Customer Reviews

Poison Ink

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I drank up every drop of this book.

Poison Ink is a killer thriller, certain to please fans of the suspense genre. This novel offers twists and turns at every corner, piercing as deep as the spoke-like tattoo which changes the lives of five girls forever.

The mark is supposed to bond the best friends forever. When Sammi balks at getting the tattoo, she doesn't expect her friends to react as strongly as they do, and their actions and words leave her hurt and confused. Though her friends cast her aside, Sammi never turns her back on them. She knows something is terribly wrong, and she's determined to figure out how to stop it before they destroy themselves.

Each of the main characters are different in both appearance and attitude, making it easy to picture them and distinguish between them. Their differences are what drew them together in the first place: they didn't fit into any of the established cliques at school, so they drifted together, a group of floaters, then became close friends. How they react to the tragedies in this book prove that that bond is unbreakable, even though they themselves will never be the same.

Once again, Christopher Golden has created a page turner that will keep readers up at night. (It might also inspire them to seek tattoo removal!) Poison Ink is filled with horrors both familiar (fighting with your best friends, getting crushed by your crush) and imaginative. With an action-packed climax, Poison Ink proves to be indelible, and will remain etched in the minds of readers.

Poison Ink is one of my favorite books of 2008. I can't wait to get this book into the hands of teens and adults alike and introduce a new generation to Golden's works.

From www.mrsmagooreads.com


Title: Poison Ink
Author: Christopher Golden
Grade: A-
Ideal Audience: Boys & Girls, 12-19
Reading Type(s): The Fantastical Reader & The Mysterious Reader

Summary: Sammi, Katsuko, Caryn, Letty, and TQ have always been the best of friends, have always been there for each other. During a sleepover, they decide to get identical tattoos to prove their friendship. There's only one problem: it's illegal for underage kids to get tattoos without their parents' permission. As the five of them know that their parents would never agree to their proposition, they are forced to go to a shady shop where no questions are asked.

After all four of her friends have gotten their tattoos, it's Sammi's turn... but then she chickens out. She decides that although her friends will forgive her, her parents might not. Besides, the place they're at may not even be sanitary, and the tattoo artist- Dante- is definitely creepy.

Over the next few weeks, however, Sammi realizes that her friends aren't forgiving her. She is treated as a traitor for not getting the tattoo and is firmly pushed out of their clique. Then her ex-friends start acting in ways they never have before. Even TQ, once quiet and shy, is acting outrageously.

Sammi has to find out what Dante did to her friends to make them act like this, and how she can fix it. But can she solve the problem before it's too late?

My thoughts: I loved the creepy mood of Poison Ink (perfect for Halloween!) Also, the descriptions of the tattoo shop and the repercussions of the tattoos made me long to see a movie version of this.

Although there were a few brief disturbing parts (if you get queasy easily you'll probably just want to skip over a few paragraphs), I fully enjoyed the novel, and I really do hope it's made into a movie! :-)

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?

Poison Ink was a great horror book. You find yourself cringing and widening your eyes at times while reading the story. It's hard to forget about the book. The plot was original and kept you on the edge of your seat. The pace of the book was very good but sometimes you just wished that it was a little bit more fast paced. All the characters felt believable and they had regular teenage problems as well . It was very suspenseful kept you turning the pages. Christopher Golden sure knows how to write a suspenseful horror book that keeps you awake at night.
-Carol
www.bookluver-carol.blogspot.com

Sammi is one of those girls who doesn't really fit in with any of the groups in high school. She gets along with a lot of people, but not enough that she feels as if she really "belongs" with most of them. She describes herself as a "floater", floating between cliques but never attaching to any one.

TQ, Caryn, Letty, and Katsuko are Sammi's closest allies. They aren't really friends, or even a "group," just bound together by the one thing they have in common - the fact that they don't belong with any other group.

One night, the girls decide to get matching tattoos, as a symbol of their bond. The only place that a group of underage girls can get a tattoo is in a creepy studio run by an even creepier tattoo artist named Dante. Dante creates a one-of-a-kind symbol for the girls, one that, he explains, symbolizes strength and friendship, among other things.

The girls eagerly line up for their chance to be bound together. All of them except for Sammi, who worries about the cleanliness of the salon, as well as how her parents would react to her getting a tattoo. Things aren't exactly going smoothly at home and Sammi isn't eager to be the cause of more problems. When her turn arrives, Sammi runs, leaving the other girls feeling betrayed.

Sammi comes up with a plan to atone for the abandonment of her friends. After her plan fails she finds that her former friends are turning on her. Not only have they become bitter and hateful towards her, but Sammi realizes that they have completely changed. Her formerly quiet, "floater" friends are now the most talked about, explosive, aggressive, and cruelest girls in school. They have no regard for anyone else, or themselves.

Sammi can't understand what has caused her friends to change so drastically. When she is assaulted by her former friends she realizes how horrible the situation really is. She catches sight of the tattoo. It has grown and spread across her friend's back.

Now she has to figure out what Dante has done to her friends, and how she can save them.

Christopher Golden has written a book that is a realistic representation of the high school social scene and yet adds a deliciously twisted storyline of how good girls can go bad. POISON INK is fun and intense at the same time and it all leads up to a fantastic final showdown. You won't be disappointed with this one.

Reviewed by: JodiG.

This was obviously written for more of a YA audience, but I loved it. I was totally a floater in high school, and really identified with Sammi. A quick read, but highly enjoyable.

I picked this book up thinking it would be an ok read and was shocked at how good it really was. The story really brings you in and makes you want to believe everything will be alright at the end. No spoilers here... but this is something I would tell people to read. If I could give it more than five stars I would!