Pages: 320 pages

Publication Date: October 17th 2011 by Tor Teen

ISBN: 0765328658 (ISBN13: 9780765328656)

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life. 

This book was right up my ally! You guys know how much I love the evil, dark, female characters in books. Cas Lowood is basically the new and improved cool ghostbuster, in modern day. At first I mean, how serious can this book be with a ghost hunter traveling across the country with his witchy mom and weird cat? Little did I know that this was going to be a gruesome, dark twisted story about Anna, whom is literally dressed in blood; the title and cover don't lie to you! Come on, the ratings and reviews can talk for themselves, this is Kendare Blake's most reviewed and rated best-seller worthy book! So if you haven't read it yet? Read it. You won't regret it.

Cas had been killing since he was 14! 14!!! That's a crazy childhood to have and to then top it all off, his father dies. Well, Cass makes his dad proud by inheriting the hunter's mysterious and dangerous athame, and he goes to town finishing what his father had started. Until, he meets Anna. Never has he encountered nor heard of a spirit so powerful and angry. Anna was killed in 1958. While walking to prom in her beautiful white dress, her throat was slit, blood covered her body entirely, thus earning her the name, Anna Dressed in Blood. It's described in the novel as:

"Someone cut her throat, but that’s an understatement. Someone nearly cut her head clean off. They say she was wearing a white party dress, and when they found her, the whole thing was stained red. That’s why they call her Anna Dressed in Blood."

Pretty gruesome and frightening stuff. I'd be pretty angry too with what Anna had to really go through that night. This was an interesting book because we didn't only get to read and learn about Cas, being our protagonist. Instead, we also got to learn a lot about Anna; her background, past, personality, why she is the way she is. It was said in the novel that she had been tied to her house and has never been able to step a foot past her front porch. Being as this is a legend and known to the townspeople, many have tried to check it out for silly pranks, and only 27 have gone in, and have never been seen alive again. I loved her character because she wasn't black and white, she was a gruesome killer yet a victim at the same time, evil yet innocent. It really put things into perspective about morality and I loved how Cas handled the situation. Also, there is a huge twist at the end about the real reason why Anna died, and it puts a whole new meaning on cruel and thriller.

This book is actually in talks about being turned into a movie!!! And the director being the one and only.... Stephenie Meyer.... this should be interesting. Though i'm still excited!