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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
The premise of this book held a lot of potential, but was executed really poorly. The book centres around a viral meme which encourages teenagers in a small fishing town to re-share and reveal their biggest death fear (i.e. scariest way to die). The bodies of two teenagers from the local high school are found dead, killed in the way of their death fear. Izzy, the protagonist, is the first person to find one of the bodies and is plagued by the need to find the killer.
The first half of the book has significant pacing issues. After the first two bodies are found, nothing really happens. Instead, the reader is forced to read 20 chapters or so of mere conversations between characters. It is frustratingly cyclical. First, Izzy has a conversation with a classmate. Second, she spirals into repetitive inner thoughts such as "Could Axel/Justin/Tristan have really done _____?", "What is he/she hiding?" etc. Nothing useful is revealed here. The first half would have been more interesting if we were shown more thoroughly how Izzy was coping with the deaths, or revealed a convincing motive for why she spends the rest of the book recklessly inserting herself into the investigation of a literal serial killer targeting her, her friends, and her family. Instead, we get an overly suspicious Izzy who thinks every living breathing human in town is potentially the killer. At one stage, she even suspects that a policeman cut her tyre and was the killer. Clearly, the author is attempting to build tension, but it is just annoying, repetitive, and ineffective.
Izzy herself is by far one of the most frustrating main characters I have ever had the displeasure of reading through the lens of. She is a pick-me which makes her insufferable from the first page. Though, the most frustrating part is her lack of self-awareness. She repeatedly accuses Axel of being the killer and tells police information that makes him look suspicious, yet cannot seem to understand why he is mad at her. Every time something related to the murders happens, she is there or is involved somehow, but is still confused and offended when police find this pattern suspicious. At one point, she says "do they know something we don't?" referring to the police. Yes, Izzy. They are seasoned professionals and you are a school girl who has no access to the evidence or case files.
In addition to this, there is no fleshed out backstory provided for any of the characters. They are so shallow in their characterisation making it hard to root for them, mourn their deaths, or be shocked that they are the killer. For example, Justin makes an offhand comment about his parents potentially being abusive, but this is never elaborated on. The killer mentions that people in town turned a blind eye to the abuse he endured and hailed his dad as a hero, but no specific examples other than the Leah one are given. A lot of the characters are mere clichés and never grew beyond this. When the storyline centres around characters dying, the reader needs to connect with the characters otherwise there is just no impact, which was the case here.
The ending was lazy. I LOVE a cliffhanger ending, but it is a sin to deny your readers a proper pay off. Not only do we not know if Izzy lives or dies (which I don't really mind), we have no idea what Axel's motives were for collaborating with Tristan. Was he also mad about his childhood? Did he kill Tristan's mum and love the feeling? We are also never given a proper explanation as to why they were so infatuated with Izzy and killed her dearest friends despite her being so kind to the both of them. Killing her two best friends is so out of place, and surely would only make her more invested in figuring out who the killer is? The ending was lazy writing, emphasising shock value over tying up the storyline.
The only redeeming factor about this book is that Izzy was most likely killed. 1 star just for that.
Spoiler
The first half of the book has significant pacing issues. After the first two bodies are found, nothing really happens. Instead, the reader is forced to read 20 chapters or so of mere conversations between characters. It is frustratingly cyclical. First, Izzy has a conversation with a classmate. Second, she spirals into repetitive inner thoughts such as "Could Axel/Justin/Tristan have really done _____?", "What is he/she hiding?" etc. Nothing useful is revealed here. The first half would have been more interesting if we were shown more thoroughly how Izzy was coping with the deaths, or revealed a convincing motive for why she spends the rest of the book recklessly inserting herself into the investigation of a literal serial killer targeting her, her friends, and her family. Instead, we get an overly suspicious Izzy who thinks every living breathing human in town is potentially the killer. At one stage, she even suspects that a policeman cut her tyre and was the killer. Clearly, the author is attempting to build tension, but it is just annoying, repetitive, and ineffective.
Izzy herself is by far one of the most frustrating main characters I have ever had the displeasure of reading through the lens of. She is a pick-me which makes her insufferable from the first page. Though, the most frustrating part is her lack of self-awareness. She repeatedly accuses Axel of being the killer and tells police information that makes him look suspicious, yet cannot seem to understand why he is mad at her. Every time something related to the murders happens, she is there or is involved somehow, but is still confused and offended when police find this pattern suspicious. At one point, she says "do they know something we don't?" referring to the police. Yes, Izzy. They are seasoned professionals and you are a school girl who has no access to the evidence or case files.
In addition to this, there is no fleshed out backstory provided for any of the characters. They are so shallow in their characterisation making it hard to root for them, mourn their deaths, or be shocked that they are the killer. For example, Justin makes an offhand comment about his parents potentially being abusive, but this is never elaborated on. The killer mentions that people in town turned a blind eye to the abuse he endured and hailed his dad as a hero, but no specific examples other than the Leah one are given. A lot of the characters are mere clichés and never grew beyond this. When the storyline centres around characters dying, the reader needs to connect with the characters otherwise there is just no impact, which was the case here.
The ending was lazy. I LOVE a cliffhanger ending, but it is a sin to deny your readers a proper pay off. Not only do we not know if Izzy lives or dies (which I don't really mind), we have no idea what Axel's motives were for collaborating with Tristan. Was he also mad about his childhood? Did he kill Tristan's mum and love the feeling? We are also never given a proper explanation as to why they were so infatuated with Izzy and killed her dearest friends despite her being so kind to the both of them. Killing her two best friends is so out of place, and surely would only make her more invested in figuring out who the killer is? The ending was lazy writing, emphasising shock value over tying up the storyline.
The only redeeming factor about this book is that Izzy was most likely killed. 1 star just for that.
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very easy and quick read! My first experience reading Preston, and I have a few more already ordered and on their way!
That ending though!
That ending though!
dark
tense
fast-paced
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
i have never rated a book 1/10 before but i genuinely could not think of a single thing i enjoyed about this. or even a single thing that i didn't Dislike.
It was an amazing book! Very suspenseful and I didn't want to put it down. I couldn't stop once I started. I can't wait to read more books by her
I officially love this author's books! I read The Island before this one and it is one of my favorite reads of the year so far.
I'm blown away by the ending! So incredibly well done. I thought I had it figured out but wow, the execution of the twists were chefs kiss! It'll take me awhile to fully take in that ending
I'm blown away by the ending! So incredibly well done. I thought I had it figured out but wow, the execution of the twists were chefs kiss! It'll take me awhile to fully take in that ending
The premise of the story was really interesting. But I think I’m just not into YA thrillers anymore. It just always feels like a watered down version of what could be a really good book. I’m also not a huge fan of Natasha Preston‘s slasher movie cliffhanger endings. I feel like they come across better on screen than they do in reading a book. Definitely wasn’t the worst of Preston’s books I’ve ever read, but I still ended the book feeling like it could have been better.
mysterious
tense
fast-paced