Snared is the third book in the Wicked Dead series. Aimed primarily at a young-adult audience, each book in the series features a unique horror story of sorts. Technically, I think you could call them ghost stories -- not because the stories themselves are about ghosts but, rather, because the narrators of those individual stories are ghosts themselves. There are four of them -- all young girls trapped, along with their horrible Headmistress, at Lockwood Orphanage, and the only way they can escape the awful place is by "throwing the bones." Whoever wins gets to tell a chilling story, and it is each teller's fervent hope that the story that suddenly comes to her through the magic of the bones will be the story of her own forgotten life, for that, so far as the girls know, is the only way to gain spiritual release from the confines of the decaying orphanage.

I must admit I was a little disappointed with this story compared to the previous one (Torn), probably because it features a lot less action and fright potential. I would go so far as to label Snared chick-lit horror, if there is such a thing, because the story is basically constructed on a teenage girl's summer fling at the beach. It's certainly no typical summer fling, though, as the boy next door is basically imprisoned in his room by two dangerous-looking guardians, but that doesn't stop our protagonist from mooning over his good looks and charm throughout the story.

Poor Lindsay gets dragged off to her uncle's beach house by her parents, causing her to miss THE party of the year. It's her best friend's party, and she helped plan the whole thing to begin with, so she is not happy about this silly family vacation one single bit -- until, that is, she notices a young and good-looking guy living in the house next door. She's ecstatic when he waves her over to his window one morning, but he will only talk to her through the window -- not only that, she is the one who has to open the window just so they can avoid talking through the glass. Obviously, that's pretty weird, but having been frightened by her first couple of sightings of Mark's guardians, she has little trouble believing his story about being grounded. Things quickly get weirder -- and potentially dangerous. Convinced that Mark is being physically abused by his two imposing guardians, Lindsay must decide whether or not to take the huge risk of helping him escape his tormentors. That's when the story really takes off, as Lindsay's decision comes with some wholly unforeseen consequences.

Most teens, especially females, should relate to Lindsay quite easily from the very start -- and that will help such readers muddle through the early parts of a story that doesn't really heat up until mid-way through. Some male readers may well give up before that point, since they won't really care how dreamy Mark may or may not be.

As far as the fright factor goes, Snared has little to offer, in my opinion, and that is the main reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as the previous Wicked Dead novel. I'm not saying this story isn't interesting because it did keep my interest throughout -- the problem is that it just never managed to hook me to any significant degree.