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leehillier's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Pregnancy, Violence, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Dementia
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Gun violence
skruetny's review
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Simply put, Brown's writing is incredible; the story itself? Not so much. I really enjoyed Mona being the had-boiled detective character though. It was great to see a F/F relationship, but it felt a little sudden.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Child abuse
Moderate: Grief, Death, and Blood
Minor: Rape
grace_lola14's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
though the story and the pacing was a little messy from time-to-time, i found that i barely even cared. the prose was delicious and, in fact, many of the flaws in the organisation of the novel (skipping between rushing through major plot points, half-dipping into characters and then abruptly dropping out, scraping the surface and never really reaching out beyond the confusing shroud of mona’s head) actually just further enhanced my experience and understanding of mona as a character. because of this, her trauma was so tangible that it truly left a print on me for a while after reading. my only real wish was that peyton wasn’t left hanging so completely at the end, and that there was some sort of resolution or reconciliation of her relationship with mona still, no one does YA like savannah brown
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
miserablesplendor's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In this era of true crime podcasts and Buzzfeed Unsolved, Mona Perry may only be a seventeen-year-old but already she lives and breathes the life of a detective noir, chain-smoking in shadowy alleyways and fighting temptation in the form of femme fatales.
Determined to solve the thirty-year-old mystery behind the disappearance of up-and-coming pop star Roxy Raines, Mona runs away to the quiet town of Sandown—where Roxy once lived—and tries to break apart the mystery no one is willing to solve. But turns out Roxy’s disappearance has more to the eye than it seems, and it may even be tied to the disappearance of her own sister.
I have been a fan of author Savannah Brown since she rose to fame with her spoken word poem What Guys Look For In Girls and her debut novel The Truth About Keeping Secrets is one of my favourite books. I had been eagerly counting down the days til I could get my hands on The Things We Don’t See and it took me a week of searching before I could even find it in a bookstore.
In true Savannah Brown fashion, her novel is full of lyrical prose describing the disappearance of Roxy Raines and the overly-quiet town of Sandown that seems to be determined to keep the pop star’s disappearance under wraps. Every line is carefully constructed to build the exact atmosphere that Brown is going for, leaving me on the edge of my seat as I devoured the pages in an effort to find out what happened to Roxy and Mona’s own sister.
A true shining star, Mona is so utterly compelling in her drive to solve the mystery that even in all of her seventeen-year-old unlikeablity, and Sherlockian-lack of empathy in favour of the case, she is still so interesting that I can’t help but root for her. Mona is an excellent detective, and her findings and thought processes are so cleverly explained that even I (serial confused detective’s assistant) was able to crack the case beside her.
The clues are all cleverly woven into the narrative, but even so all the twists are beautifully orchestrated, unforeseeable but still plausible.
Despite The Things We Don’t See being classified as a Young Adult novel (due to the age of the protagonist), this is definitely a book that is enjoyable by all ages. Its intellect and themes would not be out of place in an Adult fiction novel and the only thing stopping Brown’s novels from being classed as such is just the ages of the characters.
At this point, halfway through the year, I can definitely say that The Things We Don’t See is one of the best releases of the year and that everyone should be running to the bookstores to pick this up, or at the very least, sprinting to StoryGraphs so as to add it to their TBR list.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
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