Scan barcode
A review by nicolem_young
The Fear by Natasha Preston
2.0
Book/Story: ⭐️⭐️
Book Cover: ⭐️⭐⭐
Trigger Warning(s): Murder
Child abuse (off page)
POV: Dual, First Person
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Trope(s): whodunit (barely)
Spice: None
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller
Debut Novel: No
Slow or Fast Burn: Fast
Safe or Dark: Safe
Release Date: March 1, 2022
The internet is a scary place. The fact that we can post one sentence, photo, or video and the whole world can see it is an unsettling thought. We don’t know where our lives on the interweb end up or who might get their hands on it.
We are often warned about the dangers of online posting, but how often do we truly heed those warnings? I mean, here we are posting our reading habits and reviews on an online platform as we speak.
My parents used to always say, “Be careful what you post online.” I get it now.
This was a fast read with an interesting concept. I enjoyed the use of a viral internet meme. I was able to read big chunks at a time in one sitting. The writing was easy to follow, and the conversations and such between the characters weren’t bad and realistic enough for teenagers.
However, there were issues with this book that I would like to address:
- Terminology: I believe Natasha Preston was born and still resides in England. I love England, so that’s wonderful. This book is clearly set in the United States with American characters. At least that’s the vibe I got. That’s cool too. I love when authors branch out and write about different geographical locations. What bothered me about this was that the terminology that Preston used was not always “common American terms." She used soccer instead of football. Which again is cool; that is generally what we called that particular sport in the USA. But to describe a field, she used the word “pitch.” I’m not saying Americans are morons; we know words are used differently in other countries. Most of us know that what others call a “pitch” is what we call a "field." With that being said, that particular word is hardly (if ever) used here. So, it really didn’t make sense to use a term not common in the USA when writing about towns and their inhabitants set there. I don’t know; maybe that just bothered me.
Hockey is supposedly this town's be-all and end-all of sports. Again, I LOVE ice hockey, so that’s great. But the author could have done some research before writing about this. The book never goes into detail about the games and such; the National Hockey League was mentioned once or twice, as well as the minor American Hockey League. But we never get to the nitty-gritty of it. Now, folks, I have been watching hockey since the ripe old age of nine. I am now in my mid-thirties, and in all my years on this earth, I’ve NEVER once heard of an ice hockey rink referred to as an "ice hockey pitch." I mean, it’s not even a field; in reality, it’s a RINK. So, the fact that the tables in the local diner were decorated as an "ice hockey pitch” absolutely blew my mind; it floored me. Surely, for a town so invested in the sport, the people living there would know what a rink is. Again, maybe that only bothered me.
- Unrealistic Situations: Three individual teenagers in this town are parentless for one reason or another. Which unfortunately does happen in real life. That wasn’t an issue for me. What was an issue was the fact that these seventeen and barely eighteen-year-olds were living on their own with no adult supervision. Surely, that’s illegal. How are they surviving? How are they paying their bills and living life day by day? Wouldn’t someone step in and appoint them a guardian, whether it’s from the state or in the form of another family member?
Students from one particular high school are murdered, and the school never closes? Not even for a day or two? Sure, they offered grief counseling, but these teenagers really needed to be in the safety of their own homes for a couple of days. School and homework should have been the last things they needed to worry about. They do eventually close the school because of a snowstorm, so that’s good, I guess.
- Character Names: TAYLEY! What the hell is that!? What a horrible name. Just name the girl Hayley. I didn’t care for the name Kason either, but at least I’d heard it before so I could put up with it. But I’ll die happy if I never hear the name Tayley again. I don’t know why, but shortening the name Amiyah to Miyah bothered me so much. How hard is it to say the “A”? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: not everyone needs a nickname.
- Character Development: There was none. All the characters were flat, annoying cardboard cutouts. They learned nothing throughout the entirety of the story.
Our main character, Izzy Tindall, was the worst. She was almost TSTL. She really thought she was part of the Criminal Minds team or something. In reality, she only made the situation around her worse. She consistently puts herself in dangerous situations despite a serial killer being on the loose. A couple of times she is aware that what she is about to do isn’t a smart idea but does it anyway.
What was up with her downloading the Kindle app to her phone and reading Harry Potter in the middle of a legit party? I mean, come on, Izzy literally tells her crush, Justin, "I'd rather be at Hogwarts than at this party." Ew, brother, Ew? What’s that, brother? Her “I’m different than other girls” vibes were atrocious. Girls who truly aren’t like other girls don’t have to point it out every two seconds. That’s just the genuine way they are. I believe kids these days call them “pick me girls.".
Izzy wasn't popular at her school or in town. She so kindly reminds us numerous times in her inner monologue. So, I find it kind of odd that three guys who never showed interest in her before suddenly start talking to her and want to be her friend or possibly more. She had ZERO chemistry with any of her “love interests." The flirting was cringy and mediocre at best. Also didn’t help that she thought any guy that so much as looked in her direction was “so hot” and would pretty much follow them anywhere just to get a chance to be near them.
The side characters in this book weren’t much better. I enjoyed ONE out of the lot of them.
Are all these adults/parents in this town completely oblivious idiots? My guess would be yes. All the remaining parents might as well not even be there because they were so unaware of anything going on with their children.
All the residents in this town didn’t have their priorities straight. Not a single one of them. A serial killer is on the loose, and they are all more concerned with frivolous things. Like a slashed tire or the fact that the schools still hand out styrofoam cups. WHAT!?
- Mystery/Suspects: I figured out who the murderer was almost instantly. I was pretty sure I had them pegged from the moment they were introduced in the story. At the end of the book, I realized I was right. That killed a lot of the fun for me. The murders happened with no rhyme or reason. That disrupted the flow of the “mystery” for me. The killer's motive was ridiculous. It was just stupid. It made no sense. There was no reason for this person to be killing the people he did. This wasn’t a whodunit; this was a I know who did it. It’s obvious Preston was trying to steer us in the direction of one character from the jump, but she made it so painful obviously that it wasn’t that person. All the red herrings were just so generic and played on way too hard. This particular character was also the stereotypical scape goat, so you sort of just know it isn’t them.
- Ending: A lot of people liked the ending of this book; I was not one of them. What was that malarkey? The ending was so predictable. It was not satisfying at all and left the book with an “unfinished” feeling. It was like the author slapped together something sloppy and rushed just for the sake of closing out the story. It’s obvious the author was going for a shock value that fell horribly flat. We get absolutely no closure with this one. This STANDALONE book ends on a cliffhanger. It's not even an open-ended conclusion that we could interpret in whichever way we please. It's a literal cliffhanger! Is the author writing a sequel or not? This has to be one of the most terrible endings I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. In my opinion, the only person who is allowed to end books poorly is Stephen King since his story telling is phenomenal and he flat-out admitted that endings are not his specialty.
- Miscellaneous: The Gen Z references were cringy and painful. The mention of wanting to be a TikTok sensation, trying to be part of the cast on the show Euphoria, and eating tide pods was just not it. Oh, and they all occur within the first three chapters. Maybe I’m just too old to relate. But I don’t think even younger readers would have enjoyed the forced idea of the author being “hip and cool." Do people even say that anymore?
You know what? On second thought, all the references in this book to songs, social media trends, shows, etc. were just awful. In the words of the amazing Charles Barkley, “Turrible...just turrible.”
Giving this 2-stars since it is YA and geared toward a much younger audience than my 35-year-old self. I try to be lenient when it comes to that and who the target audience is intended to be.
This is the third 2-star book I’ve read in a row. Man, I’m really batting zero at the moment, aren’t I?
PSA: For those of us who are older and wanting to read this book. This is for sure a very young and immature YA book. Not one that dances on the verge of being geared towards more mature readers.
TLDR: MEDIOCRE YA READ WITH AN INTERESTING CONCEPT!
As always, please remember that reading is subjective, and that’s what makes it so great.
Book Cover: ⭐️⭐⭐
Trigger Warning(s): Murder
Child abuse (off page)
POV: Dual, First Person
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Trope(s): whodunit (barely)
Spice: None
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller
Debut Novel: No
Slow or Fast Burn: Fast
Safe or Dark: Safe
Release Date: March 1, 2022
The internet is a scary place. The fact that we can post one sentence, photo, or video and the whole world can see it is an unsettling thought. We don’t know where our lives on the interweb end up or who might get their hands on it.
We are often warned about the dangers of online posting, but how often do we truly heed those warnings? I mean, here we are posting our reading habits and reviews on an online platform as we speak.
My parents used to always say, “Be careful what you post online.” I get it now.
This was a fast read with an interesting concept. I enjoyed the use of a viral internet meme. I was able to read big chunks at a time in one sitting. The writing was easy to follow, and the conversations and such between the characters weren’t bad and realistic enough for teenagers.
However, there were issues with this book that I would like to address:
- Terminology: I believe Natasha Preston was born and still resides in England. I love England, so that’s wonderful. This book is clearly set in the United States with American characters. At least that’s the vibe I got. That’s cool too. I love when authors branch out and write about different geographical locations. What bothered me about this was that the terminology that Preston used was not always “common American terms." She used soccer instead of football. Which again is cool; that is generally what we called that particular sport in the USA. But to describe a field, she used the word “pitch.” I’m not saying Americans are morons; we know words are used differently in other countries. Most of us know that what others call a “pitch” is what we call a "field." With that being said, that particular word is hardly (if ever) used here. So, it really didn’t make sense to use a term not common in the USA when writing about towns and their inhabitants set there. I don’t know; maybe that just bothered me.
Hockey is supposedly this town's be-all and end-all of sports. Again, I LOVE ice hockey, so that’s great. But the author could have done some research before writing about this. The book never goes into detail about the games and such; the National Hockey League was mentioned once or twice, as well as the minor American Hockey League. But we never get to the nitty-gritty of it. Now, folks, I have been watching hockey since the ripe old age of nine. I am now in my mid-thirties, and in all my years on this earth, I’ve NEVER once heard of an ice hockey rink referred to as an "ice hockey pitch." I mean, it’s not even a field; in reality, it’s a RINK. So, the fact that the tables in the local diner were decorated as an "ice hockey pitch” absolutely blew my mind; it floored me. Surely, for a town so invested in the sport, the people living there would know what a rink is. Again, maybe that only bothered me.
- Unrealistic Situations: Three individual teenagers in this town are parentless for one reason or another. Which unfortunately does happen in real life. That wasn’t an issue for me. What was an issue was the fact that these seventeen and barely eighteen-year-olds were living on their own with no adult supervision. Surely, that’s illegal. How are they surviving? How are they paying their bills and living life day by day? Wouldn’t someone step in and appoint them a guardian, whether it’s from the state or in the form of another family member?
Students from one particular high school are murdered, and the school never closes? Not even for a day or two? Sure, they offered grief counseling, but these teenagers really needed to be in the safety of their own homes for a couple of days. School and homework should have been the last things they needed to worry about. They do eventually close the school because of a snowstorm, so that’s good, I guess.
- Character Names: TAYLEY! What the hell is that!? What a horrible name. Just name the girl Hayley. I didn’t care for the name Kason either, but at least I’d heard it before so I could put up with it. But I’ll die happy if I never hear the name Tayley again. I don’t know why, but shortening the name Amiyah to Miyah bothered me so much. How hard is it to say the “A”? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: not everyone needs a nickname.
- Character Development: There was none. All the characters were flat, annoying cardboard cutouts. They learned nothing throughout the entirety of the story.
Our main character, Izzy Tindall, was the worst. She was almost TSTL. She really thought she was part of the Criminal Minds team or something. In reality, she only made the situation around her worse. She consistently puts herself in dangerous situations despite a serial killer being on the loose. A couple of times she is aware that what she is about to do isn’t a smart idea but does it anyway.
What was up with her downloading the Kindle app to her phone and reading Harry Potter in the middle of a legit party? I mean, come on, Izzy literally tells her crush, Justin, "I'd rather be at Hogwarts than at this party." Ew, brother, Ew? What’s that, brother? Her “I’m different than other girls” vibes were atrocious. Girls who truly aren’t like other girls don’t have to point it out every two seconds. That’s just the genuine way they are. I believe kids these days call them “pick me girls.".
Izzy wasn't popular at her school or in town. She so kindly reminds us numerous times in her inner monologue. So, I find it kind of odd that three guys who never showed interest in her before suddenly start talking to her and want to be her friend or possibly more. She had ZERO chemistry with any of her “love interests." The flirting was cringy and mediocre at best. Also didn’t help that she thought any guy that so much as looked in her direction was “so hot” and would pretty much follow them anywhere just to get a chance to be near them.
The side characters in this book weren’t much better. I enjoyed ONE out of the lot of them.
Are all these adults/parents in this town completely oblivious idiots? My guess would be yes. All the remaining parents might as well not even be there because they were so unaware of anything going on with their children.
All the residents in this town didn’t have their priorities straight. Not a single one of them. A serial killer is on the loose, and they are all more concerned with frivolous things. Like a slashed tire or the fact that the schools still hand out styrofoam cups. WHAT!?
- Mystery/Suspects: I figured out who the murderer was almost instantly. I was pretty sure I had them pegged from the moment they were introduced in the story. At the end of the book, I realized I was right. That killed a lot of the fun for me. The murders happened with no rhyme or reason. That disrupted the flow of the “mystery” for me. The killer's motive was ridiculous. It was just stupid. It made no sense. There was no reason for this person to be killing the people he did. This wasn’t a whodunit; this was a I know who did it. It’s obvious Preston was trying to steer us in the direction of one character from the jump, but she made it so painful obviously that it wasn’t that person. All the red herrings were just so generic and played on way too hard. This particular character was also the stereotypical scape goat, so you sort of just know it isn’t them.
- Ending: A lot of people liked the ending of this book; I was not one of them. What was that malarkey? The ending was so predictable. It was not satisfying at all and left the book with an “unfinished” feeling. It was like the author slapped together something sloppy and rushed just for the sake of closing out the story. It’s obvious the author was going for a shock value that fell horribly flat. We get absolutely no closure with this one. This STANDALONE book ends on a cliffhanger. It's not even an open-ended conclusion that we could interpret in whichever way we please. It's a literal cliffhanger! Is the author writing a sequel or not? This has to be one of the most terrible endings I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. In my opinion, the only person who is allowed to end books poorly is Stephen King since his story telling is phenomenal and he flat-out admitted that endings are not his specialty.
- Miscellaneous: The Gen Z references were cringy and painful. The mention of wanting to be a TikTok sensation, trying to be part of the cast on the show Euphoria, and eating tide pods was just not it. Oh, and they all occur within the first three chapters. Maybe I’m just too old to relate. But I don’t think even younger readers would have enjoyed the forced idea of the author being “hip and cool." Do people even say that anymore?
You know what? On second thought, all the references in this book to songs, social media trends, shows, etc. were just awful. In the words of the amazing Charles Barkley, “Turrible...just turrible.”
Giving this 2-stars since it is YA and geared toward a much younger audience than my 35-year-old self. I try to be lenient when it comes to that and who the target audience is intended to be.
This is the third 2-star book I’ve read in a row. Man, I’m really batting zero at the moment, aren’t I?
PSA: For those of us who are older and wanting to read this book. This is for sure a very young and immature YA book. Not one that dances on the verge of being geared towards more mature readers.
TLDR: MEDIOCRE YA READ WITH AN INTERESTING CONCEPT!
As always, please remember that reading is subjective, and that’s what makes it so great.