View source for The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

{{infobox1
|title=The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer
|sort=Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer
|author=Michelle Hodkin
|reviewer=Loralei Haylock
|genre=Teens
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-0857073631
|pages=464
|publisher=Simon and Schuster
|date=March 2012
|website=http://michellehodkin.com/
|video=u_XXgY210es
|summary=A story of a girl trying to piece herself back together, underpinned by some truly unnerving psychological horror that becomes full-blown paranormal horror about halfway through. An engrossing, thought-provoking read.
|cover=085707363X
|aznuk=085707363X
|aznus=085707363X
}}

Mara has just started her whole life over - new city, new school, new start. It's just what the doctor ordered, and her family - though still treating her like she might fall apart at any moment - are tentatively hopeful that it's just what she needs to get back on her feet. Mara just hopes her memories return. She needs to know what happened the night her two best friends and her boyfriend died in an accident she somehow managed to escape unscathed.

But with her post traumatic stress disorder causing her to question what's real and what isn't, Mara's having trouble distinguishing fantasy from memory. She sees the faces of her dead friends all the time - in her bathroom mirror, on the street, in the corridors of her new school - and then she starts to see people's death before they happen. With all this to contend with, the last thing Mara needs is the attention of Noah Shaw - the school's bad boy hottie, who likes to make conquests of each new female face in town.

Wow. Just... wow. This was one of those books that grabs you by the throat and drags you through the pages - pages you can't quite turn fast enough yet run out far too quickly at the same time. To all appearances, this book is just another teen paranormal romance - hot boys and mysterious goings on with paranormal undertones. But, rather than shy away from the horror of Mara's situation, the book embraces it fully, creating some truly chilling sequences.

Mara is the ultimate unreliable narrator - she doesn't know what's real and what's not. The uneasiness you feel as a reader, watching her battle with herself as she tries to figure out what's going on, never quite knowing yourself what has really happened and what has been cooked up by her imagination, keeps you on the edge of your seat, chewing your nails to their beds as you anxiously turn pages.

This was a superb read and I will be anticipating the sequel with great excitement.

Many thanks to the publishers for sending a copy. We also have a review of [[The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin]].

Fans of the horror element might enjoy the spine-tingling [[Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough]].

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[[Category:Horror]]
[[Category:Paranormal]]