Unthinkable
By Shirley Duke
3/5
()
About this ebook
Omar Phillips is Bridgewater High's favorite local teen author. His Facebook fans can't wait for his next horror story. But lately Omar's imagination has turned against him. Horrifying visions of death and destruction come over him with wide-screen intensity. The only way to stop the visions is to write them down. Until they start coming true...
Enter Sophie Minax, the mysterious Goth girl who's been following Omar at school. "I'm one of you," Sophie says. She tells Omar how to end the visions―but the only thing worse than Sophie's cure may be what happens if he ignores it.
Shirley Duke
Shirley Duke has been writing in a variety of children's genres for twelve years. Before she began writing, she taught science and ESL at the elementary and secondary levels. In creating Unthinkable, a YA horror story in the Night Fall™ series, she drew on her high school ESL teaching experience for insight into what teens really like to read. Horror is a new genre for Shirley, and she found it exciting to create the special abilities of Sophie and Omar. She blogs about science books and suggests an accompanying activity at SimplyScience. Her blog includes some of Lerner's newest nonfiction. Unthinkable is her first book with Lerner.
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Reviews for Unthinkable
20 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is the first book in the "Night Fall" series aimed at reluctant readers attracted to the horror genre. The premise of this story is interesting enough--high school student Omar is a want-to-be horror writer who starts having visions that he puts into stories that begin coming true. And unlike many current horror movies/books, the story did have a decent ending.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have mixed feelings for Unthinkable. The writing was amazing, but the plot was disappointing. To me, Unthinkable was just another cheesy horror book.Let's start with the things I liked. Unthinkable is a very fast very light read, you won't be able put it down until you finish it. I know I couldn't.Now for the things I didn't care for. The plot was not very original. I would compare it to a cheesy horror movie from the 90's. The characters were lacking and I didn't like the way that Duke introduced a new character in the bookI do not regret reading this book, but if Duke releases a new book I'm not sure if I would pick it up judging on the originality of Unthinkable. I think if the book sounds good to you give it a try, but if you don't care for this type of book, you won't miss out on anything big by not reading it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If you like horror, then this is the book for you. Imagine being popular in high school for the horror stories you write. This may not seem like much unless you are the teen writing them. Omar Phillips posts his stories on Facebook. His friends can’t wait to read the next story. But something is wrong. Suddenly things have changed and Omar is having visions that he must write down. He can’t seem to stop his hands. No matter where he is or what he’s doing he must stop and write the story. Everyone loves it until his stories start coming true. The police think he is responsible and his friends are beginning to stay away from him. Then the strange and unpopular Goth girl at school seeks Omar out and tells him she knows what he is going through. She insists they are alike and she can help him. The question is, at what cost?I really enjoyed this book. The stories Omar wrote were very intense. I could feel the fear all through the book. This is an author I will definitely read again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What if every story you wrote down came true? If you ask me that is pretty creepy but I love this plot. Not only was it unique but I love that the main character was boy who was a writer. His stories are creepy and very detailing. For a young writer, he has some great potential.The plot was good. Very good. I love how he was compelled to write as if he couldn't control it. He needed to write, to get it out. He had no idea that they will come true. I love how the plot twist with the new character Sophie. The twists and turn in the plot were creepy and messed up. I would have never thought it to be that way.My only gripe about this book is that it is short. Its only 116 pages so I finished this real fast. I was hoping to learn more about Omar and the wonderful creepy stories he writes. Unthinkable is a great, creepy book. The only thing I can compare it to is The Secret Window but with a teen writer. Great creepy stories that makes you wonder how in the world did they ever come to life?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Omar wants to eventually be a published horror writer, and for now, he posts his stories on his Facebook page, where he receives positive feedback from his friends. When a former friend is found murdered in the same fashion as the story he recently posted on Facebook, her father, a police officer, zeroes in on Omar as a suspect. Then a horrible ferry accident occurs .. one that mirrors a story Omar posted the day before. As Omar's visions begin to occur more frequently, and a voice dictates to him what to write, he tries to keep himself from chronicling what he know feels will come true if he actually writes it down.Sophie is a Goth girl from his school who tells him that she is the same as he is; that her art used to have the same consequences. She promises to show him how to put an end to the visions, but will the cure be worse than the curse? Will she be able to help him or will she only hurt him more?This is a short, novella-type of read, so there isn't a whole lot of room for character development; however, it is written in simple and clear prose that is perfect for the target audience of middle school to high school students. As an adult reader, this one gave me what all good stories should give: the "what comes next?" feeling. Although it is a horror story, it is not a gruesome, graphic one, and I don't think that most parents would have any objection to the content. The first quote below lists what I feel to be the most graphic scene, so as a parent, you can be the judge.I would recommend this one for middle readers, and especially for reluctant boy readers.QUOTESShe pointed at the far side of the boulder. On the ground was a clump of human hair."You're in deep, deep trouble.""I know.""I mean, like Biblical trouble, Omar. Like the-devil-wants-your-soul trouble."Writing: 4 out of 5 starsPlot: 4 out of 5 starsCharacters: 3 out of 5 starsReading Immersion: 4 out 5 starsBOOK RATING: 3.75 out of 5 stars
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a great short read for those under the cover scary read nights. Omar is experiencing creepy visions that he then puts to horror stories on his Facebook page. When he discovers that his visions are true, a goth girl from school approaches him with how to stop them from happening, but what are the consequences?
Book preview
Unthinkable - Shirley Duke
Raven
Omar Phillips
Dead in Red
Thursday, November 4, 2010, at 11:27 P.M.
Date from hell.
If I live through this night, that’s how I’ll remember it. If I don’t, it’s the end of my remembering forever.
I should have listened to you, Mom.
That’s what I’ll say, if I get the chance. I’ll apologize too. Anything to erase those last words to you tonight, that I hate you.
You were right. Rick is a creep. More than a creep. A psychopath. I got dressed up in my flamered stiletto boots for a thirty-year-old serial killer I met on Facebook.
Oh, God! I can’t quiet my breathing—and my heart. My body is like a loudspeaker, screaming, Here I am. Come get me.
He’s stopped calling my name, but I can hear the branches snapping under his feet. It’s like that game we used to play when we were kids. Cold, cold, warmer, warmer . . .
Hot! I can smell his cologne now, or maybe the sticky scent just won’t stop gagging me from before.
I didn’t want to get in that car, Mom.
That’s what I’ll tell you, if I ever get the chance. But his arm was squeezing my windpipe. I couldn’t even breathe, much less fight.
But then I got away at the woods. Lunged for the car keys and went straight for the eyeballs. Felt the blood trickle onto my knuckles. Then I just ran like hell. And so here I am, in the shadow of a giant boulder. Here I am, scared out of my living mind, afraid to run cuz he’ll hear my footsteps. Afraid to stay, gasping for air like a half-dead fish.
Hotter, hotter . . .
Help! Heeeeelp me!
I’m trying, Mom. Screaming my head off, kicking with my heels pointed out.
Help me, someone! HELP ME!
He’s got me by the hair. I’m swatting, but my arms can’t reach. Digging my heels into the ground.
He’s dragging me now. Branches ripping my jeans and scratching my legs, my arms, stinging all over. Above, the moon a screaming white circle. Gnarled black branches reaching down for me.
We’re stopping now. The ground feels soft. I can hear the water lapping on the shore. We’re at the beach—his killing place.
It’s no use. He’s gonna kill me. Just like he killed the others. Untie my hair. Slice my neck. Tomorrow, you’ll see me out there in the lake, my hair pooling around my head, face down, my feet—my red boots—bobbing slightly in the ripples.
This is it, Mom. He’s untying my hair. Oh God, his fingers are on my neck. I’m sorry—
Omar read over his story. He’d written it so fast, fingers flying over the keys. He’d barely known what words he was putting down. All he knew was that the whole story had come over him like a nightmare, a waking nightmare. He’d been there, in the woods.
He’d heard the branches snapping, seen the killer’s knife glinting in the moonlight. He’d smelled musky cologne and blood.
In a panic, Omar had turned to the one thing that always made him feel better—writing. Writing had made the vision go away. It had stilled his shaking hands and queasy stomach. Writing had made Omar feel calm—but not safe. Something was wrong.
The next morning, Omar dragged himself out of bed. It had been a rotten night’s sleep. It wasn’t just the vision, either. Gabriel’s screams had been especially piercing last night.
Gabriel was Omar’s two-year-old brother. He suffered from what his mom called night terrors.
Gabriel would be fast asleep. Then, in one instant, he’d be sitting up, screaming his brains out. Lately Omar wondered if he had acquired his own brand of the same affliction.
Sometimes, when his mom was just too tired to deal, Omar would be the one to pick up Gabriel and hold him in a tight hug. It was terrifying to feel Gabriel’s heart pounding against his own chest.
And the whole thing made Omar mad too. Gabriel had been a normal kid until their dad left. Gabriel’s night terrors were the result of his generalized anxiety
about that particular family situation. At least that’s what the pediatrician had said. In Gabriel’s two-year-old view, their dad had just magically disappeared—and that wasn’t too far from the truth.
When Omar had asked why his dad was gone, his mom had given him some explanation about how it wasn’t his fault and how much their dad still loved him and Gabriel. But on the night their dad left, Omar had heard him tell his mom that he felt smothered.
He needed fresh air.
That was ten months ago.
Since then, Omar’s mom was either working or worrying about Gabriel. She spent her days getting cussed at or rolling her eyes about the customers at Lorraine’s Eatery, off Highway 41. She spent her nights up with Gabriel. As for Omar, he was on his own. He could be a serial killer and she wouldn’t notice.
This morning, the house was silent. Finally. Gabriel usually