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A review by ihateprozac
Deadly by Sara Shepard
5.0
I have complained endlessly about this drawn out series, begging Sara Shepard to cut her losses and end it. We've been given filler book after filler book, solely so Sara Shepard can milk the cash cow and ride the coattails of the show's success. However, I'm happy to report that Deadly was so fantastic that it nearly redeems all the crap we've put up with!
This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. The girls are under more stress than ever with Noel falling victim to A and winding up in the hospital. The girls decide that enough is enough and confess everything to FBI Agent Jasmine Fuji, who places them under FBI protection which allows them to sleep soundly at night for the first time in years. Unfortunately 'A' brings it all crashing down, using their L337 hax0r skills to convince the FBI that the girls sent each 'A' note themselves. The security details are removed and the girls face extradition to Jamaica for the murder of Tabitha Clark. College applications are rejected, Hanna's father refuses to see her, and Emily's family are so horrid that she actually attempts suicide.
On the eve before their extradition to Jamaica, we finally get definitive proof that Alison is alive. By sheer coincidence the girls stumble across Ali's hideout, where we learn that she's had a helper since the night of the Poconos fire. We learn that Helper 'A' is Nick/Tripp Maxwell, a Preserve patient that Ali had seduced and whom Iris had been infatuated with.
Despite the girls never having met 'Nick' they all know him: he was Jackson the bartender that loaded underage Madison with drinks, the night Hanna veered off the road and framed her for drink driving. He was Derrick, Emily's confidante and Gayle Riggs' landscaper over the summer. He was Phineas the drug dealer who nearly landed Spencer on drug charges. He was Olaf in Iceland, who plied Aria with alcohol and encouraged her to steal a priceless Van Gogh.
While I scoffed at how Nick must have been near omnipotent and omnipresent to pull the ruse off, I'm glad that Helper 'A' didn't turn out to be some complete stranger. While he was not a connection I'd have ever made on my own, he had been mentioned by Iris early enough to still be plausible. Looking back I recall that he was described as wealthy and incredibly smart, so he wasn't just some dumb lackey who was infatuated with Ali.
Speaking of Ali - could she have been anymore perfect? She's no longer the beautiful queen bee the girls remember her as; she's covered in scars with rotting teeth, protruding bones and brittle hair. She's exactly what you'd picture a bitter, vengeful, deranged teenage murderess to look like. I'd half hoped she'd show up with a reconstructed face full of plastic, but this was much better.
Frustratingly, Ali manages to evade justice once again. While Nick is arrested for the torment and attemped murder of the Pretty Little Liars, Ali escapes and makes it to a safehouse. It's revealed that Ali cared little for Nick, siphoning off his trust fund and sending video footage of him killing Tabitha Clark to the FBI. All the while Nick protects Ali by denying that she's alive, claiming that he acted alone to exact vengeance for Ali's death in the Poconos.
Because Sara Shepard still has more books to write, she leaves the ending ambiguous with Ali claiming that she'll live to kill the Liars another day. And y'know what? I ain't half mad. While I was incredibly surprised and satisfied by the answers we got in this novel, I want to see the Liars take down Ali once and for all. I want her carted screaming off to prison, madness plain on her face for all to see.
And I want to see the Liars pick up the pieces of their broken lives. I want to see where they turn now that no college will have them. I want to see how they're treated by the people of Rosewood, who were so quick to cast them out as pariahs. I want to see if Emily can ever repair the relationship with her family, when they've subjected her to such pain and humiliation over the years. I don't see this torturous ride as something one can ever truly recover from, and I hope Sara Shepard does the girls justice.
Overall: I have no doubt that Sara Shepard has lost readers along the way, but it's worth putting up with the absolute rubbish for the groundbreaking revelations we get in this book. Our patience as readers is rewarded and we finally get definitive proof that Alison is alive and hasn't been acting alone! And while we get solid answers and good closure, the ending is so tantalisingly ambiguous that I can't wait for Sara Shepard to write more. I need to see Alison die once and for all!
This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. The girls are under more stress than ever with Noel falling victim to A and winding up in the hospital. The girls decide that enough is enough and confess everything to FBI Agent Jasmine Fuji, who places them under FBI protection which allows them to sleep soundly at night for the first time in years. Unfortunately 'A' brings it all crashing down, using their L337 hax0r skills to convince the FBI that the girls sent each 'A' note themselves. The security details are removed and the girls face extradition to Jamaica for the murder of Tabitha Clark. College applications are rejected, Hanna's father refuses to see her, and Emily's family are so horrid that she actually attempts suicide.
On the eve before their extradition to Jamaica, we finally get definitive proof that Alison is alive. By sheer coincidence the girls stumble across Ali's hideout, where we learn that she's had a helper since the night of the Poconos fire. We learn that Helper 'A' is Nick/Tripp Maxwell, a Preserve patient that Ali had seduced and whom Iris had been infatuated with.
Despite the girls never having met 'Nick' they all know him: he was Jackson the bartender that loaded underage Madison with drinks, the night Hanna veered off the road and framed her for drink driving. He was Derrick, Emily's confidante and Gayle Riggs' landscaper over the summer. He was Phineas the drug dealer who nearly landed Spencer on drug charges. He was Olaf in Iceland, who plied Aria with alcohol and encouraged her to steal a priceless Van Gogh.
While I scoffed at how Nick must have been near omnipotent and omnipresent to pull the ruse off, I'm glad that Helper 'A' didn't turn out to be some complete stranger. While he was not a connection I'd have ever made on my own, he had been mentioned by Iris early enough to still be plausible. Looking back I recall that he was described as wealthy and incredibly smart, so he wasn't just some dumb lackey who was infatuated with Ali.
Speaking of Ali - could she have been anymore perfect? She's no longer the beautiful queen bee the girls remember her as; she's covered in scars with rotting teeth, protruding bones and brittle hair. She's exactly what you'd picture a bitter, vengeful, deranged teenage murderess to look like. I'd half hoped she'd show up with a reconstructed face full of plastic, but this was much better.
Frustratingly, Ali manages to evade justice once again. While Nick is arrested for the torment and attemped murder of the Pretty Little Liars, Ali escapes and makes it to a safehouse. It's revealed that Ali cared little for Nick, siphoning off his trust fund and sending video footage of him killing Tabitha Clark to the FBI. All the while Nick protects Ali by denying that she's alive, claiming that he acted alone to exact vengeance for Ali's death in the Poconos.
Because Sara Shepard still has more books to write, she leaves the ending ambiguous with Ali claiming that she'll live to kill the Liars another day. And y'know what? I ain't half mad. While I was incredibly surprised and satisfied by the answers we got in this novel, I want to see the Liars take down Ali once and for all. I want her carted screaming off to prison, madness plain on her face for all to see.
And I want to see the Liars pick up the pieces of their broken lives. I want to see where they turn now that no college will have them. I want to see how they're treated by the people of Rosewood, who were so quick to cast them out as pariahs. I want to see if Emily can ever repair the relationship with her family, when they've subjected her to such pain and humiliation over the years. I don't see this torturous ride as something one can ever truly recover from, and I hope Sara Shepard does the girls justice.
Overall: I have no doubt that Sara Shepard has lost readers along the way, but it's worth putting up with the absolute rubbish for the groundbreaking revelations we get in this book. Our patience as readers is rewarded and we finally get definitive proof that Alison is alive and hasn't been acting alone! And while we get solid answers and good closure, the ending is so tantalisingly ambiguous that I can't wait for Sara Shepard to write more. I need to see Alison die once and for all!