The Unspoken, Thomas Fahy

Fahy, Thomas (2008)
The Unspoken
New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers,
1416940073
Genre: Horror Fiction, Paranormal



Six teens are drawn back to the small North Carolina town where they once lived and, one by one, begin to die of their worst fears, as prophesied by the cult leader they killed five years earlier, and who they believe poisoned their parents.

Think Forbidden crossed with I Know What You Did Last Summer. Allison and her 5 friends have been estranged since they survived the mass murder/suicide of a cult almost 5 years prior. They planned to kill the cult leader; however, before he dies the prophet prophesizes that within 5 years the world will end and six will die, and the whole congregration is poisoned-except Allison and her friends. When Harold (the prophet’s son) drowns in a desert area, Allison and the remaining 4 reunite at his funeral. An epileptic, Allison experiences seizures in her sleep; these seizures provide her with visions of the future and, in this case, she witnesses bits of her friend’s gruesome death as each one suffers his/her greatest fear and is murdered. Three of the five are murdered leaving Allison and David, her love interest, to solve the mystery before they, too, die. The two seemingly solve the mystery, but the open ending begs for an obvious sequel. Allison is surrounded by flat characters who only serve to propel the episodic chapters. The book will appeal to reluctant readers, but more sophisticated readers will find it difficult to take Allison and her friends’ situation seriously.