Kate Alice Marshall

In the faux-documentary style of The Blair Witch Project comes the campfire story of a missing girl, a vengeful ghost, and the girl who is determined to find her sister--at all costs. Once a year, a road appears in the forest. And at the end of it, the ghost of Lucy Gallows beckons. Lucy's game isn't for the faint of heart. If you win, you escape with your life. But if you lose.... Sara's sister disappeared one year ago--and only Sara knows where she is. Becca went to find the ghost of Lucy Gallows and is trapped on the road that leads to her. In the sleepy town of Briar Glen, Lucy's road is nothing more than local lore. But Sara knows it's real, and she's going to find it. When Sara and her skeptical friends meet in the forest to search for Becca, the mysterious road unfurls before them. All they have to do is walk down it. But the path to Lucy is not of this world, and it has its own rules. Every mistake summons new horrors. Vengeful spirits and broken, angry creatures are waiting for them to slip, and no one is guaranteed safe passage. The only certainty is this: the road has a toll and it will be paid. Sara knows that if she steps onto the road, she might not come back. But Becca needs her. And Lucy is waiting.

Rules for Vanishing

Sarah Sammis

Maria

somewhere in between a 3.5/4 

i enjoyed this quite a lot, and perhaps i am easily impressionable when it comes to horror because it’s not a genre i normally read. but this was hard to put down, the plot kept me intrigued all the way through, and i loved the mix between classic narration and the use of other media features like interviews, video & audio transcripts etc, it added to the mystery and general eeriness of the story. that being said, i found the large amount of characters to be a downside, because when things started going south i did not care one bit about what happened to them either way. but this is a heavily plot-driven story, so i’m not complaining.

Rules For Vanishing

Leticia Leal

This was an odd little book. I wasn't put off by the format but I thought the whole story was missing SOMETHING. I loved the descriptions of the different creatures on the road, but I wanted more. Plus the origin of the road was muddled at best. This book wasn't scary in the least. In addition, there were too many characters, and I honestly didn't care about any of them. Several of the characters had no reason to be there at all, they existed only to be dispensable. Everyone was dispensable, if every single character had died, I would've been like "Oh well." and tossed my kindle aside. I think all in all this book wasn't exactly what I expected and I couldn't shake that feeling the whole way through, thus dampening my enjoyment. 2.5 stars.

Monique Nagel

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. 
I really enjoyed the Blair Witch style of the book.

I don’t often read books of this genre but whenever I do, I always really enjoy it.

Alexa M

this was a very good YA horror. i pretty much read this in one sitting! while i wasnt "scared", i was very interested in the story!

Chloe Verhoeve

Jasmine Hanson 

Anna Cashman

Creepy BUT FUN 

ending threw me for a loop but not in a bad way

Holly

This was the darkest Wizard of Oz retelling ever done (just kidding, but it is dark)
It was addictive and actually made me freak out a little bit--which usually does not happen with me. I consumed it in a day and have not stopped thinking about it

The premise itself was compelling, and despite having heard the same many times before, I was completely unprepared for what would be in store for me. Finally, here is an author that lives up to their promises. 
Kate Alice Marshall is unrelenting in her horror, surprising me in the best way possible, with each twist and turn of her masterfully written narrative. 

Multi media narratives are my guilty indulgence, and this book? Fills that niche I love so much perfectly. From multiple POVS to a faux documentary style reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, this book is a delight from start to finish. 

If you're looking for a good book, and aren't afraid of being chilled to the bone, this is the one for you.

2.5✰

this is a perfectly adequate book, i feel i need to say. especially if you are picking it up around spooky season / autumn. however, the parts where it falls short for me, i think, are much more worth noting in this review.

1. i liked the framing device well enough but i feel it works much better in a visual medium. found-footage / recordings work as visual / audio files because they directly interact with the senses they are trying to engage; a novel trying to describe a video or a photo is simply not as thrilling, especially if it fails to be evocative or influence the reader's inner eye.

thus, i think the issue with the medium being ill-suited for what the book was trying to achieve was exacerbated by the writing style. once again perfectly adequate but nothing spectacular; you could tell the ideas for (body) horror were there but their presence on page felt lacking and unable to instil true terror.

2. this book and its plot move more like an isekai story with horror elements than a horror documentary-like novel. this would not be an issue in its own if this did not automatically feel like it lessened all stakes. yes, it appears that people died on the road but by making it appear like a separate universe, it felt removed enough from our world as to not feel threatening nor horrifying.

3. i am not sure whether this is intentional but the rules made this remind me a bit too much of one of those internet rituals that people post on reddit that fall apart once you start questioning them a little too much.

all in all, good concept and ideas but it needs to meet too many conditions (time of the year, weather, mood of the reader, level of media knowledge by the reader) in order to truly succeed, especially in this medium.

✨Tyler ✨

i wanted to really like this and there were parts i did like a lot, but it was so convoluted at parts. i really didnt enjoy the frequent re-reading i had to do to understand parts of the book. at one point, i reread 45 pages to understand what was happening. i probably would have DNFed at that point under normal circumstances, but i was reading along with a friend who was helping me out.

i gave it 3 stars because there were parts i did really like that helped keep me engaged, but man, the ending was so disappointing, it almost pushed me to a 2 star rating.

Lacey Feigl

If you’re wanting a spooky book for Spooktober, look no further!

The legend says that once a year a road appears in the small town of Briar Glen and makes those who walk it disappear. This year Lucy is determined to find the disappearing road after Lucy’s sister Becca walked it the year before. But Lucy isn’t the only one with this idea and several of her sister’s friends come to help. The only problem is her friends all think this is a joke and that Becca ran away but little do they know the disappearing road is very real and not all of them will make it out alive.

Rules For Vanishing is 402 pages long and took me three days to read.

I read this book last year and I still think about it often and get scared. I’m giving it a 4 out of 5! It is the perfect October book and I highly recommend it!

Thank you, Viking, for sending me this copy!

Here’s to the adventure of finding a novel novel!

Lacey

ghost girl in satin

J'ai adoré le début. C'était angoissant, et très atmosphérique. Les personnages sont assez peu décrits mais on s'y attache dans le feu de l'action, et aussi grâce aux dialogues. La diversité des médias (narration, interviews, extraits de vidéos...) apporte une touche haletante à l'intrigue. Par contre, j'ai été déçue par cette fin, un peu trop ouverte à mon goût. 
Ce fut en tout cas une lecture très sympathique pour Halloween.

Jessica Williamson

4.5 Stars

This was one creepy ass book. One that I very much enjoyed! It did feel a little long at some parts but I also read this during an 8 hour drive so it may have just been the drive that was long.

Cover 4; Characters 5; Plot 5; Pace 4; Writing 5; enjoyment 4

Wiktoria Balcerak

Lauren

Kayla Smith

Okay, I would not recommend this audiobook because there were way too many characters and things happening. I got lost quite a few times. But when I wasn't lost, wow did I love this. I can't wait to reread it closer to October. I think this has the potential to be 5 stars.

melanie kaufmann

Emily

So be careful what roads you take, and who you follow down them.

4.25 stars!

Enjoyment while reading was definitely worth a 4.5, but the ending was just a 4, so I'm evening things out into the nitty gritty.

This was a super fun YA horror, and I was so so glad to discover that it was actually scary. Was it the most horrifying thing I've ever read? No. But were there some brutally disturbing moments. Hell yeah. 

I think I'm coming to learn that I enjoy a good ghost story, and this is definitely one of them. I loved the mixed media elements too and the writing style was perfect. It wasn't exactly an unreliable narrator, more like an unreliable experience and I loved it. I'm eager to pick up more from this author.

Thank you, Rules of Vanishing, for seeing me down in a reading slump and violently yanking me out of it. I can't wait to get into some more spooky reads for fall and kick this slump to the curb.

Julia

First half was 5 Stars for me. After that it was a little bit stretched and I didn't like the ending that much

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher! Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Author: Kate Alice Marshall

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Publication Date: September 24, 2019

Recommended Age: 16+ (cursing, gore, suicide jokes and imagery, blood, violence)

Genre: YA Horror

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers

Synopsis: In the faux-documentary style of The Blair Witch Project comes the campfire story of a missing girl, a vengeful ghost, and the girl who is determined to find her sister--at all costs.

Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her--and who won't make it out of the woods?

It's been exactly one year since Sara's sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn't know whether her former friends no longer like her...or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to "play the game" and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca--before she's lost forever. And even though she's hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends--and their cameras--following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.

Review: Holy crap guys this book had me reading until the early hours of the morning and having nightmares within the hour! It was so scary and I loved every second of it! The world building was amazing, the characters were well developed and that format?? Stupendous.

My only... ONLY issues were that I saw the twist coming (but I'm good at that) and I felt that the book got a bit chaotic in a few spots, so you had to go back and re-read it (but honestly that just adds to the horror of it). Also, you gotta pay attention to the book. There are many little details that help add to the horror of the book as long as you pay attention. That's not a bad thing, but I know some readers don't pay attention to the details as much, so I just wanted to point it out as a possible negative of you're that type of reader.

Verdict: The Spooks be real in this one.

Josephine Lemonade 

** spoiler alert **
           this was so! good! 

the diversity? the unreliable narrator?? the tension??? the bisexual protagonist?? the nuances in the writing style??? the friendships???? the multimedia???? this book had literally every i love im so sad its over now 

also im gonna be sobbing about Anthony for the foreseeable future

Valentina Cherednichenko

So, it was a little young for me but I did enjoyed the idea of this story. In my opinion, the story lacked something and I can't quite put my finder on it. Also, the "big reveal" was a bit lack luster. Not bad, just not my cup of tea.

Rules for Vanishing

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