The Dead of Summer

I found The Dead of Summer to be a chilling and compelling look into the world of three young teenage misfits. In a series of flashbacks we are told the story by Anita. A loner all her life, Anita and her family moved to London from Leeds after the death of her mother in the 1980’s. She doesn’t fit in at school and the only friend she is able to make is Denis, a slightly slow boy. Through Denis she meets Kyle, who lives across the street from her and whom she has already noticed and been attracted to. Kyle is the leader of the group and the other two always follow him.

We are told at the beginning of the book that there was a event that left everyone but Anita dead. As she relates her story to a psychiatrist many years later, she show more fills in the blanks and we are shown what actually happened that summer. We learn about each of the children’s background, from Denis’s overprotective, religious mother to Kyle’s younger sisters’ disappearance a year earlier. This is a disturbing, yet riveting story that I found very hard to put down. Definitely not a book for the faint-of-heart.

The Dead of Summer is Camilla Way’s debut novel, yet she has produced a well crafted plot that keeps the reader engrossed. Her skilful manipulation keeps the book fresh and unpredictable. There are times when you find a book that really speaks to you, and for whatever reason, this book spoke volumes to me. show less

Three teenaged misfits from seriously dysfunctional families spend their summer days together in a series of misadventures that culminate in a horrific act that defies understanding. This is a very unsettling look into the mind of evil disguised as madness. The ending was an unexpected twist.

Okay - I shouldn't have been surprised at the conclusion to this novel - but I was! What a fascinating first work. This is more of a novella, than a novel - which makes it a great in between read. It was good enough to make me immediately order the author's other book- "Little Birds." However, I have to admit that "Little Birds" didn't hook me in the same way "The Dead of Summer" did. It's almost gothic in a weird way - you have this impending sense of doom, which the structure of the story helps to invoke. I don't want to give away the ending - but Wow! However, as other reviewers have noted - expect to be disturbed in ways you didn't expect. Thought provoking to say the least and an excellent debut!

Wow! I may be naive, but I did not anticipate this ending at all. I guess that's why I like who-dun-its; I'm always surprised.

Way does exceptional work here with imagery and phrasing. You feel the heat and the filth and the fear of the characters as the summer moves to its conclusion. The look back with the help of the psychiatrist is effective because you know the ending and who dies...at least you think you know...until the absolute end.

This is a slim volume will stick with you, particularly if you work with young people. We know these kids, and the unspeakable violence is not that remote of a possibility in their world...or in ours.

An excellent debut book. I need to be grabbed fast to sustain attention and get me beyond the first chapter. This book succeeded in the first few lines. I thought I knew all through the book 'who had done what' and I was wrong. The characters were great - we all know people like the children and adults in the book; however here we get to be involved in their private lives rather than the public persona.

As for the plot; superb would sum it up. I came across the book by chance and I genuinely thought I could have been reading non-fiction as opposed to fiction.

The writing style is excellent, mixes 'transcripts' with prose. I've put transcripts in inverted commas as they are really just part of the prose, however they do make it feel more show more 'real'. The Guardian online have the first two chapters on their website which is how I discovered the book but even without reading this the blurb had me intrigued.

Well worth a read if you like your fiction to have a bit of a bite. show less

Edgy, disturbing thriller detailing a tragic Summer in the lives of three teenage misfits. The prose, like the characters, is disjointed and unnerving. Horrific ending which will give you shivers. Guaranteed.

13 year-old Anita Naidu, along with her family (except mom, who had recently died), move from Leeds to Greenwich. Anita is somewhat of a loner, and can clearly identify with a couple of misfits that she meets when she starts school. There's Denis, an overweight, food-loving boy with learning disabilities, and his friend Kyle. Kyle is somewhat of an enigma, with a personality that can turn on a dime. His sister disappeared years earlier, and Kyle lives with his somewhat fragile mother and his grandfather. The story is told by Anita, later in life, who is speaking to a psychiatrist, revealing bit by bit a chilling story about the first summer that she, Kyle and Denis all spent together. When the opening words of the story are "By the end show more of that summer three of us were dead," well, you know that something creepy is going to happen. To say any more about the plot would totally wreck the story, so I won't.

The writing is quite good; the author's use of imagery is very well done. In just a small bit of page space I was sucked right into the story, and felt like I was there during one of Anita's talks with the shrink. I will also say that once you're in Anita's head, it's hard to extricate yourself.

Good plot twist, although I must say I somewhat expected it.

I would definitely recommend this one to people who enjoy a good suspense novel -- it's fresh, quite unlike anything I've read in a long while. show less