Book Review: The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle

Pages: 288

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pub. Date: August 18, 2015

Source: Publisher for review

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads says, "The accident season has been part of seventeen-year-old Cara's life for as long as she can remember. Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them, Cara's family becomes inexplicably accident-prone. They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items - but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-growing obsession and fear. But why are they so cursed? And how can they break free?"

Every October, Cara's family refers to it as "accident season," where strange accidents happen to her and her family members.  In the past, people have even died! Cara lives in Ireland with her mother, her sister, and her ex-stepbrother, Sam.  They are all aware of the dangers that accident season brings.  Things get really confusing when Cara notices Elsie, a former friend and classmate, in almost all of her photographs.   Elsie would be present in the background or you'd see a part of her hair in the corner of the shot, but either way, she was there.  When Cara tries to find out why Elsie is essentially stalking her, she notices the girl hasn't shown up for school and has gone missing.  The trail leads to an abandoned house that is very creepy and hides even more secrets.  The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle is an edge-of-your-seat mystery with a touch of fantasy that had me questioning everything.  

I'm not sure Cara was written to be an unreliable narrator, but she sure felt like it, especially when she started seeing Elsie in all of her photos. I wasn't sure what was real and what was part of her imagination.  Because she seemed so flighty, I had a hard time connecting with her in the same sense that I felt sort of removed from We Were Liars and was observing it from afar.  I also wasn't really feeling Cara's secret crush on her ex-stepbrother, Sam. It wasn't swoon-worthy by any means, but I did want these two to uncover the truth surrounding accident season and Elsie.

One of my favorite aspects of the The Accident Season was the setting of Ireland. I loved the little town, the river, and all of the mystical qualities the town brought to the story.  It was very atmospheric and the haunted house with all of its mysteries, not to count the disappearance of Elsie, really added to the creepiness of the novel.  Fowley-Doyle's writing was very lyrical as well, which also contributed to the story's mood.

The Accident Season is very trippy.  I could see the plot twist coming; however, I was completely invested in the story.  If you enjoy novels where secrets unfold slowly, you aren't sure what to believe, and you like a touch of fantasy, then you should check out The Accident Season. It would be the perfect read for this Halloween and fall season.