This fairly short novel is the first in a two-part saga, but I'm not sure if I will go ahead and read the second one. I really like a good ghost story, and this one mostly delivers. It's righteously creepy in parts, if somewhat predictable.
This won't be an exhaustive review by any means, but I did want to just make a few comments. The premise is one which is likely familiar to most people: staring into a mirror while chanting the words "bloody Mary" is supposed to make the figure appear on the other side of the mirror. Confession: I haven't ever actually tried this myself, and don't think I know anyone who actually has... so not sure whether anyone has ever actually seen anything.
If you read anything I've written, you probably know by now that it will likely come with something of a history lesson... so, here goes!
What I was able to find out about the origins of this "urban legend" myth: unlike some other ghost mythology, the origins of this admittedly-curious ritual are somewhat obscure, as is the identity of the figure in question herself. It's doubtful that she is an actual historic figure, although some potentials include the actual Bloody Mary herself, Mary Tudor; others claim that she is the ghost of Mary Worth, an accused witch during the Salem madness. Thus, some state that the legend is English in origin, but apparently, there's also a version which calls her "svarta madam," Swedish for "woman in black," so there may be an even greater international element.
However, it seems that the US version in its present form may only date back to the 1970s, so the origins are obscure. In this version, legend has it that Mary is supposedly the ghost of a women who committed suicide, possibly because her baby was kidnapped. Some versions state that she was accused of murdering her children. Thus, some versions of the ritual call for someone to stare into the mirror holding a lit candle, say her name three times (some versions say thirteen), and then state that "I have your baby!" to make her appear.
Nothing good seems to come from the ritual, however. Historically, elements of the mirror ritual were conducted apparently for the purposes of divination, before Mary came into the picture. Unlike invoking other spirits, Bloody Mary only seems to cause harm, perhaps understandable if you tell a dead woman that you have her kidnapped baby! She's said to cause physical harm, including death, to her victims, or turning them insane, or, as in the novel, sometimes dragging them through the mirror to the Land of the Dead.
In this version, four teen friends decide to take on the ritual... but it appears that one of them knows more than she's letting on. She induces the others to participate, with the full expectation that Mary's going to appear. As it turns out, she's communicated with a woman who experienced the apparition firsthand, and it has stalked her all her life. She fails to communicate this to her three friends, including Shauna, who, for some reason, is the most affected, when the ghost actually appears and apparently takes a fancy to her, attempting to drag her to her death through the mirror, and then stalking her incessantly, appearing in any reflective surface, wherever she goes.
This one definitely had its moments: it's unsettling, at least, enough to briefly instill a sense of paranoia when looking into shiny objects and surfaces! The idea of being stalked by a ghost trying to drag you to Hell is definitely a decent premise for a good ghost story!
This won't be an exhaustive review by any means, but I did want to just make a few comments. The premise is one which is likely familiar to most people: staring into a mirror while chanting the words "bloody Mary" is supposed to make the figure appear on the other side of the mirror. Confession: I haven't ever actually tried this myself, and don't think I know anyone who actually has... so not sure whether anyone has ever actually seen anything.
If you read anything I've written, you probably know by now that it will likely come with something of a history lesson... so, here goes!
What I was able to find out about the origins of this "urban legend" myth: unlike some other ghost mythology, the origins of this admittedly-curious ritual are somewhat obscure, as is the identity of the figure in question herself. It's doubtful that she is an actual historic figure, although some potentials include the actual Bloody Mary herself, Mary Tudor; others claim that she is the ghost of Mary Worth, an accused witch during the Salem madness. Thus, some state that the legend is English in origin, but apparently, there's also a version which calls her "svarta madam," Swedish for "woman in black," so there may be an even greater international element.
However, it seems that the US version in its present form may only date back to the 1970s, so the origins are obscure. In this version, legend has it that Mary is supposedly the ghost of a women who committed suicide, possibly because her baby was kidnapped. Some versions state that she was accused of murdering her children. Thus, some versions of the ritual call for someone to stare into the mirror holding a lit candle, say her name three times (some versions say thirteen), and then state that "I have your baby!" to make her appear.
Nothing good seems to come from the ritual, however. Historically, elements of the mirror ritual were conducted apparently for the purposes of divination, before Mary came into the picture. Unlike invoking other spirits, Bloody Mary only seems to cause harm, perhaps understandable if you tell a dead woman that you have her kidnapped baby! She's said to cause physical harm, including death, to her victims, or turning them insane, or, as in the novel, sometimes dragging them through the mirror to the Land of the Dead.
In this version, four teen friends decide to take on the ritual... but it appears that one of them knows more than she's letting on. She induces the others to participate, with the full expectation that Mary's going to appear. As it turns out, she's communicated with a woman who experienced the apparition firsthand, and it has stalked her all her life. She fails to communicate this to her three friends, including Shauna, who, for some reason, is the most affected, when the ghost actually appears and apparently takes a fancy to her, attempting to drag her to her death through the mirror, and then stalking her incessantly, appearing in any reflective surface, wherever she goes.
This one definitely had its moments: it's unsettling, at least, enough to briefly instill a sense of paranoia when looking into shiny objects and surfaces! The idea of being stalked by a ghost trying to drag you to Hell is definitely a decent premise for a good ghost story!
