Zinnia blames herself for her aunt's death, because she scared her aunt with a snake resulting in a medical episode that ended with her death. Zinnia decides to follow an old overgrown trail up in the hills and uncover the markers along the trail as penance. Zinnia's uncle begins to lose his mind after his wife's death. He insists that he can see her up in the hills, and he spends most of his days chasing her ghost. Zinnia's little brother also insists that can see his aunt's ghost around the farm. 

Jake has a problem with stealing. He steals a neighbor's dog and gives it to Zinnia to show her that he likes her. He steals his mother's diamond ring and gives it to Zinnia. Then he steals a car to impress Zinnia, and ends up in trouble with the Sheriff.

I really hated the little teen romance sub-plot in this book. Zinnia is only 13 years old, and Jake is 16 years old. That's pretty gross. A 13-year-old is practically a child, barely a teen, and a 16-year-old boy pursuing her so intensely like that just felt wrong.

Every character in this book is disturbed and has serious mental health issues. The uncle is certifiably insane. Zinnia is confused and weird. She lies to her parents, and she steals a horse at one point. Jake is apparently a kleptomaniac. Even the old aunt who dies was really superstitious and creepy, because she never could deal with the death of her only daughter years before, and it made her morbid.

This was such a creepy weird disturbing book. To see all the weird and questionable content in this book, you can check it out on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/chasing-redbird-1773509