And Then We Screamed

Clover Gray is a senior in a small-town American high school. Maple Lakes is the kind of town where nothing happens, everyone knows everyone else and most things are very orderly.

That is until Abigail Maiden, daughter of the local clergyman, star cheerleader and popular girl, starts full-body screaming in the middle of a mid-term exam. Why Abigail and why is she screaming?

Clover Gray and Brody Deacon, a serious journalism candidate, decide to investigate. As more girls – and only girls – begin screaming like Abigail, the crisis deepens. Will they find out the reason for the screaming and how to stop it? And is Maple Lakes as perfect as it seems?

For the first almost three hundred pages of this narrative, readers will fall into two camps. Those who like Gothic literature, horror and psychology will be fascinated. Those who like Bourne for her usual character and emotion-driven narratives will find most of this novel hard and some may even give up before reading the explosive denouement in the last hundred pages. This is where the psychology comes in to play and Bourne’s usual page-turning style takes over.

There is a key story line that could have been developed more fully. Clover’s mum has had cancer and some more insight into how this affected Clover and her brother, River, would have been welcome. This may have helped readers in a similar situation.