Poison Ink by Christopher Golden is a thrilling example of a mixture of realistic fiction, fantasy, and mystery. Sammi, the protagonist, has always been a "floater"-- never really part of a group at her high school. Then she meets a bunch of girls who are also "floaters," and they all instantly form a strong bond. For Sammi it is a dream come true, as she finally has a whole group of friends. When they decide to get matching tattoos despite the fact that they are underage, and none can get parental permission, things get very strange. Their only hope is a sketchy tattoo place with blacked out windows and a very weird man who does not care how old they are. He comes up with a special design, which intrigues all of the girls except Sammi.. At the last minute Sammi backs out and refuses to get a tattoo. The next day at school, she finds that all of her "friends" have turned on her and do hateful things to her. Even worse, they seem to go beserk, and get involved in vandalism and drugs. Why do they hate Sammi? What was up with that creepy tattoo place? Are the tattoos growing? And scariest of all, who or what has control of her friends? To find out the answers to these questions and more, you must read Poison Ink by Christopher Golden.
The language used in Poison Ink draws the reader in, making you care about the characters, especially Sammi., who is described as a lonely, but loyal and sincere person. I really loved this book, and was draw into it and couldn't stop reading it until the very end. Parts of it were chilling, just scary enough to keep you involved, but not so frightening that you had to put it down. Overall it was a great book and an amazing read. I would recommend it to middle schoolers and above.
There is a little bit of blood and gore that younger middle schoolers might find disturbing.
Reviewer Age:16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Hingham, MA USA
