Canadian author Comeau, best known for his darkly surreal Web comic, A Softer World
, turns his adaptable talents to overt horror in this oddly touching novel of ghosts, friendship, bloody secrets, and family relationships. Jackie is infatuated with her best friend, Ann, but hides her feelings rather than risk rejection. Ann has more dramatic problems: her mother, an increasingly ravenous and highly infectious supernatural creature, demands that Ann supply her with live prey. Distracted by their personal obsessions, Ann and Jackie very nearly occupy different novels despite their frequent physical proximity; Jackie wanders through a tale of teen lesbian romance, while Ann struggles to survive the dark horror of monstrous transformation. A staccato structure allows for surprising intricacy in so few pages, and the crescendos of terror are leavened by moments of unexpected humor and warmth. (May)
