressed in Blood back.

Anna Dressed in Blood is a spooky ghost story, but it’s so much more than that. If you’re into creepy, or want a little thrill, I wouldn’t hesitate from picking up Anna Dressed in Blood next time you see it. You might want to have the lights on though. 

By the way, if you liked this book, you should read Demon Whisperer by Tawny Stokes.