Sasha Hibbs : Review/Feature of STILL PHOTO by Kim Harnes

Title: Still Photo
Author: Kim Harnes
Genre: YA Contemporary Suspense
Publisher: Evernight Teen
Length: 272 pages
Published: March 26, 2014

Blurb:

Jess Waterford’s mother is evil. Since she took off seven years ago—just days after Jess’s ninth birthday—without so much as a wave goodbye, Jess has always wondered what happened to her. And despite the end of her mother’s mental and physical abuse, the memories and the scars still remain. Jess conceals the hurt within by practicing her photography, and by spending as much time as her dad will allow with her baseball star boyfriend, Brody Campbell.

Determined to make use of her new camera, Jess dives into photographing everything in sight. But periodically the resulting prints are flawed, ever so slightly: a smudge on a tree trunk; a blemish in the bus window. These imperfections are not as random as they may seem, however, and Brody and Jess soon discover together that each of these pictures combine to form another image—the grisly image of a murder scene, with Jess’s mother as the victim.
As the new photograph takes shape, Jess’s desire to complete it consumes her, and Brody’s health begins to deteriorate. Torn between her quest to reveal her mother’s killer and her continued worry over Brody’s failing health, Jess finally finds the last piece to the puzzle, and the answer sends her world spiraling into depths from which she may never recover.

My review: 5 Creepy, Spine-Chilling Stars! You must read this!

At a glance, the cover led me to believe that I was in for a sinister, creepy ride, and I can say at the end, that is exactly what happened. There was no disappointment.
There are a few novels that at the end, I'm left scratching my Kindle screen, saying to myself in a futile attempt to make my Kindle produce more pages, "Where's the rest? I want more!" And so that was the case with Still Photo. It was just that good.
This is a genre I don't visit too often and having devoured Still Photo I think I'll reconsider and am a bit afraid other psychological suspense novels might perhaps pale in comparison.
The flow of the story and the character building were nothing short of stunning. This was one of those novels that at 1AM I had a conflict crop up between my two selves. One saying, "Seriously, you have to get up at 6AM. PUT. IT. DOWN!" and then my other self was saying, "Just one more chapter. JUST. ONE. MORE!"
Oh what a ride! I loved all the characters: Brody, Jess, her Dad...Ms. Harnes fleshed them out in great detail.
Still Photo easily earns 5 very creepy, spine chilling stars from this reader. I will certainly be on the lookout for future works.

Author Bio:

Kim Harnes learned to read at the age of two and never looked back. Growing up as an avid lover of horror novels, campfire stories, and the obsession with ghost towns and cemeteries, it only made sense that her own writing would incorporate the paranormal, the bizarre, and the unexplained. She is an award-winning songwriter, an active member of the SCBWI, and currently lives with her family and numerous pets in Sparks, Nevada.

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