Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Left alone while their artistic parents blow the last of their monies in Europe, twins Violet and Luke are running out of finances themselves to handle the expenses of living in Citizen Kane. This old and once beautiful, towering residence is being overcome with weeds, dust and peeling paint and Vi takes it upon herself to rent out the guesthouse to River. Sight unseen, River also 17, is without his parents and he would rather stay there then with relatives who live in town. River fits right in with the twins and with Sunshine who is a neighbor that Luke seems to fancy. It doesn’t take long before bizarre events start to occur and the tempo of the book increases. Children playing at the cemetery claim to have seen the devil snatch their friend away and they’re running through the graveyard hunting the red-eyed demon with stakes. The intensity of the hunt and the homemade wooden stakes placed into the hands of children, create an intense moment. Luke and Sunshine find an Ouija Board in the attic. Armed with questions, River and Vi also place their hands on the wooden pointer as it slides over the board. Asking who is speaking to them, the pointer slides over the letters, chilling both the teens and I with the answer. Vi was one smart girl as she starts to put together the pieces of what is happening as her brother is more focused on scoring with his girls. There is something about River that has won Vi over as she just melts when she is around him but she knows he is hiding something. Vi finally confronts River and he’s honest with her which confuses her more but that doesn’t change the way she feels about him. He’s deceptive, corrupt and I just can’t get enough of what happening. He is so cunning and she is so open, I don’t know if what she is feeling is real. He explains his glow and how he uses it. He manipulates his thinking, as if he’s a God and we should all be thanking him for what he does. He’s almost got me convinced, had he not been so dangerous. It’s like a runaway train- what transpires in the second half of this book. It was intense and twisted and I loved it. I am reading the second
