Emily the Strange Lost Days

Imagine coming to on a park bench in a strange town with a note book (with pages missing) and no memory of who you are. That's how Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger starts. It's a hybrid graphic novel / YA mystery. The entire book is told in diary form, with each day numbered. The unnamed (until the end) main character finds her way around Blackrock, hangs out at El Dungeon, makes friends with four almost identical black cats and begins to realize there is something afoot in Blackrock. Throughout the book there are black and red illustrations either meant to be drawings by the diary writer, or to be photographs taken by her. The drawings were my favorite part. Some of the prose-only sections drag a little, especially near the middle. There's a point in the book where it looks like things are wrapping but but they aren't at all. In fact at one point, there's a near re-set of the story which I think I found more frustrating than the main character did. Despite the slow bit, I did enjoy the book and I have the sequel on hand to read soon.