I'm guilty of judging books by their covers and this book cover spoke to me. The forest gives off an eerie impression and the lettering of the title makes me think of a ransom letter. The excerpt, however, was less appealing. The story sounds great (I'm interested in psychology and linguistics) but I have my doubts about some of the characters. Maya sounds like she isn't going to be my favorite character, either. I would read this book to see how the characters develop and how they affect the story.