Review: Choker by Elizabeth Woods

Mar 27, 2011 by shanyn

Title: Choker
Hardcover, 233 pages
Author: Elizabeth Woods
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: January 4, 2011
Source: Publisher
Buy: Amazon

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Book Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they’re not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her “Choker” after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria.

Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe’s on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara’s life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she’s getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in.

But just as quickly as Cara’s life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she’s at school. You’re supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

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Review:
Choker by Elizabeth Woods is a debut novel for 2011, and a creepy one at that.

Cara moves away from her best friend Zoe and finds herself in a new school, not fitting in very well. She quickly gains the name Choker (from an incident in the cafeteria), and she can’t quite shake it, no matter what she does.

One day Cara comes home to find Zoe, the friend she left, in her room. Zoe asks her if she can stay, as she is running away from home. Because they were such great friends prior to Cara moving, and Cara is so sad in her new school, she allows Zoe to stay.

Everything quickly gets weird and twisted from here on out – and keeps you reading. It is a fairly short book, so it doesn’t take long for you to start to feel weird about Zoe and Cara’s relationship, and you undoubtedly start to wonder why their friendship has evolved into what it is in Cara’s house.

Choker was so short that it was over fast, making it a fairly satisfactory read. I was not bored reading Choker, though I did start to figure out a little of the weirdness. It’s not the best book I’ve read, but it is certainly a good pick for someone who likes psychological thriller type books or someone looking for a twisted short read.

Buy: Amazon

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