Scan barcode
A review by cas_reads_anything
Six Truths and a Lie by Ream Shukairy
3.25
As a contemporary YA thriller, I think this is a success. The characters each have a distinct voice and none of them have the information that is needed to figure out what happens with the central mystery, so you are forced along for the ride to try and piece things together. The prose starts off a little in its own head; overly purple at first and repetitive, but gets stronger and clearer as the text goes. The plot itself has twists and turns and was quite interesting, and everything is wrapped up in the end in a way that was satisfying.
However, it also falls short in a few areas. Obviously this is fiction, so you should not expect legal accuracy, but some of the glaring inaccuracies regarding how the (very flawed) real criminal justice system works were a distraction, particularly where how things were depicted made little sense. My biggest issues were with the cartoon-esque FBI villain; not only were her actions confusing, but I actually think they would have been more impactful if she had been less exaggeratedly evil and instead more banal. The second was the main defense attorney, whose representation throughout had me scratching my head. I really don’t understand why she, in particular, would have been in the post-trial phase at all. I also struggled with the prose in a number of places, particularly when it was trying to emphasize the dramatic nature of events or keep something from the reader for the sake of the future twist in the story. Some of that got a little over the top or convoluted.
Overall I enjoyed the twists and turns of this. If you struggle in the first few chapters, I would say it gets better (but not TOO different) as it finds its stride so it may be worth giving the book a bit more of a chance.
However, it also falls short in a few areas. Obviously this is fiction, so you should not expect legal accuracy, but some of the glaring inaccuracies regarding how the (very flawed) real criminal justice system works were a distraction, particularly where how things were depicted made little sense. My biggest issues were with the cartoon-esque FBI villain; not only were her actions confusing, but I actually think they would have been more impactful if she had been less exaggeratedly evil and instead more banal. The second was the main defense attorney, whose representation throughout had me scratching my head. I really don’t understand why she, in particular, would have been in the post-trial phase at all. I also struggled with the prose in a number of places, particularly when it was trying to emphasize the dramatic nature of events or keep something from the reader for the sake of the future twist in the story. Some of that got a little over the top or convoluted.
Overall I enjoyed the twists and turns of this. If you struggle in the first few chapters, I would say it gets better (but not TOO different) as it finds its stride so it may be worth giving the book a bit more of a chance.