Review: Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown

Author: Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown

Genre: Paranormal

Pages: 262

Published: May 1, 2010

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Rating: 3/5 Stars

"Jennie Lovell's life is the very picture of love and loss. First she is orphaned and forced to live at the mercy of her stingy, indifferent relatives. Then her fiancé falls on the battlefield, leaving her heartbroken and alone. Jennie struggles to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, but is haunted by a mysterious figure that refuses to let her bury the past." ~Goodreads

 I'll be very honest and say that I had some preconceived notions about how awesome this book was going to be because it had three of my favorite things: ghosts, the civil war and PICTURES!  Yes, I'll admit that I'm basically 12 at heart and love illustrations to go along with a story.  I'm a very visual person so the right illustrations can really enhance my reading enjoyment.  Many people scoff at such things but I welcome pictures in novels!  Ghosts and the Civil War kind of go hand in hand for me so if a book has both, it is a must read.  Throw in an author like Adele Griffin and a super spooky plot and I expect nothing less than awesome.  Picture the Dead  mostly lived up to this expectation.  Mostly.

LIKES:

• Scrapbooks:  Not only was this book beautifully illustrated, the illustrations were done as a scrapbook.  They included letters and drawings as well as photos.  Each scrapbook page pulled you farther into the story and helped to move it along at an exciting pace.  The only problem with this is that I did catch myself cheating and jumping ahead to see what pictures were next.  Bad!
• Twists and turns:  I thought at one point that I new exactly what the "twist" was going to be and I was feeling pretty smug about the whole then.  Then the story did a one-eighty and I was completely at a loss.  I just didn't see the end coming and It hit me hard.  I love it when a story surprised me.
• Jennie:  Jennie was a genuinely likeable character with a lot of spunk, especially for a nineteenth century girl.  I really felt for her and cared about her plight.  She pulled me into the story and made it very real.

DISLIKES:

• Kissing cousins, no seriously:  First off let me say that I understand that it was common practice until fairly recently (in the grand scheme of things) for people to marry cousins.  That being said, it still creeps me right out.  For whatever reason I just can't put it in the context of "that was then, this is now".  This is probably because I grew up being very close to my cousins.  They were like my siblings so the idea of being romantically involved with one of them makes me want to heave.  Jennie isn't just involved with one, but two cousins, with whom she has lived for the past several years after the deaths of her parents.  This is probably the thing that bothered me most about the book.
• It could have been scarier:  I was looking forward to a scary read and, while spooky, I wouldn't call this book scary.  It really read more like an historical fiction with some ghostly elements.  I would have like to have seen a bit more creepiness. 
• Jennie's Uncle:  This character really didn't add much to the story except to underline Jennie's desperate situation.  I wish he would have been developed a bit more.

When all is said and done, Picture the Dead is exactly what it claims to be: a spooky, romantic story with some really great twists and turns.  The illustrations and the scrapbook idea only adds to the story and the overall ambiance of the tale.  This is a quick, fun read that is sure to keep the reader guessing.