[ARC Review] Shutter by Courtney Alameda

Tuesday, March 03, 2015




Title: Shutter
Author: Courtney Alameda
Series: Standalone
Genre: YA Horror
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: February 3rd 2015
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Source: ARC received from publisher in exchange for an honest review

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Horror has a new name: introducing Courtney Alameda.

Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat—a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With an analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She's aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera's technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever.

When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain. As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn't exorcise her entity in seven days or less, she and her friends will die. Now pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, Leonard Helsing, she must track and destroy an entity more powerful than anything she's faced before . . . or die trying.

Lock, stock, and lens, she’s in for one hell of a week.




I am usually not one for horror...of any kind. But when I saw the reviews come in for Shutter I knew I had to read it for myself, and let me tell you I will never look at a mirror or armoir the same again. This book is one of the most graphic YA horror books I have read in a very long time and it is definately not for the faint of heart.

Shutter follow a young girl named Micheline who is a decendant of Van Helsing and is tasked with capturing ghosts and other supernatural creatures. What I think I liked the most about this book was how different it seemed. She doesn't capture the ghosts ghostbusters style, or even ghost whisperer style. She uses a camera flash. I though this was brilliant and it made for great reading. I can't really say too much else about the plot because there are so many twist and turns that I would just be giving away the book. But I will say this. I loved Micheline. She was badass! I loved that she was so secure in herself that she would do whatever it took to fix the situation they were in, even when no one else thought she could. I also loved the way she interacted with the other characters in the book. Ryder, the love interest was sweet but ultimately a little boring overall. I loved Jude because he was hilarious and full of sarcasm. He brought much needed humor to this otherwise very grim story. Then there is Oliver. He was s sweet and I loved that he was a brainiac that knew almost anything. It was a great dynamic throught the book. Everything worked.

The writing is superb in this book. The author does a great job blending scienticifc and historical facts with those of the plot and it makes for a very interesting read. I will say that at times, it was hard to follow with all the different lingo that was used, but after a while I just got used to it. When the author was described as the new face of horror, they were ot wrong. She is brillaint at teh gore and the disgusting and I seriously cannot wait for more from her.

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1 comments

  1. Wow! I am not a fan of horror books either. One more incredible review about this book and I think I am sold! The cover is a little bit intimidating, though;)

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