Fury - Shirley Marr

The book does not directly fall into the category of Halloween's October Supernatural Month , but I have put our little reading witch above as Fury is a contemporary and modern take on the Greek Mythology of "The Furies".

Synopsis of New Teen Book : Fury - Shirley Marr

Novel Thriller. Age14+ Fury provides an entertaining contemporary slant on Greek mythology.

Told from the point of view of the protagonist, Eliza Boans, the novel begins 'My name is Eliza Boans and I am a murderer' and through seamless flashbacks, the circumstances which led to this confession are revealed. The plot centres on Eliza and her two girlfriends who become embroiled in this unfortunate event. Eliza is an angry, rich, private school girl who constantly complains of her life in the affluent, gated community where she lives and attends school. While her personality grates on the reader, she does reveal that her life is far from perfect. She doesn't have a stable home life and is constantly in trouble at school.
The reader questions the reliability of the narrator as Eliza hesitates to reveal the truth and appears unremorseful. The social worker who is hired to draw out her confession conveniently has the Greek goddesses, the Furies, on the cover of his writing journal. The reader is left trying to piece together the clues until the end.
The novel addresses the issues of jealousy, popularity, class and justice. There is opportunity for readers to make connections to classics and mythology, but predominantly it deals with teenage angst and peer pressure. The language is conversational and accessible for teenagers; however it deals sexual abuse so would be more suitable for older readers.
Fury is dark but veers away from the readily available vampire genres of late. From a local Perth author, Fury will be picked off the shelves by teenage girls who love these 'guessing game' dramas.