Anna Dressed in Blood

Finished April 20
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

This teen novel is another venture into the paranormal. Cas (Theseus Cassio) Lowood is high school student who has taken on his late father's unusual vocation, that of killing the dead. When Cas was just seven, his father was killed in such an endeavour and Cas has secretly harboured a plan to eventually return to that scene and take on his father's killer.
As the book begins, Cas and his mother, who is also a white witch, are in North Carolina and Cas is releasing the ghost of a dead hitchhiker who has been haunting a certain stretch of road since his violent death in 1970. Cas is always on the lookout for a new challenge, both to move the ghosts on to what he hopes is rest, and to increase his own skills in order to be prepared for his longterm goal. A friend has alerted him to a particular intriguing ghost in Thunder Bay, Ontario. This girl, Anna, was apparently violently killed on her way to the prom, never reaching her destination, and kills all those who dare to enter the house she called home. She wears her white prom dress, which is dripping with her blood.
As Cas and his mother adjust to a new city, and Cas makes some high school friends, he is maneuvered into an encounter with Anna. What ensues is a more violent encounter than he expected, and yet he somehow feels a connection to this ghost. As he realizes that she is the most powerful ghost he has encountered yet, he calls on his mentor and new friends to assist him in putting her to rest. He finds, however, that his father's killer has been trailing him and the danger he now faces is more extreme than he had thought.
A tale of romance, vengeance, and the unpredictable nature of magic, this is an interesting start to a new series.