Living Dead Girl

By: Elizabeth Scott

Narrated by: Kate Reinders

Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.

"Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.

Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was.

When Alice was 10, Ray took her away from her family, her friends - her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.

Now Alice is 15 and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.

This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

©2008 Elizabeth Scott (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Disturbing but fascinating, the book exerts an inescapable grip on readers - like Alice, they have virtually no choice but to continue until the conclusion sets them free." ( Publishers Weekly)

Serious book with a different point of view

This book was recommended to me by my Library Materials professor. She warned the class that it was hard to handle, but very good. It was a good book, but not as good as she made it seem.
The thing I liked about this book was the point of view. To be able to hear the thoughts of an abducted child is interesting. It changd my view of how I view kidnapping situations. The fear and anger that the child felt was well portrayed in the book.
I wouldn't recommend this book to children, although my teacher said it was children's literature, unless the child was a mature, older student who can handle dark, realistic stories.

Prepare Yourself

If you could sum up Living Dead Girl in three words, what would they be?

Frightening, Grasping, Heartbreaking.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Living Dead Girl?

When the main character made a plan to escape from being Ray's 'Alice'.

Have you listened to any of Kate Reinders’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first time listening to Kate Reinders.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

It isn't just a dream.

All too real

As someone who' something very similar to this happened to, this was an extremely emotional read. it was written well, the narrator was appropriately picked to convey that inner voice in the context it was meant to.

Horrifying. Real. visceral.

it hurt.

but it also gave the comfort of solidarity.

extremely depressing! and trigger warning

oh my gosh, it was so sad! I guarantee your heart will break into a million pieces

PG rated. suggested violence.

written as a 15 year old attempting poetry. nice change of pace, but I would not want to read books like this regularly. not a big fan of making your own ending up but in this case you pretty much have to.

Good story, good reader.

wished there was more to the ending. The story ended too abruptly. Enjoyed the reader.

Mostly Great

Narrator did an amazing job. The story really got you into how awful the girl's life is and made you feel it. The only criticism I have is the ending was a tad abrupt and unsurprising. It was a good ending still, just lacked that special something. Really made you feel a variety of emotions from pure anger to sadness. Well done.

Disturbing

GRADE: A
ONE WORD: disturbing

Ray calls her Alice, but that's not her real name. He killed the old Alice when she got too old. Before he took her. She's fifteen and he wants a new Alice. He's going to call this one Annabel, so maybe he won't kill her.

Dripping with fear, sadness and voice, Elizabeth Scott masterfully shows Alice's horrific existence. Alice is not just a beaten, raped victim. She harbors angry, selfish, thoroughly understandable thoughts about Annabel. Her learned helplessness is palpable in her thought processes.

While short in length, LIVING DEAD GIRL is a long in heart-thumping tension. Scott uses short sentences, in many ways illustrating how a Alice is still the ten-year-old girl who was taken. Her education stopped in fourth grade, so Alice's words are simple while carrying the weight of the world and the burden of staying silent so Ray doesn't murder her parents.

I wish Scott had written an epilogue or sequel.

ETA: The audiobook narration was only average.

Underwhelming

I expected to walk away from this book deeply unnerved, and that is so not the case. This book was hyped on TikTok as one of the most disturbing books anyone has ever read. It made me feel awful after finishing it but it’s hardly the “most” anything. If you can read it for free I would recommend it, but don’t pay money for that. It’s overdone and overly dramatic.

A story that will stick with you

Great book but very hard to listen to. The narrator was perfect and the story kept me interested until the end.