Review: The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on September 12, 2012 | 8 Comments


Review: The Unquiet by Jeannine GarseeThe Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee
Published by Bloomsbury USA Children's (7.12.2012)
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover, 388 pages
Source: Library
Buy on Amazon


4 Stars

Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother. 

After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home, undaunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom. At school, her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists. 

With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?

Annaliese? Or herself?

My thoughts

This book was totally creepy! It grabbed my attention right from the beginning and refused to let go. Suspenseful and chilling, I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, wondering what would happen next.

I just want to get something off my mind right now before I go any further: I don’t know what’s up with killing felines in books lately, but it really needs to stop. It doesn’t add anything to the story except outrage (for me, at least) and it’s not cool AT ALL. This one wasn’t a senseless killing and didn’t go in depth very much (although it was mentioned a few too many times), so I was able to continue reading the story and still enjoy it (unlike Origin, which I couldn’t even finish). I think that was the biggest negative about this book for me.

Rinn was alright, I suppose. I didn’t connect with her too well, but she didn’t have any majorly irritating personality flaws. Most of the issues she had were from being bipolar, but I felt like that was portrayed pretty realistically. I didn’t care for Nate, though. He was a bit one-dimensional – little to no personality to speak of. Therefore, I didn’t care for the romance either. The relationship between Nate and Rinn was just meh, and even annoying at times (say, her friend died and she was thinking about how horny she was?) and I felt nothing for them as a couple.

I didn’t really care about any of the characters, to tell you the truth. The only thing I felt for anyone was hatred: Lacy. She was such a bitch! If she was real, I’d knock her teeth out. She was so unabashedly rude, especially to the ‘fat’ girl (I can’t even remember her name now). All in all, the character’s personalities just felt inconsistent to me. I don’t really know how to explain that, they just were. If that makes any sense. >.<

Despite all that, I still enjoyed this one. The pacing was quite fast because crazy shiz kept happening and I was dying to know what was going on! Strange things were happening to everyone, and everyone was doing strange things…it made me feel a bit crazy just reading it! And the way some things happened, it was hard to tell if it was actually real or if it was Rinn’s imagination. The suspense factor was what made this story.

Everything with Annaliese was creepy and haunting! You never knew what was going to happen next. The chilling background story was fabulous, although it was a bit predictable – I guessed a certain person’s involvement right away (there was an hint dropped that tipped me off). But I didn’t guess the rest, or why Annaliese was after Rinn and her friends.

By the way, that ending – wow! Talk about leaving it wide open. It doesn’t say anything about a sequel on Goodreads, but it could definitely be a possibility with the way it left off (as per a typical horror story).

 
assessmentPlot: 4.5/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Pace: 5/5
Cover: 4/5
 
Overall rating: 4/5 starfish
Jessi (Geo)

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8 responses to “Review: The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee

  1. This definitely sounds creepy. I dunno…psychological thrillers aren’t really my thing. I’m glad you enjoyed it though. Too bad about the poor kitty. I have a soft spot for them!

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