A review by nella580
Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

3.0

I think if I had never read [b:The End of Alice|75479|The End of Alice|A.M. Homes|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336321638s/75479.jpg|2702599], I would have been very shocked and impressed with this book. But since there is another Alice for this Alice to compete with - and ironically enough both victims are named "Alice" - I don't know if I liked this little book all that much. The subject matter is obvious gruesome. It's not easy to stomach and these types of books aren't for everyone. What I don't understand is the intent behind Living Dead Girl. Is it to bring awareness to our own blindness to the horrors that happen right under our noses? Much of the literature of this sort puts a lot of focus on our society's morbid interest in watching real-life horror shows in the guise of every-day entertainment. Alice spends her days watching on TV the pain of others put on display, all as she lives through her own personal horror. She uses the pain of others to escape. I guess that's the one thing to take away from this book. But beyond the message, there wasn't much to Living Dead Girl. It's hard not to compare this book to its predecessor which was so much more sophisticated and horrific. I don't want to say that it's easier to write from the perspective of the victim, but at the very least it's easier to create a believable person to pity when the author chooses to tell the story through the victim's eyes. The End of Alice is much more intricately layered, is much more disturbing in the sense that the reader is placed into the mind of the pedophile. That was a much more risky undertaking and therefore sends a much more heartfelt message, in my opinion.