"My name is Ruby. I live with Barbara and Mick. They're not my real parents, but they tell me what to do, and what to say. I'm supposed to say that the bruises on my arms and the black eye came from falling down the stairs.
But there are things I won't say. I won't tell them I'm going to hunt for my real parents. I don't say a word about Shadow, who sits on the stairs, or the Wasp Lady I saw on the way to bed.
I did tell Mick that I saw the woman in the buttercup dress, hanging upside down from her seat belt deep in the forest at the back of our house. I told him I saw death crawl out of her. He said he'd give me a medal for lying.
I wasn't lying. I'm a hunter for lost souls and I'm going to be with my real family. And I'm not going to let Mick stop me."
This was a strange book. It meanders, making you unsure of what is happening for real and what is just happening in the head of one of the characters. There's a blurring between the worlds of the living and the dead, which adds to the eerie quality of the story. I didn't exactly enjoy this book, although I kept reading because I kept thinking I would finally "get" the story. However, by the end, I was left feeling empty --- and all I can say is that this is an atmospheric, eerie, odd book.
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