Review of The Dead-Tossed Waves

The Dead-Tossed Waves
by Carrie Ryan
Young Adult Science Fiction
Pub date March 2010

As you may have noticed, I do a fair amount of reading. One might even say a lot of reading. As a result, I have acquired enough self control to put down a book at night and go to sleep--usually. About once a year, I encounter a book that I CANNOT PUT DOWN, not even to bake a cake, not even to sleep. This was that book.

The companion volume to The Dead-Tossed Waves, which is entitled The Forest of Hands and Teeth, was good. Not nearly as un-put-downable, but good. I was expecting the same from this one: lots of fear, running from zombies, beloved characters dying, the forest slowly closing in. I was expecting the main character to be Mary, whom you might remember from the first book. I was wrong on all counts.

The Dead-Tossed Waves opens in the village of Vista, where Gabry lives in the lighthouse with her mother. Gabry is a typical teenager. She wants to run with the fast crowd with her best friend Cira, but she's afraid of the world outside the barrier. Cira's brother Catcher finally persuades Gabry to join in their illegal escapade outside the wall--and the consequences are more hideous than anyone imagined. Suddenly all of Gabry's friends are locked up or missing or dead, and she is left with the guilt of running away from them. Can she overcome her fear and set things right? Can she trust the handsome young stranger who appears just when she needs him? And should she follow her mother into the Forest of Hands and Teeth?