17 yr old Christian Cage lives with his uncle in Winter, WI where his nightmares, visions and strange paintings draw him into a mystery involving German prisoners of war, a mysterious baby corpse and Winter's last surviving Jew. ( )

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick and Dirty: The mysteries that surround Winter, Wisconsin and Christian Cage make this an interesting and surprising read.

Opening Sentence: So. Everything I need to leave is here: My brushes. Paint. The wall.

The Review:

Christian Cage wakes up one morning after an intense dream about a kid pleading with his father with red paint covered hands, but no notion of how it got there. After being accused of vandalizing a barn with Nazi imagery despite not remembering any of it, Christian’s life starts to spiral downhill in a haze of mysteries, reoccurring dreams based on historical events, and odd mutterings in his head that make Christian afraid that he is actually going crazy. Christian does his own research to find out what is happening to him and what went on in his town decades ago that seems to be reaching out to him now through his dreams and flashbacks.

Christian, a teenage orphan living with his uncle in a tiny town in Wisconsin, is a quiet loner who draws and paints on his walls, sometimes in his sleep, of what he calls the sideways place, an alternate world he believes his parents are trapped in. Christian has the uncanny talent of being able to draw other people’s fears that come alive when he is angry, which has lead to pain and death of those close to him, including his Aunt Jean.

The book is written from a first person point of view of a troubled teen that doesn’t fit in to the society he lives in, but is comfortable with who he is. Christian seems like a genuine person, and the book follows his thoughts and actions as he tries to figure out the mysteries that surround him and his tiny town.

The other characters are just as intriguing as Christian. His uncle, Hank, and his therapist, Dr. Ranier, are well written and believable as real people with their hidden past and emotions that come out as the book progresses and Christian learns more about those around him.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and the urge to find out about the mysteries that Christian was uncovering, including whether the sideways place was real, or if he is actually crazy. I also liked that Christian is an artist, and a knowledgeable guy. I identified with that, and would expect other artsy readers will also find this book an interesting read.

The ending leaves the reader questioning what is real and what is possible in this intriguing, very different novel that kept me reading to the very end, and wanting more after it was over.

Notable Scene:

Something changed in my head after that. Maybe it was the day finally catching up to me, or perhaps my subconscious picked up on yet another tumbler falling into place. But when I heard about that dead baby, there was this sensation of something going click in my mind, almost the same as when I drew, only not as nice. I knew without knowing how, that the baby and the weirdness I’d done at Mr. Eisenmann’s barn were somehow connected. Winter was too small, the history too intertwined for all of this not to be. I had no idea how these two things could be connected, but they were. My problem was I couldn’t talk to anyone about my feelings. Heck, I wasn’t even sure what they were. Even if I had, I’d probably have sounded pretty crazy. Considering that’s how most people saw me anyway, maybe that would’ve been par for the course and there’d have been no harm done.

But. Even now, I wonder what would’ve happened if I’d spoken up just a little sooner. If I had, maybe a couple other people wouldn’t have gotten killed. I don’t know that for sure, but I think so.

FTC Advisory: Carolrhoda Books provided me with a copy of Draw the Dark. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

This was a strange book. The plot itself wasn't bad, and I liked the characters well enough, I guess I just didn't like the writing. Ilsa Bick occasionally used words that were "SAT words" for lack of better explanation. I'm all for expanding vocabularies, but even as a well-read adult, occasionally I had a "huh?" moment with her language. She also shows her age several times, bringing up things like Natalie Wood (who died even before I was born, and I'm way older than her target audience), which I think would turn off readers. The book also got long and boring in places. The ending was just weird and out of place. It seems like she just watched some sci-fi movies and said, "Yeah, that's how I can end this thing." I wasn't a big fan. ( )

Draw the Dark was a pleasant surprise. It's dark in a delightfully creepy way. Bad things happened in Winter before Christian was born and he has the opportunity to set them right. The plot threads include self-discovery, a mystery and high school horror. I enjoyed the way Bick combined the subplots with the main plot.

It's nice to see a teenage protagonist who doesn't have everything figured out. He wants friends but doesn't have them. When he finally gets one it's partly because she points out he can't recognize when someone is being friendly towards him.

I've read several books with World War II as the setting and this was the first time I'd heard about POW Camps in the U.S. with German soldiers. It was nice to have a new element added to my knowledge of the war. ( )

A dark & creepy story about a 17 yr old boy with strange "powers", along with a great murder-mystery from 1945. I don't think this is YA--except for the protag being a 17 yr old boy, the story reads like a suspense novel, with some added creepy paranormal goodies. So if you're not a fan of YA, don't let that deter you from this story--it was a good one, with barely any teen angst.I might have given it 5 stars, but for the 1st & last chapters. They were about his missing parents & a "sideways place", and when you read the 1st chapter, you assume you are going to get some answers about that stuff, but then they are barely touched on during the book, until you get to the last chapter and are like WTF? I really didn't know how to take the last page--she has left herself open for a sequel, and I'm hoping that was the point, otherwise I'm pissed about the ending. I received this as a free ARC from NetGalley. No goodies (other than the story) were acquired by me. ( )