Teri Hall

Okay, so these people (Rachel, her mother, and the woman she works for) live on The Property which is right by The Line. The Property is an out of the way estate with, it seems, a nice bit of land and The Line is an invisible boundary between Rachel & crew and "The Others" - which Rachel has never actually seen. She's only heard stories about them. Strange stories. Oh, and the other side of The Line is known as Away. Oh - and the boundary cannot be crossed.

So, naturally, I figure this kid (Rachel) is going to try to cross said boundary - but it is made pretty clear from the beginning that one cannot walk through that boundary, so....well, I won't spoil it.

In the first half of the novel the back story is delivered in the form of history lessons (sort of) for Rachel given by her mother. Poor kid. I wasn't sure I liked that delivery and I sort of felt bad for the kid having to recite all those things about what happened way back when, and what the government did when The Line first came into being... However, by the second half of the book I understood why Rachel's mother grilled her on all that history, and then learning about it that way didn't bother me anymore.

In the second half of the story, the pace picks up quite a bit. That is not to say that the first half dragged, but once I started reading the second half, I read it right on through to the end without putting it back down at all. It's not that long - I read the first half just a couple of chapters at a time over a couple of days. But, see, then this recorded message shows up that must have come from Away, and the voice on it is asking for help. What will Rachel do? And what will mom and boss lady do if they find out about it? Then all these other things happen and the next thing I knew, I was finished reading the whole book. And then I read the first few pages of Away - the sequel. And now I have to buy it. Where's my Kindle...… (more)