Feral

Starred review from June 9, 2014
Opening with back-to-back scenes of exquisitely imagined yet very real horror, Schindler’s third YA novel hearkens to the uncompromising demands of her debut, A Blue So Dark, with its gut-wrenching portrait of mental illness. This time, the focus is on women’s voices and the consequences they suffer for speaking. Claire Cain was an award-winning high school journalist in Chicago when she was beaten nearly to death for a story. Serena Sims lost her life while pursuing a lead in the more confined purview of Peculiar, Mo. Their stories intersect when Claire’s father’s sabbatical lands her in Peculiar just in time to discover Serena’s body, surrounded by the eerie feral cats that infest the town. Schindler avoids cardboard character types—yes, there are jocks, princesses, and nerds, but the author reveals them as people squeezed into their labels, not defined by them. And while there are touches of romance, both good and bad, adolescent hormones don’t define the plot, either. This is a story about reclaiming and healing, a process that is scary, imperfect, and carries no guarantees. Ages 13–up. Agent: Deborah Warren, East West Literary Agency.

June 15, 2014
In a convoluted effort, a girl recovering from a brutal beating moves from Chicago to Peculiar, Missouri.Eavesdropping at a gas station, Claire learns immediately that a girl from Peculiar is missing. Readers are already aware of Serena's disappearance, however; the experiences of a recently dead but inexplicably conscious Serena occupy the book's prologue as her killer drags her body into the woods. After Claire discovers Serena's body, Serena begins to haunt Claire, her spirit embedded in the body of an old, feral cat. Worldbuilding is inconsistent from the beginning, and too many confusing story elements are presented as if they ought to be obvious to keep readers from engaging. The living Serena is characterized as pleasant and likable, but Claire is convinced the dead Serena means her harm. Ever since her beating, Claire has experienced nightmares, fear of strangers, and intense reactions to words or sounds that remind her of the incident, but she assumes that what seem to be visual flashbacks to the event are the work of malicious ghosts. Some details are compellingly eerie, particularly the masses of feral cats that roam through town, but others underwhelm: ."..each step Claire took echoed inside her, the same way granola cereal echoed inside her ears as she chewed."Too scattered to be scary. (Suspense. 14-18)

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July 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-From the opening pages readers will be immediately immersed in this dark story. Two brutal attacks are described in detailed flashbacks: one resulting in death, the other in extreme psychological trauma. Although each event happened at separate times and were miles apart, the victims seem to be eerily connected: both were burgeoning writers on their school newspaper staff; both lived a somewhat marginalized existence when compared to their BFFs; both were victimized in retaliation for their investigative reporting; and one wants the other one dead. Seventeen-year-old Claire Cain was rescued by Chicago police after having barely survived being attacked by a gang for snitching on them to clear her best friend's name. Even though she's been receiving treatment for the trauma, Claire continues to relive the horrible attack in her dreams. When Claire's father gets the opportunity to take a sabbatical from his job at the University of Chicago to do anthropological research in the small Missouri town of Peculiar, Claire and her dad are hopeful that the change of scene will help her heal. She soon discovers the town's feral cat population right before getting swept up in the town's frantic search for a missing girl named Serena Sims. Claire accidentally stumbles upon Serena's broken corpse in the icy woods behind the high school; it is surrounded by what seems to be the town's entire feral cat population. When she locks eyes with a battered calico, she gets an eerie feeling. With the discovery of Serena's body and the casual handling of her death by the local police, Claire's investigative juices, which have lain dormant for months, resurface driving her to dig for the backstory and the truth behind the heinous act. Readers who like a gripping psychological thriller will thoroughly enjoy this tale with echoes of classic Hitchcock. Issues of cliques, peer pressure, bullying, self-esteem, post-traumatic stress syndrome, teacher-student relationships, and pet abandonment will provide substance for discussion.-Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden Middle School, Newport News, VA

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