I picked this book up many years ago when I was in a Christopher Golden fan phase. I finally sat down and read it. It wasn’t all that great; it was a very generic YA thriller that wasn’t all that engaging and was incredibly predictable.

This is a very generic YA thriller about a group of friends who go to get tattoos together. One of the girls, Sammi, chickens out and the other girls start to get increasingly (almost insanely) cruel to her. Sammi then tries to figure out what is going on her friends and links their actions back to the tattoos they got. Sammi then works to solve the mystery behind these tattoos and tries to find a way to save her friends.

The whole thing could have been very dark and edgey but just ended up being kind of blah. The characters are all very plain and not all that interesting. The main heroine deals with many typical teenage issues, but in a very shallow way (for example her parents’ marriage is falling apart and she doesn’t feel like she fits in anywhere).

It was written okay but kind of boring and predictable despite the subject matter. It could have been done as a really dark and impactful story but it was all just too rushed and not filled out very well. It’s a quick read but not really worth it.

Overall this felt more like a story idea than an actual filled out complete book. Despite a subject and setting that could have been very dark and edgy everything comes out feeling kind of boring and predictable. The book ended up being completely forgettable. I wouldn’t recommend it. ( )

If I had to describe this book with one word, it would be tense. This certainly isn’t a light read for the faint of heart, though it is a quick read. Even though the book is for Young Adults, I enjoyed it until the last page and I’m a full adult :)

The author does a terrific job of getting the reader comfortable with the main character Sammi's life in a short time-which is a sign of a good book to me. The reader feels like you're a part of her life going through an insane (blissfully fictional) month.

It involved magic. The way a tattoo artist used tattoos to control people [was compelling]. The end was very good and suspenseful. AHS/JD

Reviewed by JodiG. for TeensReadToo.com

Sammi is one of those girls who doesn't really fit in with any of the groups in high school. She gets along with a lot of people, but not enough that she feels as if she really "belongs" with most of them. She describes herself as a "floater", floating between cliques but never attaching to any one.

TQ, Caryn, Letty, and Katsuko are Sammi's closest allies. They aren't really friends, or even a "group," just bound together by the one thing they have in common - the fact that they don't belong with any other group.

One night, the girls decide to get matching tattoos, as a symbol of their bond. The only place that a group of underage girls can get a tattoo is in a creepy studio run by an even creepier tattoo artist named Dante. Dante creates a one-of-a-kind symbol for the girls, one that, he explains, symbolizes strength and friendship, among other things.

The girls eagerly line up for their chance to be bound together. All of them except for Sammi, who worries about the cleanliness of the salon, as well as how her parents would react to her getting a tattoo. Things aren't exactly going smoothly at home and Sammi isn't eager to be the cause of more problems. When her turn arrives, Sammi runs, leaving the other girls feeling betrayed.

Sammi comes up with a plan to atone for the abandonment of her friends. After her plan fails she finds that her former friends are turning on her. Not only have they become bitter and hateful towards her, but Sammi realizes that they have completely changed. Her formerly quiet, "floater" friends are now the most talked about, explosive, aggressive, and cruelest girls in school. They have no regard for anyone else, or themselves.

Sammi can't understand what has caused her friends to change so drastically. When she is assaulted by her former friends she realizes how horrible the situation really is. She catches sight of the tattoo. It has grown and spread across her friend's back.

Now she has to figure out what Dante has done to her friends, and how she can save them.

Christopher Golden has written a book that is a realistic representation of the high school social scene and yet adds a deliciously twisted storyline of how good girls can go bad. POISON INK is fun and intense at the same time and it all leads up to a fantastic final showdown. You won't be disappointed with this one. ( )

Due to the very high school aspect of this book, I skimmed a bit of it. I really wish they had played up the supernatural part of it more, instead of leading up to it slowly. It was only in the last third of the book that any real action happens and when it does you want more. I'd almost like to read a sequel to see what may happen and hope for a more intense plot line. ( )