Blood and Salt: Kim Liggett

This was an intense mystical book for teens. A girl, Ash and her twin brother, Rhy, are raised by their mother, who is slightly scared from being raised by a cult. She practices rituals for "Katia" who she believes to be a dead ancestor. One day the mother disappears and the children drive to a place in Kansas where the cult is suppose to thrive. All that is there is a corn field. I think the book is supposed to build on the "children of the corn" creepyiness. There is a car lot by the field where they stop and the owner tells the siblings that all the cars in the lot were from people who never returned from entering the corn. Ash talks to a boy that disappears into the corn, then she and her brother follow him. They find an entire community that seems a little unhinged hidden in corn field, waiting for the return of this Katia. Evidently this ancestor could live forever and made a pact with the "dark forces", she just needed a "vessel" to return to life. The entire story everyone thinks Ash and Rhy's mother is the vessel, but it ends up being Ash herself. Ash's mom returns to save her from being used by Katia, and "Coronado" who bound himself to Katia centuries before, takes Dane, a boy fell in love with, as his vessel. Then the story abruptly stops...begging for a sequel.

The Long Walk: Stephen King/ Bachman

This was a long story where boys living in a dystopian society are chosen to race to the death. Only the readers don't know the "ticket" after 3 warnings of dropping under 4 miles an hour is being shot until the first boy is killed. The boys don't seem to understand the importance of winning the race until they are at the point of getting their "ticket" or at the point of exhaustion. The story is told from 1st person by Raymond Davis Garraty. You know he will not win, but are surprised by the ending. The boys walk for 5 days and never stop, they sleep and go to the bathroom while walking and in front of crowds. This was a very impactful and disturbing novel.

The Taking: Dean Koontz

This book was more religious than the others I remember reading. A couple is awaken in the night to a terrible, foreign storm. The wild animals are found together on the porch and the rain smells like semen. As the day progresses they decide to get in their car and check on their neighbors- all of whom are dead. Their bodies have been taken over by extraterrestrial beings. Once in town the couple find other people still alive. They decide to take on the duty of collecting children in an effort to save them from the unknown. The pets lead the way to children in duress. In the end it becomes a sort of Noah's arc where the good survive. The aliens disappear and the protagonist believes the aliens were a sort of divine being who took the evil out of the world so the world could start fresh with hope. It was a very good book until about the last 100 pages.