Obsession (ARC)

Review: Obsession by Donny Stephens
Release Date: July 10th, 2009 (I believe)
Pages: 206
Publisher: Idea Publishing Company
Grade: B-

Amy Brantley is a normal 16-year-old girl. When her parents divorce her mother, Claire, and Amy move to a small town that is located a couple hours away from their old home. This town is called Andersonville. Amy's father, John, is a private detective and never had any time for his family because of his work which was the main cause of the divorce. Amy has always taken great interest in her father's work and wants to be a private detective too someday. When Amy and Claire first get to Andersonville Amy meets a nice old man who owns a little gift shop. She talks to him a few times and he tells her that Andersonville isn't a very nice place. He tells her stories about how the town was built and about an evil man who he thinks took over the starting of the town.

On Amy's first day of school she meets a boy named Joshua Freedman. Right away he takes a liking to Amy and asks her out. Amy of course accepts because Joshua seems like a nice enough guy and he's also attractive.

Claire gets a job as a bank teller at the local bank. Her boss is Bobby Freedman, Joshua's father. Not long after being hired Claire realizes that Bobby has taken a liking to her. Of course Bobby's wife realizes this too and all of this drama is starting to confusing Claire.

After only a couple dates with Joshua Amy realizes that he may be becoming obsessed with her. He starts to be really controlling and more demanding. Whenever another guy even tries to talk to Amy Joshua will either beat him up or get someone else to do it.

After a bad date with Joshua one night Amy comes home to find her mother watching the news. When she asks her mother what is going on Claire tells her that the old man from the gift shop is dead. She says that everyone thinks it was a suicide but Amy knows better than that. She's determined to put her detective skills to work and dig up the dirt on this town. If she doesn't who knows what could happen to her or her mother...

This was a pretty intense read. The first few chapters are a little slow but it soon picks up after that. The ending is especially action packed. It literally had me on the edge of my seat. The only thing that I wasn't too crazy about with this book was some of the writing at times. Some of the times when the characters were talking it just didn't seem like words they would really say. Other than that this was a great book. It's great for anyone who likes mystery and action. I loved how determined Amy was to find out what was going on in the town, and I really liked how Claire handled everything with her boss and his wife. Overall I think this was a pretty good book. Also, due to some mature topics especially towards the middle and the end of the book I wouldn't recommend this to anyone under the age of 16.

Reviewed for teensreadtoo :)