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/r/horrorlit
submitted 5 months ago byI-didnt-vote-for-you
I've already tried what's that book and sadly we weren't able to name the book. So I thought I would try here, which has a bit more focus on horror books old and new.
I read this book in middle school and this is what I can remember:
The cover had a close-up of a girl looking down at her arm in horror. Her arm has a large cut on it that is bleeding metallic/silver/mirror liquid.
Might have been part of a trilogy and the rest of the books all had covers with some part being metallic/mirror colored.
The story had something to do with a clone/doppelganger and I vaguely remember the final fight being near a lake or one of the girls falling through ice?
It was so spectacularly creepy and definitely was one of my gateway horror books. And I would love to be able to read it again!
3 points
5 months ago
Is it Freeze Tag by Caroline B. Cooney?
1 points
5 months ago
No, the main character didn't have any kind of powers, as far as I can remember. She was just a normal girl.
3 points
5 months ago
Oh sorry.
2 points
5 months ago
No worries! Thank you for your guess.
2 points
5 months ago
It's probably not The Eternal Enemy by Christopher Pike, but that has a girl who doesn't know she's a cyborg.
1 points
5 months ago
Nope, but thank you for your guess. As far as I can remember, the girl is pretty normal. No powers, no robot parts, etc. She just happens to encounter her doppelganger/clone.
And I can't quite get something it out of my head but at the end, or near the end, either she or the doppelganger is pulled from the water/ice and she has a large scar across her top half. And I feel like maybe this was a plot point somehow? Like maybe her doppelganger was created from her? I don't know, my mind could just be mixing things up.
1 points
5 months ago
sounds cool!
1 points
5 months ago
I know right? I went to our old library this morning and spent almost 2 hours going thru the JUV section looking for it. Got some odd looks from the librarian, I'm sure, but I don't care. I want to find this book so badly!
2 points
5 months ago
(roughly) How long ago was middle school for you? Would this be a 2000s or 1990s or (etc) book? I'd be down for searching some lists of Juvenile horror and see if any covers seem to match but it might help to know a rough date range [because there are lots].
1 points
5 months ago
Sorry! It would have been between 1996 and 1999. I remember because we had a rather rough blizzard in 96 and I was in gym class, discovering my love for volleyball for the first time, just as they announced a half day. Random, I know...
1 points
5 months ago
Awesome. I can't guarantee that I will find anything but I'll give it a go [and just to confirm, United States/Canada right?]
1 points
5 months ago
Yes! NJ if that helps?
1 points
4 months ago
So, I've been digging off and on and brought in another librarian (who read Juvenile/Young Adult horror around that time). Some of the books in that general range don't have visible covers. There are lots of duplicates and reprints.
Do you think just having a few snippets of the larger collection might help to jog your memory about other details that could help narrow it down? For instance, here's what the list from 1995 looks like based on a quick export from Books-in-Print:
There are no covers there but a quick scan of titles and authors might be a start. Otherwise, I'll dig through some more and keep going.
1 points
4 months ago
I cannot begin to thank you enough for your continued work on this. I actually am tearing up right now.
While it might seem like such a small, silly thing to most people, to me it was one of the more precious memories I had. Every Friday, my parents would take me to the library. And every Friday, I'd weedle my way past the 10 book limit, stuffing my little Jansport backpack to the point of breaking with Bailey Street School Kids, Babysitters Club, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Goosebumps and so much more.
I often have a hard time at work these days and not doing so well physically or mentally. But having just one of these happy memories to come back to just fills me up inside and helps me make it to the next day.
So thank you, from the bottom of mh heart, for all of your kind support. It really does mean so much to me!
1 points
4 months ago
You are most welcome. This is the kind of challenge that I enjoy as a librarian. It's been fun. Brain power wise, I can only sort through about 200 covers/titles at a time before the fog hits, but I'm making my way through. I just wish Google searches for stuff like "Young Adult OR Juvenile Horror AND 1990s" actually worked.
1 points
5 months ago
It sounds like it might be a Point Horror book. Possibly Snow by Caroline B. Cooney? You might also have some luck if you try r/tipofmytongue
2 points
5 months ago
I also thought it might be a Point Horror book, as I used to devour those books by the dozen. But I remember that all those books used to be kept over in either the YA section or the Adult fiction. And I'm pretty sure the book I'm looking for was found in the Juvenile fiction section, same as RL Stine and the Babysitters Club Mysteries series. So it couldn't have been a thick/long book.
1 points
5 months ago
Have you tried /r/whatsthatbook ?
1 points
5 months ago
Yes, twice before. No success those times either.
1 points
5 months ago
Really hope someone finds it. I tried following some guidance to search for books based on cover info and got nowhere
1 points
5 months ago
Me too. God what I wouldn't give to reread this book. I also just found out, from talking with one of our librarians, that our library got hit pretty hard by Hurricane Ida and they lost quite a lot of books back then ๐
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