The Glass Casket by McCormick Templeman

Death hasn’t visited Rowan Rose since it took her mother when Rowan was only a little girl. But that changes one bleak morning, when five horses and their riders thunder into her village and through the forest, disappearing into the hills. Days later, the riders’ bodies are found, and though no one can say for certain what happened in their final hours, their remains prove that whatever it was must have been brutal.

Rowan’s village was once a tranquil place, but now things have changed. Something has followed the path those riders made and has come down from the hills, through the forest, and into the village. Beast or man, it has brought death to Rowan’s door once again.

Only this time, its appetite is insatiable.

SOURCE:  borrowed from library

Story Breakdown:

Someone (or something) is killing villagers.  After each increasingly more gruesome attack the town’s people begin to suspect one of their own could be the culprit and Rowan slowly tries to discover who could be hurting her friends.  What she doesn’t know is that what is doing this might be closer to home than she thought.

Character Highlights:

Rowan – I enjoyed her need to be independent but her blind devotion to her father bothered me somewhat.  She delayed in so much just because he said to do something.

Jude – It’s always the quiet ones that seem attractive to me. There is a mystery there. 😛

Tom – You know those characters that don’t really do anything wrong but you still want to punch them in the throat?  No?  Just me??  Hmm. . . .

Overall Thoughts:

When I first saw this cover I was beside myself with want.  Just looking at it this one look liked something I would love.  Boy was I right.  The Glass Casket felt like if a Stiefvater and a Yovanoff book (two of my favorite authors) got together and had a book baby.  There was gore, creepy things going bump in the night, witches, darkness, to keep it short everything I could love about a book.  PICK THIS ONE UP STAT.

4/5