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A review by aldoregan
Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
3.0
“Sometimes the outside is safer than the inside.”
The thing about Young Adult Mystery novels is it’s always either a hit or miss for me, no in-betweens. And it’s kinda sad because most of the YA mystery contemporary books that I’ve read are underwhelming. I always try to lower my expectations whenever I read a book of that genre even if the blurb completely catches my interest. I try to stay in the safe zone so that I wouldn’t end up being disappointed. Little Monsters by Kara Thomas was not an exception. I can’t say if this was a hyped book because I was sort of off the grid from the book community at the time of its release, but I can say that a lot of the reviews that I read about this book were positive ones. Now, you’re probably thinking that after reading those reviews, I’ve hyped myself up for this book but you’re completely wrong. Like I said, staying on the safe zone. So I didn’t have any expectations when I started this book. I’m happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It’s certainly not the best mystery contemporary book out there, but it stood levels higher compared to its “peers” or its “co-genres”.
Little Monsters is a mixture of mystery and psychological thriller. I love the way that the story played with my mind. How it led me to theorize on what really happened and how it made me doubt the characters, even the main ones. I also love that the surprise factor was there. It didn’t fail to catch me off-guard. The characters were well-written, as well. Mental instabilities are evident throughout the book and it’s so interesting (and scary) to know what goes on in that kind of person’s head. There was also an element of misdirection which I think is a clever way to play with the readers. There was actually a moment when I thought (or assumed) that this would go in a Gone Girl direction and I could actually picture it clearly in my head. However, I am also glad that it didn’t go down that road and instead drove to an entirely different route.
This book had its weak points, but that doesn’t mean this wasn’t good. It was suspenseful, mysterious, thrilling, unpredictable. It gave me what I wanted from a mystery book and that’s what really matters.
The thing about Young Adult Mystery novels is it’s always either a hit or miss for me, no in-betweens. And it’s kinda sad because most of the YA mystery contemporary books that I’ve read are underwhelming. I always try to lower my expectations whenever I read a book of that genre even if the blurb completely catches my interest. I try to stay in the safe zone so that I wouldn’t end up being disappointed. Little Monsters by Kara Thomas was not an exception. I can’t say if this was a hyped book because I was sort of off the grid from the book community at the time of its release, but I can say that a lot of the reviews that I read about this book were positive ones. Now, you’re probably thinking that after reading those reviews, I’ve hyped myself up for this book but you’re completely wrong. Like I said, staying on the safe zone. So I didn’t have any expectations when I started this book. I’m happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It’s certainly not the best mystery contemporary book out there, but it stood levels higher compared to its “peers” or its “co-genres”.
Little Monsters is a mixture of mystery and psychological thriller. I love the way that the story played with my mind. How it led me to theorize on what really happened and how it made me doubt the characters, even the main ones. I also love that the surprise factor was there. It didn’t fail to catch me off-guard. The characters were well-written, as well. Mental instabilities are evident throughout the book and it’s so interesting (and scary) to know what goes on in that kind of person’s head. There was also an element of misdirection which I think is a clever way to play with the readers. There was actually a moment when I thought (or assumed) that this would go in a Gone Girl direction and I could actually picture it clearly in my head. However, I am also glad that it didn’t go down that road and instead drove to an entirely different route.
This book had its weak points, but that doesn’t mean this wasn’t good. It was suspenseful, mysterious, thrilling, unpredictable. It gave me what I wanted from a mystery book and that’s what really matters.