Bookstew

Poison Ink by Christopher Golden
By Allie Costa

Everything had been poisoned, and the poison was spreading...

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?
This deliciously creepy psychological thriller is the perfect summer read.
"Action-packed horror with a sidebar of romance, sure to entice those with a taste for blood and the supernatural. Delightfully stomach-churning, [with] a satisfying, violent and sad ending." -- Kirkus Reviews

"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 forever etched in the minds of readers." -- Little Willow, Bildungsroman book blog
Read An Excerpt Online

(Excerpt © Christopher Golden. Reprinted with permission.)

On the last Friday night of summer, Sammi Holland and the girls went downtown in search of ice cream. They planned to meet at Krueger's Flatbread for pizza beforehand, a necessary preamble to the main event: an utter debauchery of swirl-ins and sprinkles and fudge sauce at England's MicroCreamery. Afterward, the five of them would wander Washington Street, peeking in the windows of the candle shop, the art galleries, and the bohemian café on the corner, ending up at Cruel and Unusual Books. No way were they getting out of there without hitting the bookshop. Sammi could be very persuasive.
Downtown Covington didn't draw a lot of teenagers. Most of their classmates from Covington High School would be at the mall tonight. But Sammi and the girls just weren't the sort who hung out at the mall.

Unless they were going to the movies, Sammi and her friends steered clear of the Merrimack River Walk. The long, outdoor strip mall had been built less than ten years before, complete with movie megaplex, massive bookstore, and tons of chain clothing stores. On Friday and Saturday nights, hordes of high school

kids from Haverhill, Methuen, Jameson, and other nearby towns roved the sidewalks along the River Walk in gaggles, half of them talking on their cell phones or texting their friends who hadn't come along. Like the "main drag" in old movies and TV shows, the River Walk was all about seeing and being seen - half mating ritual and half dance of supremacy.
Want to read more? www.chris-tophergolden.com/poisonink/excerpt.html
Get Inked

The book is supposed to officially come out on July 8th, but it may be leaking into bookstores even sooner than that, so pre-order it now at your local shop.