Review: Truth or Dare by Jacqueline Green

Truth or Dare, Book 1

Tags: YA, contemporary, mystery, suspense, thriller, betrayal

Summary

Echo Bay is a picture-perfect oceanside town with the expected batch of annual summer tourists and year-round privileged white teens. But it has an ominous claim to fame: several times in past Fall Festivals, a beautiful young woman mysteriously dies out in the water by Phantom Rock.

Little of this matters, however, with Tenley Reed’s arrival back in town. Wanting to claim her old life as the most popular and most desired girl in her grade, she throws one of her infamous house parties, complete with one of the Truth or Dare games for which she’s known. But this time, an unknown darer continues the game long past it’s time to end it. Three girls start receiving dares that they must follow through for fear of the darer exposing their deepest secrets: Tenley; her best friend Caitlin, the perfect All-American with the Harvard dream; and Sydney, the scholarship student. And for reasons they don’t know, the darer is not going to stop until they are all dead…

Review

I was hoping, when I picked this book up, that it would defy my expectations. With a synopsis that sounded like it had been lifted directly from a rejected Pretty Little Liars installment, I’ll admit that my expectations weren’t high. And while I did finish the book (which says something, I suppose, considering how I’m not afraid to DNF a book that I don’t have a chance of loving), I kind of wish that, well, I hadn’t.

Throughout the whole book, I kept on shaking my head and saying to myself, “What’s wrong with this, Steph? The writing is decent—it fulfills the basic requirements of a YA blockbuster—and yet, despite the fact that I am reading it, I have an utter lack of investment in the characters and their fates.” What, exactly, did TRUTH OR DARE lack that kept it only mediocre?

And then I realized: it was lacking a heart. There is no non-superficial reason for caring about the characters. Superficiality in fiction differs from superficiality in real life. In real life, superficiality refers to physical, tangible things like appearances or dress or money. In fiction, it refers to the lack of spark that makes the characters never read like anything more than a couple of puppets. And it doesn’t matter how many oh-so-sad tragedies you want to pile on a character—Tenley’s father, Sydney’s past, Caitlin’s kidnapping, Caitlin’s panic attacks, Caitlin’s everything—the fact is that the author did not succeed in making her characters come alive with personality quirks and turns of phrase and all those things that make a person unique. It doesn’t take a really jaded reader to notice this.

(Side note: TRUTH OR DARE is a product of Paper Lantern Lit, a company that essentially develops elaborate plots and then hires new authors to write the stories. I didn’t learn this until after I had already finished the book. The correlation between PLL-style books and—in my opinion—their general lack of heart has yet to be scientifically examined.)

Despite the lack of heart and my lack of investment in the characters, I still kept on reading, drawn by the idea that all would be revealed, and several hours’ worth of my time would be justified. That was before I got to the thoroughly unrewarding ending, which, compared to the tight plotting of the rest of the book, was sloppy, a slap-dash anti-climax put together as a weak payoff before the mystery continues painfully on to a Book Two. What the hell?! Is it too much to ask for some sort of payoff, some sort of conclusion, after trudging through 400 pages of drivel tailor-made for the nonthinking YA reader? There is no clearer sign that this was a concept created for purely financial reasons than such a cop-out ending that basically demands that if you wanted to be invested in the story, you had better be in it for the long haul. Too bad that wasn’t made clear earlier in the story for the rest of us who have no interest in making that sort of an investment in a forgettable teen mystery series.

Oh, I have no doubt that this book will find its audience. It’s just the sort of mediocre copycat drivel that drives the market nowadays.

Similar Authors
Sara Shepard
Kate Brian

Cover discussion: No comment. Next question.

Poppy / May 14, 2013 / Hardcover / 400pp. / $18.00

e-galley received from publisher and NetGalley for review.

Review + GIVEAWAY: Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant

Tags: horror, thriller, murder, serial killer

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Summary

Dermot Nolan is living a writer’s nightmare. The Booker Prize-winning author has not had an idea for a new novel in over a year, and his financial backers and even his loved ones are beginning to get on his case about it. Then what could possibly be his godsend arrives: a crudely handwritten manuscript stuffed in his mailbox. The author, an Arthur K. Arnold, claims that it is his diary, and that all of the murders, done by a man known as the “Dream Healer,” described in the manuscript have actually occurred.

At first, Dermot dismisses the graphic writing as a sick man’s fiction. But even when research causes him to doubt his original conviction—could these murders actually have taken place?—Dermot still goes ahead and publishes the manuscript under his name. The novel is a hit, and Dermot becomes a wealthy celebrity—but when new evidence hints that these murders had indeed taken place, suspicion closes upon Dermot as a possible serial killer. Can he find out who is behind this framing before his own worst nightmares are lived out?

Review

I don’t read much horror-thriller, but I did enjoy WORST NIGHTMARES—if “enjoy” is the word to describe a novel that’s so vivid, so gruesome, and so well thought-out that I found myself shuddering while reading. The chapters often alternate between Dermot’s third-person point of view and the point of view of the Dream Healer, so that you’re never settled: you’re either in the mind of a merciless, albeit creative, serial killer, or else you’re witness to Dermot’s mental breakdown and self-doubts.

There are not that many characters in WORST NIGHTMARES, but those who are present are quite well-drawn for a thriller novel. Of course, its genre practically demands that more attention be paid to the plot than to the characters, but even so, Dermot and his wife Neela’s reactions to an unusual and volatile situation are believable and justified. All of the decisions they make—both bad and good—are the result of a very real, very human thought process.

The one major thing I found lacking in this novel was its predictability. Maybe it was just me, but I had my hunch as to who the mastermind behind the killings was about a third of the way through, and, in some of the slower moments, the desire to verify the accuracy of my hunch (I was right) was what kept me going. I’m not a fan of predictability, but if that doesn’t bother you much, and if you allow your mind to shut off just enough to overlook a few other minor flaws—questionable relationship dynamics, occasionally slow pacing, and loose ends—then the issues I had with this book won’t bother you all that much.

All in all, WORST NIGHTMARES is a good read in a genre that’s become increasingly tough to stand out in. It’s not a book I’d have picked up on my own, but fans of horror and thriller novels need to read this Shane Briant standout in order to truly understand it.

Similar Authors

Stephen King

Thomas Harris (The Silence of the Lambs)

Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code)

Writing: 4/5

Characters: 3/5

Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Thank you, Imran and Vanguard Press, for sending me this book for review!

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Interested? Sound like your type of book? Want something to make your toes curl in the middle of the night? The fantastic Imran from Meryl Moss Media Relations has kindly provided me with two copies of WORST NIGHTMARES--and they can be yours!

To enter, leave a comment below with the name of your favorite horror or thriller read (if you don't like those genres, explain why).

Extra entries:

+1 for following me (and letting me know below)

+1 for linking to me somewhere

Sorry, US and Canada only (these are BIG books!). This contest will end on Tuesday, June 30.

Review: Gone by Michael Grant

Tags: YA, thriller, sci-fi, dystopia, bullies

One minute life is normal at Perdido Beach for fourteen-year-old Sam and his friends. The next, everyone fifteen and older is gone in a blink, disappeared without a trace. The startled remaining kids must find some inner strength in order to survive in a world without adults.

For Sam, it isn’t just about survival, it’s also about racing against the clock. His fifteenth birthday is days away, and he needs to find out how to survive it without disappearing like the others did. Sam can’t just sit back and ponder about that particular moment, however. He and his new and old friends Quinn, Astrid, Edilio, and others must battle dim-witted local bullies such as Orc and his sidekick Howard, as well as face new challenges from the corrupt crew of Coates Academy kids—the private boarding school up the road said to house troubled rich kids—led by the power-hungry Caine.

To make matters even direr, it isn’t JUST about the bullies and the dangerous outsiders. More and more kids are discovering that they have impossible magical powers. These include the powers to heal, transport…and to destroy. The rift between the “freaks” and the “normals” widen, which Sam is afraid of, because they must all bond together in the face of a common impending doom…or else they will all perish.

Gone is a high-action, high-concept rollercoaster of a read. Don’t be daunted by its 500-plus pages; after all, Harry Potter books had more! Prepare to be excited and awed by the extent of Grant’s admittedly crazy imagination. I hugely enjoyed reading this novel and can't wait until the sequel, Hunger (a Gone Novel), comes out on May 26th!

You'll like this if you also like...
J. K. Rowling
Eoin Colfer
Suzanne Collins

Rating: 4/5

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Don't forget to check back very soon for news about my very first contest giveaway... (!)

Review: Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler

Brrr! The weather's been treacherous lately. An all-day icy rain turned the snow on the ground into slush. And then, of course, come nighttime, all the footprints in the snow iced over into miniature skating rinks, each and every one of them. Black ice all over the roads, so bad that my school even cancelled the shuttles for the night! It's made walking around treacherous. I feel like I'm having an adventure every time I step outside and try not to die on ice.

In order to "celebrate" the snow and ice, I've chosen a review for a very snowy and wintry book... =)

Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler

Tags: YA, mystery, thriller, supernatural

Dusty doesn't know anything about the boy who mysteriously calls her one night as he attempts to commit suicide, then startles her with all the personal things he knows about her and her life--like the disappearance of her brother, Josh. All she knows is that there is something terribly alluring yet dangerous about him at the same time. Her curiosity drags her into an out-of-this-world intriguing mystery that wins her enemies and drives her to her tomboyish limits.

For there really ARE a lot of things strange about the boy. Like how he knows all of these intimate details about people, even people he has never met before. Or how he disappears without a trace. And then there are the stories that the angry mob from other towns tell, of the boy having a particular hold over girls and then raping them, of him disarming or killing living beings with just one wave of his hand.

Dusty doesn't know how to feel about this boy. Her family, the cops, her friends, the mob--all are telling her to stay away from him, she is only going to implicate herself if she continues to mess things up so that it looks like she's helping him. But all Dusty is certain of is that the mysterious boy is the key to finding out what happened to Josh all those many years ago.

And for that, she can't stop getting involved, until her very life is in danger.

Frozen Fire is unusual and interesting. A lot happens at once and remains unexplained for many pages, which may confuse some readers (like me!), but it ends satisfactorily, although there are still questions left unanswered. For a mystery thriller that's out of the ordinary, pick up Frozen Fire.

You'll like this if you also like...

Neil Gaiman

Gail Giles (What Happened to Cass McBride?)

Rating: 2.5/5

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Name some snowy, wintry reads that you've enjoyed!