Review: The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco (L)

Synopsis: I am where dead children go. Okiku is a lonely soul. She has wandered the world for centuries, freeing the spirits of the murdered-dead. Once a victim herself, she now takes the lives of killers with the vengeance they're due. But releasing innocent ghosts from their ethereal tethers does not bring Okiku peace. Still she drifts on. Such is her existence, until she meets Tark. Evil writhes beneath the moody teen's skin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. While his neighbors fear him, Okiku knows the boy is not a monster. Tark needs to be freed from the malevolence that clings to him. There's just one problem: if the demon dies, so does its host. (from the online description)

Review: A ghost story, a horror tale, told from the viewpoint of the deadly spirit. Rising from her grave, fixated on vengeance Okiku has traveled the globe to deal a swift and bloody justice to those who have wronged people like her. She is the thing that gurgles in the shadows and springs from the dark.

But over the centuries, something has changed in Okiku. She isn’t the same mindless entity as others like her. She has a conscious, of sorts.

And when she meets Tark, she sees not only him, but the much darker spirit trapped inside him. With her help, and that of Tark’s mother, they will see that spirit banished from our world before it can lay a trail of blood and death.

This story is a creepy and haunting, but not in a cheesy way. No jump-scares here. Instead, it’s like watching The Grudge or Dark Water, but through the eyes of the dead.

Fantastically done, with excellent inclusion of Japanese mythology and culture. If you like creepy (but not gory) tales infused with non-Western tones, this is the book for you!  

Bookmarks: 4 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 978-1-4022-9218-7
Year Published: 2014
Date Finished: 6-14-2018
Pages: 265