"Rose Marshall died in 1952 in Buckley Township, Michigan, run off the road by a man named Bobby Cross--a man who had sold his soul to live forever, and intended to use her death to pay the price of his immortality. Trouble was, he didn't ask Rose what she thought of the idea. It's been more than sixty years since that night, and she's still sixteen, and she's still running. They have names for her all over the country: the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Mostly she just goes by "Rose," a hitchhiking ghost girl with her thumb out and her eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to outrace a man who never sleeps, never stops, and never gives up on the idea of claiming what's his. She's the angel of the overpass, she's the darling of the truck stops, and she's going to figure out a way to win her freedom. After all, it's not like it can kill her. You can't kill what's already dead."--P. [4] of cover.
This is one of those books that I really wanted to like. I tried. I really did! It's just not my taste, I guess. I love the idea of a ghost story from the POV of the ghost herself. I loved some of the descriptions of the ghost road and I loved Rose herself.
The problem is that this book is really more like a string of short stories with the same setting and characters than an actual novel. After reading it I found that this had originally been published in a serialized form. That probably explains the format of the book. There are themes that tie it all together but the chapters (stories?) are not tied together by a plot. Some readers may really love that but it kept me from really getting sucked in to the book.
There is also a LOT of repetition. In the beginning I was interested in hearing about the ghost roads and the types of ghosts but after a while I felt like I kept reading the same basic descriptions over and over just using different words.
This just wasn't my thing. I have to say, I was really disappointed. Especially after all of the great reviews I've read. I would not, however, discourage anyone from checking this one out. If it sounds interesting to you and you don't mind short stories, you may enjoy this much more than I did.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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12 May, 2014:
Finished reading
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12 May, 2014:
Reviewed