Title: Creepy Friends
Author: Ronnie Stich
Publisher: Copyright Ronnie Stich, 2014
ASIN: B00JTJD12W
Pages: 226 pages
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery
Reviewed by: Kimberlee Hicks, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
I believe Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, said it best when he metaphorically likened high school to Hell. If this is the case, then junior high must be Hell’s antechamber; some sort of purgatory in reverse, where our innocence is stripped away and we begin to get a glimpse of the terrors that lie ahead.Creepy Friends, by Ronnie Stich, captures this moment through the eyes of her heroine, Alicia, whose fears that her house may be haunted make her the subject of derision among her classmates, including her best friend since childhood. The only person who believes her is the cool but ostracized, Kathy. Having had her own experiences with the paranormal and offering a way to help, Kathy puts Alicia in an uncomfortable position: as much as she wants the help Kathy so tantalizingly offers, Alicia knows her popularity will suffer if they’re seen together.
Forced to choose between something all teenagers value – their reputation – and the solution to a problem she cannot solve on her own, Alicia reluctantly befriends Kathy, and inevitably discovers that learning to understand what we fear, or hate, or judge, leads to acceptance.
The Young Adult genre seems to get a bad reputation, and not always without cause. Stich created no stock characters, giving each of them enough depth to feel fully developed and well rounded. In any genre, it is too easy to fall into the trap of making the protagonists bland in an effort to make them appealing to the reader. Alicia escapes this pitfall, in that she is not always likeable. She can be thoughtless, rude to those who do not deserve it, judgmental, and self-centered. These flaws can be chalked up to her age, however, and do not make her so unlikeable that we are unable to understand, or empathize with her.
Likewise, her story doesn’t come full circle, to be tied up with a neat bow as though all her shortcomings have been magically corrected. Alicia still has room to grow, and it is satisfying to see this acknowledged, but she travels far enough that we know that by the time she gets to high school, those four years in hell will be nothing.
The pace moves quickly, and is never boring. Some elements are so intriguing that you can tell Stich has a wealth of notes regarding the societies of the undead that go far beyond what she showed to us. There is no indication whether or not Stich intends to extend this book into a series but it could easily become one, and should. It would also translate well to the screen, big or small. In any format, seeing more of this world would be appealing.
This is a book about lessons, but it isn’t heavy handed. Stich doesn’t moralize to get her point across, and she doesn’t need to. Her readers will recognize the emotions and the social pressures from their own experiences. They understand that there is a hierarchy; that life is not fair; and that your best friend today may hurt you horribly tomorrow. The lesson of Creepy Friends is imparted through the medium (pun intended) of the denizens of the spirit world is fitting. We go to school to learn, but also to face our demons; it is only by doing so that we can truly learn who we are, and who we will be.
