Living Dead Girl

by Elizabeth Scott

Book Overview

Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared. Once upon a time, my name was not Alice. Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was. When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416960600
• ISBN13: 9781416960607
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 14 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12

Customer Reviews

Disturbing in a bad way

I am not one to throw away a book I didn't like but this one went straight to the trash. The plot was horrible and disturbing in every way possible. If you enjoy books with themes of p*dophelia ab*se and forced int*macy then this may be the book for you.

Devastatingly beautiful

This book was a very quick read, only took me about a couple hours but it has you feeling every emotion possible. Anger, jealousy, disgust, sadness, but even hopeful at times. Such a great book.

So Much Potential, So Little Used

Im glad it touched on some subjects that are hardly addressed. However, there is so much more that could have been depicted. Though, the format of the book does make that difficult. It was okay, not groundbreaking or anything though.

Never received book...

Purchased book in October as a new book. Have not received it yet. So sad. Might not be purchasing anything else in the future.

Hard to read

The plot is very disturbing although I know that's the intent. The ending was disappointing but expected. It's awful knowing this is reality for some children.

Excruciatingly sad.

This story is very sad. And is an unfortunately clear picture of all the disturbed people in this world. It makes you stop and think about all the people who are subjected to this on a daily basis in this world of ours.

good book, disappointing ending :/

Coming from a regular teen, I liked this book. It’s basically about a girl who gets abducted and her story. I thought it was a nice book, but could have used more to the ending. It was kind of disappointing, that’s it.

Great book

Couldnt stop reading. Read it over night. Its a terrifying story. I love when an author makes you feel and picture what is happening with every detail. This book gives you all that.. I recommend it... definitely..

Read it in one sitting

This book was definitely crazy and one of the more 'disturbing' books I have read. I couldn't put the darn thing down, always wanting to turn the page to see how the main character survives. After closing the book, it definitely made my stomach churn knowing full well this happens all too often. I recommended it to all of my fellow reading buddies. The only thing I wasn't entirely thrilled about was how quick it ended, but at the same time, there wasn't much else that you could put on there. Maybe I was just so intrigued by the book I didn't want it to end.

Amazing

I love this book, Everyone needs to read it

Terrifying account that every parent should read.

Terrifying. Devastating. Tragic. Those are the three words that come to mind when I think of Elizabeth Scott's Living Dead Girl. After finishing it in one sitting late last night, I'm still trying to catch my breath and desperately trying to get rid of the weight that seems to have settled on my chest. But I think it will be a long time before this happens because what has happened to "Alice" in the book can happen to a child in real life...probably has happened. The book is told from the point of view of "Alice" a fifteen-year old girl who was kidnapped on an elementary school field trip when she was 10. Her captor, Ray, has sexually and physically abused her every day since he kidnapped her. He starves her because he doesn't want her to physically mature, he terrorizes her and tells her that he'll kill her parents and burn their house down if she tries to escape. I'm putting "Alice" in parentheses because that is not her real name. It's the name Ray gave her, the same name he gave the girl he kidnapped and killed before he kidnapped the second Alice. Alice calls herself a "living dead girl." She's numb inside, she's hungry, she's been tortured so much that she wishes for death. She's waiting for it, hoping for it, expecting it any day; but Ray has something different in mind that is even more terrifying to the reader, and he needs Alice's help. I've always heard stories about people getting kidnapped and having many opportunities to escape, but they don't. This is Alice's case. There are multiple opportunities for her to tell someone, to run away, to ask for help, but Ray has instilled so much fear in her that she doesn't even think about it anymore. She truly believes that he will kill her parents, and at one point she says, "I could run, but he would find me. He would take me back to 623 Daisy Lane and make everyone who lives there pay. He would make everyone there pay even if he didn't find me. I belong to him. I'm his little girl. All I have to do is be good" (p. 34). What is most profound is that Ray has brainwashed her to the point of her believing that she's bad, she's selfish, and that it's all her fault. On the day of the kidnapping, she wouldn't share her lip gloss with her friends. They walked away from her, leaving her alone and exposed to a monster, but she blames herself, thinks if she wouldn't have been so selfish, her life would be different. It's truly heartbreaking. But the worst part is that people look the other way. They know something's not right, but don't step in. Scott's writing is gripping, captivating, and horrifying. She draws you in from the very beginning, and Alice immediately becomes real, someone you ache for, someone who you want to make it, someone you want to pluck out of this nightmare of a life. If you're wondering about the language and descriptions in the book, it is evident that Ray is sexually abusing Alice. It's evident that sexual acts are being performed, but the language itself is not graphi

Unforgettable

When Alice was ten years old, she was kidnapped by a stranger, a man named Ray. Of course then, her name wasn't Alice. She was a little girl with friends, family, and a life, but now she has lost it all in exchange for Ray. For five years, Alice has endured physical, mental, and sexual abuse, but there's nothing she can do about it. She has no way of escape from this life, not even death, or else the family from her old life, her life before Ray, will be killed. Alice is stuck in the empty life Ray has created for her, forced to be a little girl even as she grows up physically. But when it becomes apparent that Alice's body is no longer that of the little girl Ray wants, Ray surprisingly doesn't kill Alice. Instead, he orders Alice to find him a new little girl for him to love. Can Alice follow through with this horrible command, and does she think this will finally free her from this forsaken life? And if she does find a new girl to replace herself, will she be able to live with it? Living Dead Girl is a truly haunting and unforgettable story. It's about a girl who's trapped both in a cruel physical environment and a mental cage. Alice's story is such a sad one because of how she changed due to the abuse she was subjected to. Alice's feelings and emotions, though limited due to the damage caused to her by Ray, are so vivid and make the reader want to save or help her in any way possible because of her vulnerability. This story confronts an issue not addressed in any other book I have read, the very real threat of kidnap, rape, abuse, and murder. It is so unique that this story has been written from the perspective of the victim, yet so incredibly sad at the same time. It really makes you hate the sociopaths in the world such as Ray that are able to commit such atrocities such as these. Living Dead Girl is emotionally raw, shockingly good, and a book that can only be experienced through reading the story for yourself. While it's not right to like a story such as this, I think Living Dead Girl should be read by everyone, if not for enjoyment then to inform readers. It is a short but fast read, beautifully written and impossible to ever forget.

You can't put this book down for long....

I read this book in one day. It was disturbing, psychologically creepy, and evoked images unforgivingly etched in my memory. Ray, an evil souled sexual child abuser has cleverly abducted Alice, a child of ten from a class trip. She becomes his child baby doll until she is fifteen. Ray who was also abused as a child doesn't want Alice to grow-up and she fears when the time comes he will kill her. Repeated sexual, physical and psychological abuse are part of her daily life lessons. Fear, intimidation, threats to her family and starvation are just a few other ways he uses to perpetuate his power over her. She would rather be dead, than live this way. She calls herself "the living dead girl." Will death be her only solution? Elizabeth Scott said this story was meant to be told after she awoke from a dream that she had about Alice. I was compelled to listen with the passion I suspect Scott had in telling it. We want to think the sick psychopathic behavior in the story is just another fiction tale, but we know better. Gripping the book, I notice as I leave my chair for a break how tense I have become. I need a break a few times to ponder the story and take a breath. You can't put this book down for long, you will finish it before you sleep with my guarantee. Elizabeth Scott's story is marvelously written with great momentum, surprise and suspense. I highly recommend this thriller

A very powerful horror story - the worst kind

What is more horrifying than child abuse? 'Living Dead Girl' is the story of "Alice", told in first-person and 'Once Upon A Time' tales of her kidnapping and imprisonment at the filthy hands of Ray. Ten years old when abducted, Alice is now fifteen and getting a little long in the tooth for Ray's preferences. She's starved so she won't develop, she's forced into 'Brazilian' waxes and taking the pill constantly so there will be no periods. Worst of all, Ray now wants Alice to help him find his new Alice, a new little girl he can love and call his own just as he's done to her. As Alice tells her story, of her numb and horrifying existence, you will cry. How can a girl, or anybody, be so hollowed out inside? Alice occasionally remembers another little girl from long ago who wore lipgloss and had a family and friends, but Alice says that girl is dead. All Alice has now is Ray. Elizabeth Scott has created the most horrifying of monsters in the form of Ray. A polite and quiet man taking care of, and homeschooling, his ailing little girl. Inside is the sickest of sickos, Ray proclaiming that the women at the supermarket slapping their children should be punished for not taking care of them and loving them like he loves Alice. Ray abuses Alice physically, $exually, mentally, and emotionally, all in the name of his love for her. I can't say this enough, Ray is a horrifying monster and I wonder how Scott could have come up with such a daemon. I'll also admit the ending is abrupt but it is also tragically true to form. The book is thin, only 170 pages and with short, sharp chapters. Scott's writing is superb in her capturing the tragic heart of a broken young girl. This book is graphic, not for the squeamish, and not suitable for the younger reader. But it will affect you deeply, perhaps too deeply. Highly recommended. Enjoy!

Still holding my breath......

This book is small, short, sparse. Not a lot of pages or words but the imprint of what is written will linger long after you put the book down. I read a lot of thrillers and a lot of YA. I thought I'd probably have read this story before, wondered how this author would approach the topics of child abduction, molestation, rape, imprisonment. Suffice to say that Scott was master of the task. The life of Alice in Ray's prison was hell and terror, fright and pain. She was starved, abused, beaten and repeatedly forced to sexual surrender to a man who was himself abused by a sexual sadist (his mother). Alice no longer hopes for release or for any other life, that dream has been destroyed along with her girlhood. As she grows from a child of 10 to a teen of 15, Ray no longer is happy with her body or her attitude. He wants a new girl and has assigned Alice to help him acquire her. Alice is powerless to resist, beaten down by 5 years of submission and only longs for the substitute to release her from this bond. She can't say NO. The new girl has been chosen and then what will happen to Alice? The last Alice was killed, and yet, that is a release of sorts. No one sees, no one hears, no one there to help. Highly recommended.