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Black Ice
Mixing new-age mysticism with computer technology, BLACK ICE is a 21st-century, 'haunted house' story for young adults where access to the spirit world is only a modem away. When the Attard family buy an ultra modern house of glass, aluminium and concrete overlooking the sea, they get more than they bargained for. For tough-cookie Syb Attard, who is going through a Goth phase, making contact with the "night side" is all a bit of a lark until Hille, the psychic housekeeper, arrives with warnings about the presence of 'black ice'. For all the virtual reality of this suburban fantasy, real blood gets spilt when psychic meets psycho. And Syb discovers that she is not the cynic she thought she was.
- GenresFantasy
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
11 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Sussex
82 books17 followersLucy Sussex's books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. Her forthcoming book is Outrageous Fortunes.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 8, 2023
I liked this a lot. Kinda mysterious, kinda spooky, keeps-you-guessing, with bonus 1997 computer slang! Also used the term “teenwear” lol. Go netsurfing in your teenwear with your techno haircut, chick!
May 10, 2014
It's the exacting details in this book that means it has dated so dreadfully that for all it's an interesting enough story, I just can't imagine anyone born after about 1980 enjoying it. Except possibly for its historical value.
There are two plots entwined here: a ghost story, and a technology story. And they're packaged with a family drama, just to give the main character another headache.
The ghost story aspect holds up, as one would expect, in that it's not context-reliant; you could have the same story set in 1850 or 2050. Syb's new house is always cold, and the new housekeeper Hille starts talking spooky things as soon as she moves in. Hille wears an amethyst and claims to see ghosts, or spirits, all over the place. Syb is dubious, but...
The technology aspect, though - oh, I giggled. This was published in 1997. Syb is really lucky because she has an email address and can dial up the internet with her modem any time she likes. She wins a competition and gets an internet camera. People are able to get hold of each other's email addresses quite easily, there's only a few websites to search for on any one topic, and hacking is a breeze. I have no doubt that Sussex was going for close-to-bleeding-edge experience with this story, and going for serious verisimilitude with the intricate details. But all of that means that it really hasn't travelled well. Which is a shame, because Sussex does write well and engagingly.
The inside cover calls it a Children's Book; it's what I would consider the younger end of YA. Syb's parents are going through a rough patch, and this is dealt with brusquely but (and?) sensibly. It's a "this is not the end of the world" attitude, but not "this doesn't matter." Intriguingly given how many such novels get rid of the parents completely, Sussex does it a bit differently: the mum goes away but stays in contact via email; the dad is always a bit absent in his attitude but is always present and still relevant. Also, the romance interests are just barely present but more usually as an irritant than anything else.
This book was read as part of my read-all-the-books-I-own-but-haven't-read effort, and conveniently also contributes to the Australian Women Writers challenge for 2014.
There are two plots entwined here: a ghost story, and a technology story. And they're packaged with a family drama, just to give the main character another headache.
The ghost story aspect holds up, as one would expect, in that it's not context-reliant; you could have the same story set in 1850 or 2050. Syb's new house is always cold, and the new housekeeper Hille starts talking spooky things as soon as she moves in. Hille wears an amethyst and claims to see ghosts, or spirits, all over the place. Syb is dubious, but...
The technology aspect, though - oh, I giggled. This was published in 1997. Syb is really lucky because she has an email address and can dial up the internet with her modem any time she likes. She wins a competition and gets an internet camera. People are able to get hold of each other's email addresses quite easily, there's only a few websites to search for on any one topic, and hacking is a breeze. I have no doubt that Sussex was going for close-to-bleeding-edge experience with this story, and going for serious verisimilitude with the intricate details. But all of that means that it really hasn't travelled well. Which is a shame, because Sussex does write well and engagingly.
The inside cover calls it a Children's Book; it's what I would consider the younger end of YA. Syb's parents are going through a rough patch, and this is dealt with brusquely but (and?) sensibly. It's a "this is not the end of the world" attitude, but not "this doesn't matter." Intriguingly given how many such novels get rid of the parents completely, Sussex does it a bit differently: the mum goes away but stays in contact via email; the dad is always a bit absent in his attitude but is always present and still relevant. Also, the romance interests are just barely present but more usually as an irritant than anything else.
This book was read as part of my read-all-the-books-I-own-but-haven't-read effort, and conveniently also contributes to the Australian Women Writers challenge for 2014.
September 13, 2010
Something about this book - perhaps the fact that it's one of the first books I remember reading, and I read it a fair few times - that just keeps me drawn in. And that's interesting, 'cause it's not of my usual genre: it's not a pretty book, it's not epic fantasy, or romantic or a time-tested classic... but it was there with me when I was younger, and I'll always remember it.
May 4, 2009
Read in early high school.
Essentially a ghost story set in modern Australia. Throw in reincarnation, a medium, cyberspace, some Australian history and a young girl struggling to adapt to a new place and it makes for an interesting story.
Essentially a ghost story set in modern Australia. Throw in reincarnation, a medium, cyberspace, some Australian history and a young girl struggling to adapt to a new place and it makes for an interesting story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews