The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee

Although this book starts out a bit slow, it quickly picks up the pace and is a thrill-ride well worth the wait.

Rinn Jacobs moves to her mother's hometown after an accident tears apart her family. She is bi-polar and when she goes off of her meds, a fire starts which kills her Grandmother. Now transplanted to an unfamiliar town, Rinn deals with the guilt she feels while trying to make new friends. One thing she learns about the school she's attending is that a creepy tunnel the students have to travel through is haunted by a girl named Annaliese who died in the abandoned pool at the end of the tunnel. Intrigued, Rinn and a few new friends try to contact the ghost and pretty soon odd things start happening her friends, like severe headaches, unexplainable mood changes, and ultimately death for some. Rinn is now desperate to keep her friends safe and figure out what Annaliese wants and why.

Give or take the first 100 pages, the novel is mediocre. It took a while to get the characters developed, the intrigue peaked, and for the creepiness to really get started. That's not to say there's a point where it's so boring you want to put it down, but it wasn't as exciting as what happened after page 100. Things start happening really quickly after that point and all you can do is hold on for the ride as twists and turns develop in the story. Pretty soon you're wondering if this is a reliable narrator and what's really going on. The truth about Annaliese is yet another surprise in the story. All of the characters in the novel are great. You feel for Rinn and want to see her succeed after everything she's been through.

As a ghost story, this book won't necessarily give you nightmares, but it's definitely a creepy story that is well worth the read.
MMK