Language: English
Action & Adventure Art Best Friends Fantasy & Magic Fiction Friendship General Horror & Ghost Stories Juvenile Fiction Popular Culture School & Education Social Issues Tattooing young adult fiction
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: Jul 7, 2008
Description:
From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up—A fast-paced emotional thriller. High school junior Sammi and her four best friends are beautiful outcasts who formed an unbreakable bond. At least, she thought their bond was unbreakable—until she backs out of getting the friendship tattoo they all agreed upon. When Sammi's friends go from being distant to completely unlike themselves—getting into serious trouble with drugs, sex, and violent altercations—she starts to wonder if maybe there is something evil about their tattoos. Sammi tries to stop them from fighting with another group of girls, and her former friends beat her so badly that she is hospitalized. Determined to discover the truth, Sammi investigates the tattoo shop and finds frightening and disturbing links to the occult. The story has explicit language and descriptions and some violent scenes. While the motives of the tattoo-artist bad guy are a bit unclear, it's easy to get past that and go along for the ride. Sammi's interactions with her friends reflect a deeper fear about changing relationships and being alone, and throughout the book, she must also deal with her parents' strained relationship. With a likable protagonist and an eerie plot, this novel will mesmerize fans of the supernatural.—_Sharon Senser McKellar, Oakland Public Library, CA_
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Product Description
SAMMI, TQ, CARYN, Letty, and Katsuko are floaters. None of them fits in with any particular group at Covington High School—except each other. One night, to cement their bond, the girls decide to get matching, unique tattoos. But when Sammi backs out at the last minute, everything changes. Faster than you can say “airbrush,” Sammi is an outcast, and soon, her friends are behaving like total strangers. When they attack Sammi for trying to break up a brawl, Sammi spies something horrible on her friends’ backs: the original tattoo has grown tendrils, snaking and curling over the girls’ entire bodies. What has that creepy tattoo artist done to her friends? And what—if anything—can Sammi do to get them back? This deliciously creepy psychological thriller is the perfect summer read.