**REVIEW** Dead River by Cyn Balog

My friends and I are spending prom weekend at a remote wooded cabin on the Dead. The Dead River. I thought it was going to be just us.
I was wrong.

Nothing is what it seems in this creepy paranormal thriller by Cyn Balog.

Release Date:  April 9, 2013

Published By: Delacorte Press

Review Copy:  Hardcover, 242 pages

**provided by publisher

Buy It:

Review

  Typical Cyn Balog style this was a quick read but the difference this time there was a dark and down right creepy feeling that lurked within the pages.  Playing out like a horror movie that you may try and predict what is just around the corner and yet still be surprised by the moment it comes to life or death. When starting this read I was prepared for some odd happenings but Balog created things that don`t just go bump in the night, they haunt you during the day and remind you why to run when those things choose you to play with.

  When it came to setting I`m not sure it could have been any better laid out than it was.  There was the feeling of the ghost stories that you hear around a campfire meant to keep you up at night.  The fact that Ki (Kiandra) was reliving what she had when she was young and was on the same river her mother had taken her life on but miles up was haunting on its own.  Then you take the river where the cabin sits, which is a popular white water rafting site (dangerous) and the cabin that is only used a couple times a year and currently has no hydro.  Getting the horror picture yet?  Balog created and painted the perfect horror story setting, maybe a little cliche but totally effective.

  Ki was a good character but she was also fairly predictable.  The biggest emotion I felt when it came to her was pity.  Pity because she was still struggling with the loss of her mother to the river years before, her boyfriend that may be sweet but she is knowingly settling and that she was too stubborn to see what was going on.  With that said I did love that she had emotions that were real.  She hid things because she was afraid of being crazy or turning out like her mother and loosing the stability she has wrapped herself in since the move and loosing her mother.  To her credit she is not selfish and when she makes decisions she thinks of the result on everyone not just herself.  The fact that she is at Dead River with her boyfriend and cousin even though she basically hates all things outdoorsy is proof enough of that.

  The romance actually lay with two guys in a strangely non love triangle way.  You have Justin the sweet guy but as far as long term boyfriends go HE SUCKS!  He has no idea who his girlfriend really is and despite Ki giving up everything she wanted for him, he still screws her around and leaves her behind frequently.  You do see it coming but it one of the times you hope it isn't really coming.  Then you have the mysterious Trey that I couldn't quite get a grasp on.  He seemed so genuine but is part of an entirely different world that complicates everything.  These two guys are never really competition and that kind of pushes out the triangle I think but you can be the judge of that.

  A lot of work and build up went into the ending of this one but then I felt that there was a gap at the end.  Just before it happened I knew what was coming but I had expected a little more than BAM it happened and this is the way it is now.  Not to mention how do you explain that?  Admittedly I was happy with the way it turned out though and think I would have been disappointed if there had been another outcome.  I would really like to see a follow up (or two) to this book because I would like some more answers as to what Ki can do and how things will play out.

  Quotes

 I remember things, though, like that her skin was always damp and clammy and that her hair always looked like it needed a comb run through it.  Despite those things, she was my sun.  When she was gone, it was like my sun.  when she was gone, it was like my whole uiverse went out of orbit, because I'd been so used to following three steps behind her.

  I try to swat him away.  Justin is always under the impression that anything with a Y chromosone is after me.  This includes priests, dogs, and old men with walkers.

  I don't know if the stuff from romace novels is real, if it can be real to have a guy who is caring and makes me feel weak in the knees.  Justin is smart, sweet, and stable, which are all good things.  He'll never be the one that makes me swoon, but some things are more important than romance.

  "The water is no place for final resting.  It's always moving, too volatile.  People who meet their deaths on or near the river need someone to guide them somewhere quiet, safe.  across the river.  That's where you and your mother come in."