Poison Ink (edition 2008)

If I had to describe this book with one word, it would be tense. This certainly isn’t a light read for the faint of heart, though it is a quick read. Even though the book is for Young Adults, I enjoyed it until the last page and I’m a full adult :)

The author does a terrific job of getting the reader comfortable with the main character Sammi's life in a short time-which is a sign of a good book to me. The reader feels like you're a part of her life going through an insane (blissfully fictional) month.

It involved magic. The way a tattoo artist used tattoos to control people [was compelling]. The end was very good and suspenseful. AHS/JD

Reviewed by JodiG. for TeensReadToo.com

Sammi is one of those girls who doesn't really fit in with any of the groups in high school. She gets along with a lot of people, but not enough that she feels as if she really "belongs" with most of them. She describes herself as a "floater", floating between cliques but never attaching to any one.

TQ, Caryn, Letty, and Katsuko are Sammi's closest allies. They aren't really friends, or even a "group," just bound together by the one thing they have in common - the fact that they don't belong with any other group.

One night, the girls decide to get matching tattoos, as a symbol of their bond. The only place that a group of underage girls can get a tattoo is in a creepy studio run by an even creepier tattoo artist named Dante. Dante creates a one-of-a-kind symbol for the girls, one that, he explains, symbolizes strength and friendship, among other things.

The girls eagerly line up for their chance to be bound together. All of them except for Sammi, who worries about the cleanliness of the salon, as well as how her parents would react to her getting a tattoo. Things aren't exactly going smoothly at home and Sammi isn't eager to be the cause of more problems. When her turn arrives, Sammi runs, leaving the other girls feeling betrayed.

Sammi comes up with a plan to atone for the abandonment of her friends. After her plan fails she finds that her former friends are turning on her. Not only have they become bitter and hateful towards her, but Sammi realizes that they have completely changed. Her formerly quiet, "floater" friends are now the most talked about, explosive, aggressive, and cruelest girls in school. They have no regard for anyone else, or themselves.

Sammi can't understand what has caused her friends to change so drastically. When she is assaulted by her former friends she realizes how horrible the situation really is. She catches sight of the tattoo. It has grown and spread across her friend's back.

Now she has to figure out what Dante has done to her friends, and how she can save them.

Christopher Golden has written a book that is a realistic representation of the high school social scene and yet adds a deliciously twisted storyline of how good girls can go bad. POISON INK is fun and intense at the same time and it all leads up to a fantastic final showdown. You won't be disappointed with this one. ( )

Due to the very high school aspect of this book, I skimmed a bit of it. I really wish they had played up the supernatural part of it more, instead of leading up to it slowly. It was only in the last third of the book that any real action happens and when it does you want more. I'd almost like to read a sequel to see what may happen and hope for a more intense plot line. ( )

Sammi is a high school junior who has a close group of girlfriends. When the five of them decide to get an original tattoo to show their bond to each other, Sammi isn't sure that she wants to do it, but she can't figure out a way to tell the girls. At the last moment, after the other four already have their tattoos, Sammi backs out of the deal and runs out of the store. Shortly afterward, the four girls undergo massive character changes, and Sammi ends up being beat up quite severely by her previous friends when she attempts to intervene in a fight between them and the Las Reinas, a Puerto Rican gang. When Sammi figures out that the ink used in the tattoo has poisoned the girls and made them puppets of Dante, the tattoo artist. She is determined to rescue her friends, but at what cost.
Due to the language, I've donated my copy of the book to my local high school rather than put it in the middle school library, but it's an enjoyable read for those who like thrillers. ( )