You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
snazzybooks 's review for:
The Search Party
by Simon Lelic
Book reviews on www.snazzybooks.com
I'm a big fan of Simon Lelic's novels and, from previous experience, I knew to expect atmosphere and twists - both of which were served up by the bucketload in this intriguing novel!
The plot starts with a real bang: a transcript of an emergency call, where someone is in trouble in the woods, but the chaotic nature of the call means we don't know what is happening or who exactly is involved...
We then follow Detective Fleet, who is investigating the disappearance of teenager Sadie, and the subsequent havoc which ensued after a group of Sadie's friends decided to launch their own 'search party' in the woods. The story flicks between the present day investigation and the stories told to police by the teenagers themselves. In doing this, we get an insight into the teenager's thoughts and feelings.
I have to say, I found the young people in this novel pretty annoying! Perhaps I'm just a bit old, but a lot of what they said and how they behaved reminded me why I don't often read stories about young adults (sorry to all YA books). This isn't to diminish the story, however - I think it just highlights the typical social interaction and dimensions of a group of teenagers vs. a group of adults, and adds to the confusion when Fleet is trying to work out motives etc. Plus the fact that they just decided the police weren't doing a good enough job at investigating Sadie's disappearance, and thought they could do better, feels so typical of teenagers!
I really liked Fleet - he is a great character with enough back story to keep the reader interested, but without being too dramatic or over the top. He is determined and feels reliable.
There's plenty of atmosphere throughout this novel, particularly as the group of teenagers go further and further into the woods, and things start to get a bit strange... I loved the sense of menace that Simon Lelic creates. I'm not sure if it can beat his other two novels, which blew me away, but I'd definitely recommend The Search Party as an intriguing, entertaining read!
Many thanks to the publisher, Viking, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.
I'm a big fan of Simon Lelic's novels and, from previous experience, I knew to expect atmosphere and twists - both of which were served up by the bucketload in this intriguing novel!
The plot starts with a real bang: a transcript of an emergency call, where someone is in trouble in the woods, but the chaotic nature of the call means we don't know what is happening or who exactly is involved...
We then follow Detective Fleet, who is investigating the disappearance of teenager Sadie, and the subsequent havoc which ensued after a group of Sadie's friends decided to launch their own 'search party' in the woods. The story flicks between the present day investigation and the stories told to police by the teenagers themselves. In doing this, we get an insight into the teenager's thoughts and feelings.
I have to say, I found the young people in this novel pretty annoying! Perhaps I'm just a bit old, but a lot of what they said and how they behaved reminded me why I don't often read stories about young adults (sorry to all YA books). This isn't to diminish the story, however - I think it just highlights the typical social interaction and dimensions of a group of teenagers vs. a group of adults, and adds to the confusion when Fleet is trying to work out motives etc. Plus the fact that they just decided the police weren't doing a good enough job at investigating Sadie's disappearance, and thought they could do better, feels so typical of teenagers!
I really liked Fleet - he is a great character with enough back story to keep the reader interested, but without being too dramatic or over the top. He is determined and feels reliable.
There's plenty of atmosphere throughout this novel, particularly as the group of teenagers go further and further into the woods, and things start to get a bit strange... I loved the sense of menace that Simon Lelic creates. I'm not sure if it can beat his other two novels, which blew me away, but I'd definitely recommend The Search Party as an intriguing, entertaining read!
Many thanks to the publisher, Viking, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.