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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
Wow. I could not put this book down once I started it. The ending was unexpected too. I'll write an actual review later.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fast paced thriller, I had suspicions as to what the big twist would be, however, I enjoyed the fact that it was not any of the ideas I'd guessed. However, I didn't really enjoy the conclusion to the story, it felt a tad rushed and I didn't like the direction the author took the character.
Oh, I just see here that I had this book on my dropped shelf.
I picked it up today and read this book in one sitting because I just had to know.
The story is engaging and manages to keep you on the edge and whenever you think you have it figured it out everything turns on its head.
Really enjoyed it.
I picked it up today and read this book in one sitting because I just had to know.
The story is engaging and manages to keep you on the edge and whenever you think you have it figured it out everything turns on its head.
Really enjoyed it.
I enjoyed most of the book, but the ending was not satisfying. There weren't enough hints to make her mother a reasonable suspect. I also didn't like Belinda. I felt that her character wasn't necessary. I liked Dr. Issa more than Zach too, but it was very out of character for him to suggest Lane beat up Belinda. Also, how would he explain how he knew she could? I liked most of the cases she went after except the animal-abuser one. I didn't like Daisy, partially because her character changed so much.
Killer Instinct sounded intriguing from the description so I started it hoping the intrigue would continue. It did. Lane is a high school student, with urges that most people, like Lane, keep secret. She is fascinated by serial killers, and is considering how to become one herself.
Lane’s story unfolds as she begins to learn more about her past, and the lies that are held there. Her urges may be hereditary, but without knowing the truth about her past, she can’t determine how to step forward into the future. While trying to find herself, she discovers that most things she’s always believed aren’t true. When the infamous serial killer “the Decapitator” has a victim in her city, Lane follows her curiosity and discovers things she would have never thought were true.
In keeping my review spoiler free, I don’t want to give many more details. I was convinced that I had figured out the killer about halfway through the book, but was pleasantly surprised at the twist, and ending of the book. Lane finally learns the truth about herself, and the serial killer is caught. This book is part of a series, but stands alone very well and is enjoyable without rushing to get the next book.
Lane’s story unfolds as she begins to learn more about her past, and the lies that are held there. Her urges may be hereditary, but without knowing the truth about her past, she can’t determine how to step forward into the future. While trying to find herself, she discovers that most things she’s always believed aren’t true. When the infamous serial killer “the Decapitator” has a victim in her city, Lane follows her curiosity and discovers things she would have never thought were true.
In keeping my review spoiler free, I don’t want to give many more details. I was convinced that I had figured out the killer about halfway through the book, but was pleasantly surprised at the twist, and ending of the book. Lane finally learns the truth about herself, and the serial killer is caught. This book is part of a series, but stands alone very well and is enjoyable without rushing to get the next book.
Hmmm ... this was fairly fast moving and kept my interest. Not exactly sure why some of the stuff was included, seemed a little odd. I listened to the audio edition. This was NOT one I could have had playing with the boys around. Lots of explicit (but not romantic) sexual stuff, language and violence. While it was supposed to be this big mystery with a big twist/reveal ... eh, I wasn't particularly surprised, although the book did lead the reader to suspect multiple people.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This one is billed as "Dexter, but YA. And Dexter is a girl," which is pretty much on the nose.
I kind of liked the narrator's detached, sociopath-y attitude. The rest was generic Serial Killer Whodunit... except for a fairly unexpected, completely shocking ending. One part of Lane's character development I had trouble with...
Also, that sexy library scene? Yowza. Probably dropped my jaw more than the conclusion.
(I am apparently super prudish this week? Apologies...)
I kind of liked the narrator's detached, sociopath-y attitude. The rest was generic Serial Killer Whodunit... except for a fairly unexpected, completely shocking ending. One part of Lane's character development I had trouble with...
Spoiler
was she really born sociopathic, or did her sociopathic tendencies grow from her traumatic childhood incident? For much of the book, Lane believes she's just born different, but then the trauma is revealed to her and suddenly she thinks the trauma led her to be sociopathic. The story never really lands on one or the other, but this seemed to be a little questionable to me...Also, that sexy library scene? Yowza. Probably dropped my jaw more than the conclusion.
(I am apparently super prudish this week? Apologies...)
This book is amazing. I loved it and I need to get my hands on the second one as soon as possible. It has a crazy plot twist that you will never see coming.
First Reactions 3/20/14: This could have been so much more developed and so much more original. I actually was incredibly curious towards the end but the feeling of constantly ripping off Dexter really irritated me the whole book. I found waaaaay too many direct parallels to season one and I feel like people who were a fan of the show will easily pick up on that.
There was random content in there that I didn't see as appropriate at all...? Considering it's a YA book, I thought there were a few too many sexual references and/or situations that really served no purpose in the book, described a bit too graphically. (Mostly Daisy's escapades, but even Lane's and even her mother's... Just too much and for what reason?)
I actually would have given it four stars if not for the numerous Dexter parallels because I really did race through this book to find out exactly what happens and who the serial killer really was. It held my interest and had me hurrying to finish (in a good way), but there were just too many little things that had me knock it down.
I also feel like there could have been SO SO SO much more depth to ALL of these characters, Lane especially. And I'm not just saying that because she's dark, she's "messed up" and something is wrong with her. Even with a tendency to be less emotional or not emotional at all, she's still capable of logic and reason and complex thoughts. I felt like she fell very flat and I could have gotten so much more into the characters.
Just lots of little things for me to pick at here. I think three stars is fairly accurate.
Review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide 4/23/14: Sometimes I have a craving for a dark story. I admit that I actually never finished watching Dexter due to lack of premium channels and time (you know, reading takes priority!) and I actually only read the first book in the actual Dexter series on which the show was based because I had seen the show already and it was spot on with the events of the first book. That left things to be a bit anticlimactic and repetitive. Anyway, Dexter confessions aside, of course I was excited to hear about this new book called Killer Instinct which was being described as a YA Dexter-type. Exciting, right? Well, I was very anxious to dive in to a dark, creepy, and possibly horrifying book but what I read was all together disappointing.
I’ve come off worse with disappointing books but the weird thing was that it wasn’t lack misleading advertisement that lead me to be let down by KILLER INSTINCT — it was the fact that it lived up to be exactly what it was advertised as. YA Dexter. A little too closely. Yes, yes, I understand that there are only so many ways you can really write a story from a serial killer(or in this case, an individual considering becoming a serial killer)’s point of view. My issue was that there seemed to be entirely too many direct parallels that I spotted to DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER (book one in the series) and season 1 of the TV show. If you’ve seen the show (which is probably more liking than having read the book, so it seems), you can probably spot the parallels pretty easily as well. I counted no less than four things that happened EXACTLY and there were several smaller things that lined up as well. I won’t mention them in the review in case you haven’t seen the TV show and want to read the book because they will come as a surprise — I would actually imagine this book would go much better for people who aren’t fans of the show because things may be much more surprising and entertaining. It just felt entirely unoriginal and I felt like the author could have done a better job coming up with some more dynamic scenes that didn’t follow so closely to the Dexter story line.
I’ve seen several reviews that complain about lack of connection to Lane’s character (she would be our wannabe serial killer in question) but really, that didn’t bother me. I took Lane for who she was — a girl with a darkness inside of her which often goes hand-in-hand with a lack of emotional presence in her day-to-day life. Yes, sometimes she was very awkward, but I took that social ineptitude as part of her personality as well as her different mental state. There were some very weird moments (one in particular that I can’t believe I’ve read in two different YA books, but okay), but Lane doesn’t always really think the same way that other people do and I think her lack of emotional connection to most people creates a general sense of apathy both in her personal feelings as well as how her narration would genuinely come across.
I hate to compare to other reviews and I know this will be the second time I’m doing it, but it’s a point that didn’t bother me for the same reason and I feel the need to bring it up — slut shaming. I really don’t even like the term “slut shaming”, personally, but obviously I understand people’s averse reaction to it and I noticed complaints of slut shaming in this book. Lane’s younger sister (I think she’s fifteen?) is very promiscuous and Lane actually calls her a slut in the book. This didn’t really bother me since I was in Lane’s mindset and already felt a sort of closed-off mentality towards the emotions of others and how thoughts and statements like that really affect people. I’m not making excuses for it, but merely looking at it feeling like, “Yeah, okay, I can get why if she’s thinking about killing people and making a habit of it, she probably doesn’t care about calling her sister who she doesn’t even get along with a slut.” Take that as you will, but I was not as offended by it seeing as I felt it was true to her character. Although I will say that I don’t know why her sister’s promiscuity even needed to be a part of the book. It was a bit explicit and that along with a couple other sexually explicit scenes seemed unnecessary to include. Granted, a book about a serial killer will already be geared toward and older teenage audience versus the younger groups, but even still, seemed to take things up a notch into more adult elements than young adult.
All that being said… Well, I don’t have any clearer of an opinion about this book. I’m still very torn between having finished the book in a day and racing to see how it ended and feeling of overall disappointment in how everything progressed and how it all wrapped up in the end. I feel like it was entertaining but I’m finding it extremely hard to say I would recommend it because I sincerely felt that the Dexter parallels were all too frequent, there were a few bizarre moments that didn’t sit right with me, and the ending felt downright weird. Usually after writing my reviews, I get a clearer picture of my overall feelings but this one still feels like a jumbled mess of thoughts.
There was random content in there that I didn't see as appropriate at all...? Considering it's a YA book, I thought there were a few too many sexual references and/or situations that really served no purpose in the book, described a bit too graphically. (Mostly Daisy's escapades, but even Lane's and even her mother's... Just too much and for what reason?)
I actually would have given it four stars if not for the numerous Dexter parallels because I really did race through this book to find out exactly what happens and who the serial killer really was. It held my interest and had me hurrying to finish (in a good way), but there were just too many little things that had me knock it down.
I also feel like there could have been SO SO SO much more depth to ALL of these characters, Lane especially. And I'm not just saying that because she's dark, she's "messed up" and something is wrong with her. Even with a tendency to be less emotional or not emotional at all, she's still capable of logic and reason and complex thoughts. I felt like she fell very flat and I could have gotten so much more into the characters.
Just lots of little things for me to pick at here. I think three stars is fairly accurate.
Review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide 4/23/14: Sometimes I have a craving for a dark story. I admit that I actually never finished watching Dexter due to lack of premium channels and time (you know, reading takes priority!) and I actually only read the first book in the actual Dexter series on which the show was based because I had seen the show already and it was spot on with the events of the first book. That left things to be a bit anticlimactic and repetitive. Anyway, Dexter confessions aside, of course I was excited to hear about this new book called Killer Instinct which was being described as a YA Dexter-type. Exciting, right? Well, I was very anxious to dive in to a dark, creepy, and possibly horrifying book but what I read was all together disappointing.
I’ve come off worse with disappointing books but the weird thing was that it wasn’t lack misleading advertisement that lead me to be let down by KILLER INSTINCT — it was the fact that it lived up to be exactly what it was advertised as. YA Dexter. A little too closely. Yes, yes, I understand that there are only so many ways you can really write a story from a serial killer(or in this case, an individual considering becoming a serial killer)’s point of view. My issue was that there seemed to be entirely too many direct parallels that I spotted to DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER (book one in the series) and season 1 of the TV show. If you’ve seen the show (which is probably more liking than having read the book, so it seems), you can probably spot the parallels pretty easily as well. I counted no less than four things that happened EXACTLY and there were several smaller things that lined up as well. I won’t mention them in the review in case you haven’t seen the TV show and want to read the book because they will come as a surprise — I would actually imagine this book would go much better for people who aren’t fans of the show because things may be much more surprising and entertaining. It just felt entirely unoriginal and I felt like the author could have done a better job coming up with some more dynamic scenes that didn’t follow so closely to the Dexter story line.
I’ve seen several reviews that complain about lack of connection to Lane’s character (she would be our wannabe serial killer in question) but really, that didn’t bother me. I took Lane for who she was — a girl with a darkness inside of her which often goes hand-in-hand with a lack of emotional presence in her day-to-day life. Yes, sometimes she was very awkward, but I took that social ineptitude as part of her personality as well as her different mental state. There were some very weird moments (one in particular that I can’t believe I’ve read in two different YA books, but okay), but Lane doesn’t always really think the same way that other people do and I think her lack of emotional connection to most people creates a general sense of apathy both in her personal feelings as well as how her narration would genuinely come across.
I hate to compare to other reviews and I know this will be the second time I’m doing it, but it’s a point that didn’t bother me for the same reason and I feel the need to bring it up — slut shaming. I really don’t even like the term “slut shaming”, personally, but obviously I understand people’s averse reaction to it and I noticed complaints of slut shaming in this book. Lane’s younger sister (I think she’s fifteen?) is very promiscuous and Lane actually calls her a slut in the book. This didn’t really bother me since I was in Lane’s mindset and already felt a sort of closed-off mentality towards the emotions of others and how thoughts and statements like that really affect people. I’m not making excuses for it, but merely looking at it feeling like, “Yeah, okay, I can get why if she’s thinking about killing people and making a habit of it, she probably doesn’t care about calling her sister who she doesn’t even get along with a slut.” Take that as you will, but I was not as offended by it seeing as I felt it was true to her character. Although I will say that I don’t know why her sister’s promiscuity even needed to be a part of the book. It was a bit explicit and that along with a couple other sexually explicit scenes seemed unnecessary to include. Granted, a book about a serial killer will already be geared toward and older teenage audience versus the younger groups, but even still, seemed to take things up a notch into more adult elements than young adult.
All that being said… Well, I don’t have any clearer of an opinion about this book. I’m still very torn between having finished the book in a day and racing to see how it ended and feeling of overall disappointment in how everything progressed and how it all wrapped up in the end. I feel like it was entertaining but I’m finding it extremely hard to say I would recommend it because I sincerely felt that the Dexter parallels were all too frequent, there were a few bizarre moments that didn’t sit right with me, and the ending felt downright weird. Usually after writing my reviews, I get a clearer picture of my overall feelings but this one still feels like a jumbled mess of thoughts.