Zafon, Carlos Ruiz. Marina. New York: Little, Brown, and Co., 2014. 978-0-316-04471-4. 326p. $16.20. Gr. 8+.

Tired of the mundane life of his Barcelona boarding school, Oscar travels into the nearby streets, enchanted by the huge, abandoned mansions that were once beautiful. After accidentally stumbling upon Marina and her father, German, in a house he thought was empty, a friendship is formed when Marina takes Oscar to a graveyard to witness a mysterious event. The pair is catapulted into the story of the deceased Mijail Kolvenik, a rags-to-riches man once in charge of a company that made artificial limbs. As they start to find out the details of Mijail’s life, those once involved nearly three decades ago begin to face gruesome deaths. Marina and Oscar must find out the truth before they are faced with their own deaths.

From the bestselling author of The Shadow of the Wind, this book created a weave of mystery that the reader just can’t put down. Ruiz Zafon combines mystery with horror as readers constantly second-guess themselves, but also ask “what if?”

Horror, Mystery     Nicole Starner, Biglerville HS/Upper Adams MS