How Do You Deal with a Dead Girl?

by Andrew Demcak

"An eerily amusing horror tale that will have readers rooting for the characters." - KIRKUS REVIEWS - Ben D’Argento is a gay, eighteen-year-old, trust-fund kid, rich and handsome. He has the world on a silver platter, right? Nope. He’s been abandoned by his jet-setting parents, his boyfriend just dumped him for a girl (!), and his autistic kid brother has been locked up in a group home. Utterly devastated by all this, Ben steals the keys to his parents cabin the woods, breaks his brother out of the care facility, and drives them up to Fawn Skin Lake. Ben wants nothing more than to get away from the heartache and wagging tongues in Los Angeles and to bond with his younger brother. However, when a thirteen-year-old girl named Flora, who drowned there years before, starts showing up in their vacation home with an ominous warning, Ben discovers she has other plans for them. But there’s something else, something old and evil, looking for fresh blood, lurking right beneath the emerald water of the lake. Maybe Flora knows more about it than she’s telling?

Will Ben ever find love again? And after living with ghostly Flora all summer, will he finally be able to answer the question: How do you deal with a dead girl?

Genres: Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 2018

About the author

Andrew Demčák is an award-winning, American poet and novelist, the author of six poetry collections and eight Young Adult novels. His books have been featured by The American Library Association, Verse Daily, The Lambda Literary Foundation, The Best American Poetry, Kirkus Reviews, and Poets & Writers. He was selected to be the keynote speaker for the California Library Association's annual conference to celebrate his contributions to LGBTQ+ Young Adult literature.
He has been a finalist for the prestigious Dorset Poetry Prize, the Gloria E. Anzaldúa Poetry Prize, The Crazyhorse Poetry Award, and the Louise Bogan Award for Artistic Merit and Excellence in Poetry. He did win the Three Candles Press Open Book Award, selected by the phenomenal poet, Joan Larkin, for his first poetry collection, Catching Tigers in Red Weather (2007).

Reviews

[Robert Manners · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read, likable and interesting characters, a well-paced plot, a satisfying denouement. I was especially impressed with the author's ability to get into the head of an eighteen-year-old and accurately portray a state of mind and worldview. Strongly recommended!

[Finley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free digital copy of this novel through a giveaway hosted on GoodReads.

How Do You Deal With a Dead Girl? is a fresh take on the classic haunting. After their parents leave on a on and international trip and leave his little autistic brother in a group home, Ben break Tadzio out and takes him up to their parents’ summer home for a real summer vacation. However, they are not there long before Taddy begins talking about a young girl named Flora who comes into his room and talks to him, and who warns him to stay away from the lake and the danger that dwells at the bottom. At first, he believes Flora to be only an imaginary friend, but the more he learns about the house’s history, the more obvious it is that Flora’s stories are not to be ignored. Ancient stories and mysterious drownings with no bodies surround the area, and if he doesn’t solve the lake’s mystery, Taddy may end up as the next victim.

This story was just the right about of spooky and mysterious. Although parts of the story are predictable, in that parts of the solution are laid out pretty obviously, even if the characters cannot make those connections quite as quickly. However, the story progresses at a decent enough pace and has enough events to make sure that the story does not drag too much. Although ghost stories are almost as old as storytelling itself, Demcak still manages to make his story stand out by creating a unique legend to drive the action, and then making the villain separate from the main spirit, rather than implying that all spirits and hauntings are evil as many other stories do.

Another unique feature of the story, however, is the fact that the main character, Ben, is gay. In addition to wanting to give his brother a good summer, he is also motivated to take a vacation because he is trying to escape his ex-boyfriend who has been brainwashed by his homophobic new girlfriend to believe Ben needs “saving” as well. Despite this, though, the book does not focus on his sexuality, developing him as a full person with personality, flaws, and ambitions outside who he wants to date, only bringing up his sexuality in passing mention in conversations, or when a plot point relates to either his ex or to his desire for a new beau. It is one of the best representations of a queer character I have seen in a while, and the fact it is in a horror novel, a genre with a reputation in pop culture for unnecessary sexualization and hetero-centric relationships, is saying something.

Despite all the praise I want to give to it, there was one major flaw near the end that stuck out to me. Although it is a bit of a spoiler, I also do not feel comfortable putting it in a spoiler tag, as I wish to also provide a content warning for potential readers for whom the scene may be upsetting. So, with as little detail as possible, I will just say this: near the end of the book, there is a rape scene that I found quite unnecessary. After finishing the book, as well as reading about the potential sequel and spin-off novels the author will be writing in the future, I could see that it was being used as a means to create a sequel hook. However, given that it is given no precedent to occur, and happens suddenly and out of nowhere, I feel that it is much more likely to alienate readers who may have a history of sexual trauma, and for whom such a sudden scene could cause panic (further analysis under spoiler tag).
At no point in the origin legend that Jayne tells the boys about Ainila was there any mention of her wanting or needing to become impregnated by a man, and even her claims of wanting to be “made whole” while she is on top of Ben are unclear as to what she means. And while horror does require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief, the idea of a centuries-old creature becoming pregnant stretching mine a bit too far, to the point that she could have just as easily spawned asexually to create her back-up plan, and allow the rape scene to be removed altogether (assuming, of course, that the spawn being Ben’s daughter is not a major plot point to the sequel somehow). And that is not, of course, to say that a writer cannot make mention of sexual abuse at all, if they see fit. I only feel that, even if Ainila producing a child with Ben’s seed was absolutely necessary, and not actually as tacked on as it seemed, it could have been handled better, or at least alluded to better to give readers a chance to prepare. Even when Flora’s own history of abuse by her brother in mentioned earlier on, it is not as potentially upsetting as Ben’s rape, and even serves to develop her character and explain why she is so attached to her brother, as well as why he was sent away against his will leading to his death. Flora’s abuse was only given the bare minimum reference that was needed to serve its purpose, and it was given its due respect as a potentially traumatizing experience. Ben’s rape, though, was handled with none of this respect, and then Ben seemingly heals from his ordeal quickly after, something that I cannot see happening with any rape, especially one perpetrated by a rotting lake demon who was also trying to kidnap his brother. All in all, it just came across as poor taste, which was particularly disappointing in a novel that seemed to do so many other things right.

[Patricia Bergman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am grateful for the award of this autographed book.

I have not been a fan of ghost stories so this was a new positive experience. Parts of the book are pretty scary, but the relationship of many of the characters is uplifting. The story is well-written and a good read. I can recommend it.

[Holly L'Heureux · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway and it was an alright book. It was not as interesting as I thought it would be. The main character may have been gay but he was still kind of hard to like and get to know. I did enjoy Tadzio. He was by far my favorite character in the book. I did not hate the book, it just was not my cup of tea. But hey, it was worth a try.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out a little slow, but the end was terrifying.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

So; what can I say about this book. It was a DNF at about 57%, and the main reason was the fact that I found myself really not liking the MC or his younger brother, which isn't always a bad thing but for this book it felt lke you should atleast like the MC. PLOT: A privileged 18 yo takes his 'impaired' (?) brother out of his specialist factility to one of the many weekend retreats which his parents own (but which his has never been permited to visit) to bond (?) and enjoy the summer. Then his wicked ex-boyfriend visits with his fundimental christian girlriend (who converted him from his sinful 'homosexual' lifestyle) - oh yes, before I forget, there is the ghost of a 13 yo girl in the basement of the weekend retreat who is their because of the 'monster' which lives in the lake... are you still following because this is where I sort of gave up (well actually it was after the ex and his girlfriend are killed by the ghost and the lake monster).

I just wasn't what I was expecting or really what I was after from a read.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads Review

A unique book with a very modern cast of characters. Ben is a gay teenage boy determined to treat his little brother (who has autism) to a better life. They secretly travel to their stepdad's cabin to have a summer adventure, but are soon caught up in some horrific events of the past.

This book was difficult for me to categorize, because it said it was YA, but there were a lot of intense subjects covered in the novel. It kept me guessing on the plot line, which was definitely a nice change.

Thanks to Goodreads Giveaways, I was received this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A trust fund kid who broke up with his boyfriend breaks his autistic kid brother out of school to spend the summer at his step father's isolated vacation home by a lake. The lake has a bad history. There's a scary folk legend, a history of mysterious drownings, and weird neighbors. Then there seems to be a ghost in the house.

Not bad, but not exactly compelling, either.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Tadzio was surprised, but not scared, when the dark haired, teenage girl in a long blue dress stepped around the corner into his room.’

This reader has been following and becoming committed to the talent of Andrew Demcak since the inception of his career. In 2010 the following was shared: ‘Andrew Demcak opens yet more vistas into that seductive world he continues to create in his new book of poems 'a single hurt color'. And even for the polished practiced linguist he has revealed before, this sturdy volume reaches even higher marks on the rising tide of his young career. Demcak is a wizard with words, a sorcerer and lusty sensualist who is able to paint indelible images that may fly past the reader's eye as in his haiku settings, or linger in the musky flavors of physical encounters experienced or imagined. He whisks us away on journeys to other times, other places, dabbles with thoughts of Kurt Cobain, Wallace Stevens and Freud, channels Icarus, Samson and Delilah, and Joseph Smith, tinkers with lovesongs to mussels and orchids, and summons some of the most erotic scenes imaginable. Demcak at once entertains, challenges, seduces, and puzzles us with some of the finest new work being birthed today - a poet shaman!’ And when he turned from poetry to writing novels (‘If There’s a Heaven Above’) that response follows: ‘Andrew Demcak has arrived at that level of success as a poet that provides him with a wide audience base, eager for his next collection of the sensuous and pungent observations of the world of relationships. So now he tests the waters of his readership (and newcomers) with a novel. It seems a logical step - to push the boundaries of a gift into a new configuration. In many ways the transition is successful, and those ways hold as their core his poetic gifts.’ That was 2013. Now in 2018 Andrew trumps them all with a thrilling novel that incorporates all aspects of his talent – HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH A DEAD GIRL?

With the above background, the plot synopsis shares the direction of this penetratingly fascinating story: ‘Ben D’Argento is a gay, eighteen-year-old, trust-fund kid, rich and handsome. He has the world on a silver platter, right? Nope. He’s been abandoned by his jet-setting parents, his boyfriend just dumped him for a girl (!), and his autistic kid brother Tadzio has been locked up in a group home. Utterly devastated by all this, Ben steals the keys to his parents' cabin the woods, breaks his brother out of the care facility, and drives them up to Fawn Skin Lake. Ben wants nothing more than to get away from the heartache and wagging tongues in Los Angeles and to bond with his younger brother. However, when a thirteen-year-old girl named Flora, who drowned there years before, starts showing up in their vacation home with an ominous warning, Ben discovers she has other plans for them. But there’s something else, something old and evil, looking for fresh blood, lurking right beneath the emerald surface of the lake. Maybe Flora knows more about it than she’s telling? Will Ben ever find love again? And after living with ghostly Flora all summer, will he finally be able to answer the question: How do you deal with a dead girl?’

Opening the proscenium curtain reveals Andrew’s sensitivity - ‘“Where’s Mark? Why didn’t he come with us?” “Taddy, you remember what I told you? Mark and I broke up. We’ve been through this before. I know it’s only been a month, but I need to start moving on with my life, that’s what Dr. Waxman said,” Ben replied a little sharply. The breakup had been very hard on him. He and Mark were childhood friends, and they’d been a couple since middle school. As far as everyone, including Tadzio, was concerned; Mark was part of the family. Ben and Mark spent almost every day together since high school: studying, playing video games, going to films, and on the weekends, trying to sneak into dance clubs. And now Ben was starting to realize the toll the breakup had taken on Tadzio. Mark didn’t just dump him; he dumped Tadzio, too. Tadzio’s eyes flashed open, nearing tears. “I’m sorry, buddy. Come here. You know I love you. That will never change,” Ben said, soothing the child as he knelt down to hug him.’

The novel must be read slowly to savor Andrew’s polished prose and cinematic reveal of a multifaceted very contemporary tale. Another major step for Andrew Demcak

[CrazyPants · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way too much detail on things that added nothing to the story that went so far that I lost track of what was happening. Gotta make sure everyone knows the character uses an iphone specifically, not just making a call, but while driving in a specific Mercedes model with a specific iphone model, over and over. With such a focus on details in technology, that seemed like these details should show how up to date and modern the main character was just felt super pretentious and short sited. Six months from now if anyone reads this, they're going to wonder why the main character is so out of date and why there's such a focus on archaic models.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

This plot had so much potential and I wanted to love it, but between really poor editing and a handful of scenes/discussions of gratuitous sexual violence for no reason that really contributed to the plot, it left a bad taste. I don't see myself being interested in continuing on to the sequel, based on what I read here. It's a good idea, but the execution definitely left something to be desired.