Tag: thriller

Book Review: All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

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All is Not ForgottenAll is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

All is Not Forgotten is actually proving to be downright impossible for me to review. I finished it a couple of days ago but honestly I still can’t make my mind up what I think about it. What I will say is that it’s a book with a lot of different and fascinating ideas and concepts that really gets you thinking.

It wasn’t at all what I was expecting from the blurb in both good and bad ways. It’s a lot more intelligent, more thought out but also much slower. It’s not an edge of your seat thriller but rather a slow building story about the lengths a parent will go to protect their child, the importance of memory and closure and the effects that a brutal event can have on a close knit community.

Synopsis

The story begins with the rape of a teenage girl Jenny Kramer and this is a brutal and horrific ordeal. Her parents, trying to spare her the emotional effects of the trauma, approve a treatment that will remove the memory of the ordeal. The treatment is a success but while the memory is gone from her mind, her body remembers the trauma, leaving her feeling unsettled and out of place somehow.

Her mother Charlotte is trying to forget it ever happened and restore normality for the family but her father Tom, feeling guilty that he couldn’t protect his baby girl is determined to find and punish the culprit. As time passes and the perpetrator has still not been found cracks start to form in the family and the community as a whole.

Thoughts

This story completely hooked me at the start. The description of the attack on Jenny is fairly graphic and brutal and yet is told from a seemingly objective and emotionless perspective that is somehow even more compelling. It almost feels at the start that some omniscient presence is telling the story of the events that unfolded. As it turns out this omniscient presence is the psychiatrist, Dr Forrester, who is treating both Jenny and her parents but also helping the police with their investigation.

He’s slightly on the outside of events and for me this created a lot of my problems with the story. Dr Forrester is a sort of independent distant observer who knows (or finds out) more details than probably any other character. This objectivity however creates a bit of a distance from the events and the emotions of the story. This isn’t particularly helped by the fact that Dr Forrester is not the nicest of characters. He comes across as superior, arrogant and unsympathetic to the other characters. He sees them as a problem to be solved and he is the only one up to the task.

He also has a bit of a tendency to wander off on tangents and talk about things that seem unrelated to events, the science behind the memory loss, other patient he’s treating and his own background. This seems to slow the plot down a lot. He does raise some fascinating questions which I’m sure book groups could spend hours discussing but at times I just wanted the story to move on.

I have to admit that I put this book down a few times while I switched to reading something lighter and a bit more fun which is generally indicates I’m not enjoying a story.

I did however persevere and I’ve very glad I did. Around the 60% mark there’s a massive shift in the story and it completely hooked me in. I won’t say what this was but all of a sudden I couldn’t put it down. There were a lot of twists and turns and it definitely kept me guessing.

The other characters in the story are very well defined but we see all of them through the eyes of the psychiatrist so it’s pretty much impossible to connect to any of them which is a shame but makes for a very different type of read. There is also no real dialogue in the story, which is something I really missed, as all conversations are recounted by Dr Forrester as he tells his story but it was still strangely addictive and compelling in places.

So overall…yep I’d recommend it. It’s definitely something different, the writing is excellent and there are some fantastic twists towards the end. Just don’t expect an action packed, fast paced thriller.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey

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The Girl with All the GiftsThe Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Warning: mild spoilers after the synopsis

This is one of those books that I saw a lot of hype around but for some reason didn’t really know what it was about. A quick read of the synopsis doesn’t give much away but I thought what the heck I’ll add it to the TBR and get to it eventually. Now I’m asking myself why on earth did I wait so long.

This book is incredible and in my opinion deserves all of the hype and the praise around it. The author creates such a real and vivid world and characters that you feel like you’re there with them. It’s a beautiful, gruesome, gripping and absolutely heartbreaking story and like nothing I expected it to be. If you haven’t read it you need to right now (mostly so I have someone to rave over it with).

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her “our little genius.”

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

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Book Review: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

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Vanishing GirlsVanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I honestly don’t know how this author comes up with such fantastically brilliant endings. Unfortunately I’m not sure it was quite enough to save this thriller about the relationship between two sisters.

Lauren Oliver’s writing is as always good and she creates some very real and well rounded characters however, I found the story didn’t grip me as much as I hoped it would.

 

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara’s beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it’s too late.

In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.

Thoughts

I was very excited when I came across this book in my local library as I fell in love with Lauren Oliver’s writing after reading Before I Fall a few months ago. It was one of those books that started off slow but somehow managed to gradually draw me in so that by the end I was completely enthralled and an emotional basket case.

Consequently when I began reading Vanishing Girls and found it slow going I wasn’t too worried initially. When I hit the halfway point and realised I was still finding it a bit of a hard slog that’s when I became concerned. It’s never a good sign when you start putting off reading and doing all of those other things (housework, going to the gym, sleeping) that you usually sacrifice for a good book. Don’t get me wrong, the writing and characterization is good it just didn’t have that thing that hooks you in and makes you totally addicted.

I think this was largely due to the plot which was pretty slow and my inability to really connect with either of the main characters, Dara or Nick (Nicole). Of the two main characters Nick is probably the more likeable. She’s the one who’s always trying to do the right thing, to protect her sister and keep her out of trouble. I’m totally on board with this type of attitude and behaviour (I’m the sensible and responsible sibling in my family) but it doesn’t make for a particularly fun and exciting read.

Dara on the other hand is at the opposite end of the spectrum, always looking for the next thrill, breaking every rule she can find no matter who gets hurt. This insensitivity and bratty behaviour didn’t exactly endear her to me and if I was Nick I probably would have washed my hands of her a long time ago.

It’s difficult when you don’t like the MCs to be drawn into a book and this wasn’t helped by the slow pace of the story. While the blurb gives the impression this is about the disappearance of one of the sisters, this in fact doesn’t happen until very late on (around the 75% mark). The focus is much more on the relationship between the two and an accident that caused it all to go wrong.

Unfortunately for me I didn’t really feel the emotions I suspect I should have and couldn’t understand why the relationship between the sisters meant so much to them. There seemed to be a lot of arguments, a lot of worry and just a general lack of fun and laughs. I know that this is supposed to be a thriller but I always think the dark is darker when there’s a bit of light.

The story jumps back and forward in time from the months leading up to the accident to the current time. It also flips between Dara’s pov and Nick’s and as well as the main narrative there are journal entries, emails, newspaper articles and photographs. I really liked the use of journals and photos but found it all a bit much, particularly at the start as I got lost a few times and had to back up to figure out who and when.

Given all this I was fully prepared to give it 3 stars and move on. Then came the ending which was like nothing I expected. I’m obviously not going to say too much about it only that it turned a decidedly average read into something that little bit more special.

On the whole therefore, it’s a well written story with an incredible ending but is maybe just that little bit too slow to get there. If you like a story about family relationships I think you’ll enjoy this, just don’t expect an exciting thriller.

Book Review: Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

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Dear AmyDear Amy by Helen Callaghan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fantastic debut. Dear Amy is exceptionally well written, with a very likeable main character and a storyline that gripped me from the very start. It’s not perfect and I found the first half to be much better than the last but I will most definitely be looking out for more books by Helen Callaghan.

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

Margot Lewis is the agony aunt for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, Dear Amy, gets all kinds of letters – but none like the one she’s just received: Dear Amy,
I don’t know where I am. I’ve been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I’m afraid he’ll kill me.
Please help me soon,
Bethan Avery

Bethan Avery has been missing for years. This is surely some cruel hoax. But, as more letters arrive, they contain information that was never made public. How is this happening? Answering this question will cost Margot everything . .

Thoughts

This definitely seems to be turning out to be a great summer for crime and thrillers. There seems to be a new must read story out almost every week and I know I’ve been mixing a lot more of them than usual into my reading. In a market so crowded it’s difficult to see how a new book from a new author could possibly stand out but in my opinion Dear Amy definitely manages just that.

With this type of story it’s difficult to say a lot about the plot without giving away spoilers but essentially it’s about an agony aunt (and English teacher) who receives a letter from someone claiming to be a girl abducted a number of years ago. For some reason she finds herself believing it could be genuine and when the police don’t take her seriously she starts looking into it herself.

From the very start I found main character Margot Lewis to be very likeable. She’s probably around the same age as me, loves her job as a teacher and as an agony aunt but is having a bit of a personal crisis as she’s in the process of getting divorced and her soon to be ex is making things difficult. Understandably she is a little emotional and sometime she does seem to lose control a bit but given everything that happens her reactions actually feel quite natural and real.

Margot’s character and how it develops is pretty central to the story and while there were elements I didn’t quite believe it did feel like a natural development. Similarly there are a few things in the plot that didn’t seem wholly believable and while some became clear as we got further into the story there were a few bits that I’m still not too sure about.

Despite these niggles, the writing stayed consistently good throughout. It somehow drew you completely into the story and into Margot’s head. There are some flashbacks to Margot’s past and occasionally it seemed like her mind would wander on to something unconnected but I suspect if you were in my head it would be exactly the same. I absolutely loved how she described places and people in particular. I felt like I got a real sense of them and I’m someone who frequently skims over descriptions.

While the majority of the book is told from Margot’s perspective there is the occasional switch to other characters and while I liked some of them there were others I wasn’t as keen on. I think this was probably my biggest issue with the second half of the book. It switched focus to one of the other less likeable characters and it put me off a little. It was also at this point that a lot of the tension and mystery kind of dissipated and it became much more your standard thriller and the ending felt a little flat.

That being said, I still think it was an excellent debut that I would recommend you give a go. On the basis of the writing style alone I will definitely be looking out for more books by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza

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The Girl In The Ice (DCI Erika Foster, #1)The Girl In The Ice by Robert Bryndza

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Unlike a lot of people who have discovered Robert Bryndza for the first time through this story and were surprised to hear he had previously written romantic comedy, I’ve been reading Robert’s books for a while and was very shocked to hear he’d written a detective story.

I’m a big fan of his Coco Pinchard series and have loved his eccentric cast of characters and their completely insane actions so I wasn’t sure how he would tackle a who dunit. It seemed like a pretty big leap to me but somehow he’s managed to do it brilliantly.

There are some similarities, the Eastern European elements, the diverse mix of characters and the fact that everyone seems to smoke 🙂 but that’s pretty much it. It’s very much your traditional police procedural about the murder of a young woman and while there is the odd joke he definitely takes the whole thing very seriously.

It’s well written, with some great characters and a story that keeps you turning the pages late into the night.

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…She is not the only one.

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation.

The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London.

What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding?

As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika.

The last investigation Erika led went badly wrong… resulting in the death of her husband. With her career hanging by a thread, Erika must now battle her own personal demons as well as a killer more deadly than any she’s faced before. But will she get to him before he strikes again?

Thoughts

I have to admit I was a bit wary coming into this book as it’s rare for an author to move successfully from one genre to a completely different one. Somehow though Robert Bryndza has managed the switch from rom com to murder mystery fantastically well. I was very impressed and while I do love his Coco Pinchard series I think he’s definitely found his calling in crime fiction.

At the centre of the story is DCI Erika Foster, brought in after a period of absence from the force to lead the special task force investigating a high profile murder case. She’s told it’s because she’s good at her job but given her recent history it seems highly probable that she’s actually there as the fall guy should anything go wrong. Almost immediately she clashes with the other DCI on the investigation (DCI Sparks) who thinks he should be leading the case resulting in a lot of tension within the squad. Foster is in a difficult position with her bosses demanding results, the media looking for a story and the threat of being replaced if it all goes wrong.

I’ve read some criticism of Erika Foster, she’s too argumentative, some of her actions are ridiculous but I liked her a lot and thought that while a lot of her actions weren’t always the most sensible they fit with the character the author had created. There is a little bit of the detective stereotyping going on (the tough female cop who’ll go to any lengths to catch the bad guy) but it works and is kind of what you expect from this type of story. She’s in a difficult position but sticks to her guns and fights her corner.

What I thought really made this a good story though was the cast of supporting characters of which there are many. There are a few more stereotypes here too, the miserable colleague who’s out to stitch her up, the boss trying to pull her back in line, but there are also some pretty unique characters too. I particularly liked colleagues Crane, Moss and Woolfe but Ivy and Linda also made for interesting and unique additions. Every character is well defined and each has their attributes and flaws. As this is the first in the series, it is only an introduction to a lot of them and I think it will be interesting to see how they develop in subsequent books.

The story itself isn’t particularly unique but when it comes down to murder mystery there aren’t a lot of new ideas left. While it isn’t the most original I did think it was very well done and it did hook me. It’s not perfect but given the author is new to the genre I think the series definitely has potential.

Book Review: Don’t You Cry by Mary Kubica

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Don't You CryDon’t You Cry by Mary Kubica

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I read and really enjoyed Mary Kubica’s previous book Pretty Baby so I was very excited to get a copy of this book from NetGalley. She has a real knack for writing gripping thrillers, with fascinating characters and lots of twists and turns.

Don’t You Cry is definitely a twisty tale and it keeps you guessing till the very end. It’s well written and has some fantastic character development but I did find it a little bit slow to get going and for some reason the whole thing left me feeling a little bit depressed and disappointed.

It is still one of the better psychological thrillers I’ve come across, I think I was just expecting something more.

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Book Review: Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben

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Fool Me OnceFool Me Once by Harlan Coben

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Not too sure what to think about this book after THAT ending. I was fully prepared to give it three stars as a kind of average thriller but now I’m not so sure. I can’t decide if I loved the ending or hated it but it was definitely unexpected and the author certainly fooled me at least once.

It’s worth a read for that alone.

Synopsis

The story starts with former special ops pilot Maya and her 2 year old daughter at the funeral of her husband Joe. Joe was murdered two weeks ago in front of Maya. This is the second tragedy in Maya’s life as her sister was also killed around 4 months ago. Feeling a little bit vulnerable she agrees to install a nanny cam in her home to keep an eye on her daughter while she works. A few days later though she sees something she really doesn’t expect, her daughter sitting on the lap of her husband. It’s not possible or is it? She knows if she tells anyone they’ll think she’s crazy so she starts her own investigation.

Thoughts

I’ve read a few Harlan Coben books in the past (my Dad is a big fan) and found them to be pretty enjoyable although not necessarily stand out reads. When I saw the title and read the blurb for this one though I couldn’t wait to get me hands on it.

Pretty much from the start of this story I wasn’t too sure what to think about it and this feeling continued throughout. It’s an interesting idea, a supposedly dead man shows up on a nanny cam, did he fake his death somehow, is someone playing a game with Maya or is she really just crazy? For some reason however it didn’t quite work for me. There were quite a few things that just seemed a bit odd. The very first one being the way Maya is given a nanny cam by her best friend on the day of the funeral. It just seemed strange in terms of timing but also as the nanny had been working for them for a while and had a connection to the family.

The other thing that bothered me was Maya herself. Following a controversial incident from her service she’s somewhat infamous and is suffering from PTSD. She seems to miss being at war and is uncomfortable in regular life, only really relaxing when she’s at the gun range. While I couldn’t relate to her as a character what bothered me was that she seemed unaffected by everything. She doesn’t seem overly fussed about the fact her husband has been murdered and has a slightly strange relationship with her daughter. She wants to protect her but doesn’t seem to want to spend any time with her, preferring to pass her off to someone else whenever she can. A lot of her actions are a little on the odd side (the way she deals with her niece’s soccer coach springs to mind) and her reactions were a bit disturbing.

The other characters did seem like they could be interesting but I didn’t feel like they got enough attention. I would have liked to have seen a lot more of Shane, her former squad mate, as he seemed like an interesting character and his relationship with Maya was fascinating to read.

The story itself is quite twisty and does keep you guessing although at times I felt like the timing was a little bit off with too much time spent on certain aspects and not enough on others. There are a couple of subplots which I didn’t think added much to the story and I kind of skipped over a little. I will say though the author did manage to fool me and when the ending came it was certainly spectacular and somehow very emotional. It almost made up for the rest of the story and it certainly explained a lot.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy.

Book Review: Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre

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Black WidowBlack Widow by Chris Brookmyre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve been a big fan of Chris Brookmyre for many years so I was pretty excited to get my hands on his new book Black Widow, the latest in the Jack Parlabane series. While I was a little bit worried at the start I have to say it didn’t disappoint. It’s a very well written, thriller with a lot of twists and turns that keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat until the very end. It’s definitely put me in the mood for more of his books.

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

There is no perfect marriage. There is no perfect murder.

Diana Jager is clever, strong and successful, a skilled surgeon and fierce campaigner via her blog about sexism. Yet it takes only hours for her life to crumble when her personal details are released on the internet as revenge for her writing.

Then she meets Peter. He’s kind, generous, and knows nothing about her past: the second chance she’s been waiting for.

Within six months, they are married. Within six more, Peter is dead in a road accident, a nightmare end to their fairytale romance.

But Peter’s sister Lucy doesn’t believe in fairytales, and tasks maverick reporter Jack Parlabane with discovering the dark truth behind the woman the media is calling Black Widow…

Thoughts

While I am a big Chris Brookmyre fan I have to admit that in the past I’ve leaned more towards the stand alone books or the Angelique Xavier series rather than the Jack Parlabane series. (I found they sometimes wandered a bit too far into political and social commentary for my tastes). As a result I’ve only really read one or two of the Jack Parlabane books and was definitely not up to speed on the series or characters. I found though, that despite this, it was very easy to get into. You’re quickly brought up to speed but in quite a subtle and natural way that mean this book could definitely work as a standalone.

The story starts at the trial of Dr Diana Jager, a surgeon accused of murdering her husband and is told through a series of flashbacks from the point of view of three different characters, Diana (the accused), Ali (the police officer who initially responded to the call) and Jack (a disgraced ex reporter approached by the sister of the victim to find the truth).

At the beginning I have to admit I found the switching narration and jumps through time a little confusing. It would take me a page or two to figure out whose story I was in and where I was in the timeline but I did get used to it and after a few chapters the voices become so recognisable you can identify them almost immediately. Some characters were more intriguing than others as you would expect but I did like all three in their own way.

The biggest draw for me though was Dr Diana Jager and the story of her relationship with Peter. She’s not exactly an objective bystander (being the defendant) but it was fascinating hearing her side of the story. She makes Peter out to be a con man, abuser and not the man she married but the whole time I was questioning her story. She’s a character you can relate to in many ways, an intelligent, ambitious woman trying to stand up for herself in a very male orientated career. I felt sorry for her a lot of the time. However you’re never sure if she’s really a victim in this or just a very clever and manipulative psychopath. I do love a complex character and she is definitely one of those.

Police officer Ali is another woman trying to get by in a male dominated career (a bit of a theme is this book) but is probably a softer and more obviously likeable character. She covered a lot of the police procedural stuff which was interesting but she also added a more human aspect to the police. She’s dealing with a personal crisis while trying to remain professional in front of new partner Rodriguez.

Jack was possibly my least favourite of the narrators. He’s just world weary and a bit of a misery but it was fascinating watching his methodical investigation to get to the unexpected truth.

There are quite a few twists and turns in this book and it definitely keeps you guessing. Was it an accident, suicide or murder? Is Diana a murderer or victim? What was really going on in the relationship? Was Peter the charming man he seemed or did he have an ulterior motive?

I will say, this is not an action packed thriller and it can be a little slow in places. It’s more a study of characters and relationships and is a lot more psychological. Personally I love that but I know others are looking for fast paced action so may be disappointed.

I have to admit it’s put me in the mood for a bit more crime fiction and a lot more Chris Brookmyre. I’m tempted to dig out some of the previous books in the series and give them another try.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend this whether you’ve read any Brookmyre before or not.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review.

Book Review: Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen

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Playing with FirePlaying with Fire by Tess Gerritsen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m really struggling on how to rate this story. I do love Tess Gerritsen and I think her writing is fantastic but there was something about this story that just didn’t feel right. I picked it up around 10pm at night after a very long day in the office and kept reading till I finished around 1am so it can’t have been that bad but I was left with this kind of unsatisfactory feeling.

Synopsis

The story starts incredibly well. Violinist Julia Andsell is browsing antique shops in Italy when she comes across an old book of music with a hand written page within. Unable to resist she buys the book and returns to her husband and 3 year old daughter in Boston. After spending the day with her daughter Lily she decides to try playing the piece. When she does however Lily exhibits some disturbing behaviour that gives her cause for concern.

She speaks to a doctor who tells her not to worry but a little while later when practicing the piece again Lily attacks her. Julia is positive her child has changed and wants to hurt her but no one believes her. Is there something wrong with Lily, could the music be responsible for the change or is everything in Julia’s head as everyone else seems to think? She is positive the music is responsible so is determined to find out it’s history.

This leads her back to Italy and the story of composer and violinist Lorenzo who was a Jew in Venice during the second World War. It seems however that someone doesn’t want her to find out the truth.

Thoughts

Despite what the blurb on Amazon and GoodReads may say this is really two stories wrapped up in one. On one hand there is the story of Julia and her possibly demonic child and on the other the story of Lorenzo. The book is actually told from the dual perspective of each with alternating sections.

While I mostly enjoyed both stories I felt like the alternating sections didn’t quite work. Julia’s sections were more psychological thriller whereas Lorenzo’ s were about the horrors of the holocaust with a little bit of doomed love thrown in. Both would no doubt have worked on their own but didn’t mesh well with each other. The tension in Julia’s story was broken and I never really felt the emotion and horror of Lorenzo’s.

The writing is pretty good throughout (I devoured the whole thing in a few hours) but I thought the story and characters lacked the depth they needed to bring out the emotion of the themes. It did start well with a couple of very creepy scenes but after that I think it lost it’s way.

The ending in particular I thought really let it down as it felt like a bit of a cop out and was a little too easy.

Overall, a good enough read but a little bit confused in genre and lacking depth.

Book Review: Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick

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Dangerous LiesDangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my second book by Becca Fitzpatrick so I had a rough idea what to expect as far as writing goes and was looking forward to reading this new story. Unfortunately, while I found it an enjoyable enough story and an easy read, it wasn’t anything particularly special.

Synopsis

17 year old girl, Stella, witnesses a crime and is forced to leave her home, family and her boyfriend to go into witness protection. She moves from a big city to a small town in Nebraska where she has to try to adjust to a new way of life. As her mother had money and a drug habit Stella is used to doing her own thing so it’s safe to say she rebels a bit at the start even though it’s for her own safety.

It’s not long though before she meets boy next door Chet and starts to realise life in Nebraska might not be too bad. However someone in town starts stirring up trouble and there is a chance the secrets from her past will catch up to her putting her life and the lives of those around her in danger.

Thoughts

Overall I had nothing against this book I just seem to be struggling to find reasons to love it.

The writing is pretty good and the story ticks along at a nice pace. I liked the idea of the whole witness protection thing and it definitely had the potential to be a real page turner. Added to that there is a bit of mystery around the events Stella claims to have witnessed which makes you wonder what really happened that night. There are a few twists and surprises in the story which do keep you guessing (and reading) but I felt like there could have been a little more tension. I was never really on the edge of my seat.

In terms of main character Stella, I’ve read a few reviews talking about how much they disliked her but I actually kind of admired her attitude. Yes, for a girl in hiding she does some remarkably stupid things which are guaranteed to get her noticed but I liked how she stood up for herself and others even when it led trouble her way. Like a lot of YA heroines she is a little bit boy crazy which kind of annoys me but it seems to be standard in these types of books. I also found it quite strange how quickly she developed feelings for someone other than her boyfriend (who she apparently couldn’t live without at the start).

Boy next door Chet is nice enough and I did enjoy the banter between the two of them but I felt it lacked that little bit of spark that would have made their attraction a bit more believable.

The remaining characters could also have done with a bit more depth as I felt they were a little stereotyped. There was the bullying high school jock with the massive ego, the underage pregnancy, younger teen going off the rails due to lack of parental role model etc. I’m not sure what else the author could have done but I think I’m getting a bit fed up of the same types of character in every YA book. Although I have to admit that I did like that there were a lot of strong women.

As far as the ending to the story, I have to say that I found it a little unsatisfying. It seemed like there was a lot of build up to not a lot of action. What action there was seemed to be over in a few pages with minimal fuss or emotion. It wasn’t bad it just wasn’t as good as I hoped and I would have liked a slightly different ending for Stella.

Overall therefore I would recommend it if you’re looking for an easy read with some action for a lazy afternoon but I don’t think it’s a stand out book.