Review: Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann

Jan 24, 2011 by shanyn

Title: Cryer’s Cross
Hardcover, 240 pages
Author: Lisa McMann
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: February 8, 2011
Source: Publisher
Buy: Amazon

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Book Summary:
The community of Cryer’s Cross, Montana (population 212) is distraught when high school freshman Tiffany disappears without a trace. Already off-balance due to her OCD, 16-year-old Kendall is freaked out seeing Tiffany’s empty desk in the one-room school house, but somehow life goes on… until Kendall’s boyfriend Nico also disappears, and also without a trace. Now the town is in a panic. Alone in her depression and with her OCD at an all-time high, Kendall notices something that connects Nico and Tiffany: they both sat at the same desk. She knows it’s crazy, but Kendall finds herself drawn to the desk, dreaming of Nico and wondering if maybe she, too, will disappear…and whether that would be so bad. Then she begins receiving graffiti messages on the desk from someone who can only be Nico. Can he possibly be alive somewhere? Where is he? And how can Kendall help him? The only person who believes her is Jacian, the new guy she finds irritating…and attractive. As Kendall and Jacian grow closer, Kendall digs deeper into Nico’s mysterious disappearance only to stumble upon some ugly—and deadly—local history. Kendall is about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried.

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Review:
I really love Lisa McMann’s Wake/Fade/Gone series, and was PUMPED when a Simon and Schuster representative at the Book Blogger Convention told me she had a new book coming out soon! Though I always wished for more in the dream catcher series, I think more Lisa McMann is always good (I’m hoping she comes back to Michigan again soon)!

Cryer’s Cross is another eerie novel – Kendall, the narrator of our tale, lives in a small town in Montana. A girl disappeared last year, and this year Kendall’s best friend Nico also disappears – which is a very odd coincidence to happen in a town with such a small population. Kendall begins to suspect it has something to do with the desk both the girl and Nico sat in at school because the graffiti seems to be changing.

The book wasn’t about the actual desk as much as I expected – initially, we spend a lot of time with Kendall and Nico, getting to know Cryer’s Cross. A new family moves to town, and Kendall also gets to know the two new students that begin to attend their school. Once Nico disappears I started getting a little freaked out (I didn’t read the book at nighttime), especially because there are small passages between chapters that are very creepy.

Of her four books, I still like Fade the best, but the mystery and suspense of Cryer’s Cross makes it a great read (even if it is kind of short). I think McMann is great at getting your head into the book, and that happened with Cryer’s Cross too – especially at the end (when it gets the most suspenseful).

Much much more creepy than the Wake series, Cryer’s Cross is another solid Lisa McMann book, and one I would suggest for those that like a little thrill and mystery.

Buy: Amazon

Related Posts:

• Waiting on Wednesday: Dead to You by Lisa McMann
• Mindi Scott on Kendall and Freefall
• Waiting On Wednesday: Gone Gone Gone by Hannah Moskowitz
• Review: I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder
• Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma