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Chasing the Shadows
by Swati Avasthi
Knopf BFYR, September 24 2013
young adult thriller/fantasy?
When Holly’s twin brother, Corey, is murdered after a free-running session, Holly and her best friend Savitri (Corey’s girlfriend) are shattered. Savitri reconsiders her plans to leave Chicago to attend Princeton, while Holly, who was also wounded in the attack, has visions of a snake god named Kortha holding her brother hostage in the afterlife. In this intense novel, told in two voices, and incorporating comic-style art sections, Swati Avasthi creates a gripping portrait of two girls teetering on the edge of grief and insanity. Two girls who will find out just how many ways there are to lose a friend . . . and how many ways to be lost.
Swati Avasthi wrote the amazing Split, which was absolutely brutal, so this smashing mix of thriller and fantasy sounds like even more of a ride, and I'm so looking forward to seeing how she pulls it off. Plus there are sections of graphic illustrations, comic book-style! So intriguing. This sounds like one of the more original novels coming out, and I can't wait.