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maggiemaggio 's review for:
The Devil You Know
by Trish Doller
After loving Something Like Normal I wasn't completely into Where the Stars Still Shine. I liked Callie's story, but I thought there were a lot of issues with the actual execution of the story and the characters (I would still love to go back and read a finished copy, I read an ARC and I'm curious if it's been tightened up). Anyway, I knew The Devil You Know was going to be different than either of Doller's earlier books, which could be good, but I am notoriously skeptical and underwhelmed by young adult thrillers.
I figured I had a 50/50 chance of liking Caddie's story and I'm happy to say I fell on the positive side. The Devil You Know is a very short book, it's only 256 pages (I read it in probably two-and-a-half hours after work last Sunday) so it lacks some of the depth and pensiveness of Doller's other books. But it still works.
Going in I expected a thriller, but it was much more of a psychological tease if not for Caddie, then for the reader. The story only takes place over a few days, but for much of those two days it's a pretty ordinary story about some teens on a road trip. Caddie meets the cousins Noah and Matt at a campsite where she goes for a party with some friends from high school. She recently graduated, but she's stuck in her dead-end Florida town taking care of her younger brother and father after her mother died a few years before. She goes out for a night of cutting loose, meets the cousins, and decides to take an impulsive road trip with them around Florida.
The boys are on a road trip after their grandmothers funeral in a car their grandmother left Noah. They plan on going to off-the-beaten-path spots to camp and kayak and just chill out. Caddie was initially attracted to Matt, but she quickly realizes that Noah is the guy for her and pretty much immediately starts hooking up with him. Caddie was a very modern unapologetic girl who doesn't think there's anything wrong with being attracted to a guy and responsibly hooking up with him and that made her a very interesting character.
Even though Caddie has decided Noah is the guy for her there is an undercurrent of sexual tension with Matt which makes for another layer of the story. It definitely isn't a love triangle, it's more of a lust triangle. It's also unpredictable because Noah has a bit of a checkered past. He's up front with Caddie telling her that he's been to jail and has worked through a lot of issues in his life. Like Caddie I wanted to trust Noah, but I was never exactly sure if I could.
That said, going in I knew from the description that one of the cousins wasn't who he said he was and I quickly had a hunch which one that was and that hunch was eventually proven current. However, that didn't take away from the suspense or the mystery. The suspense builds very slowly with little things seeming odd, but then being able to be explained or brushed over. It was easy to see why Caddie wasn't seeing red flags at every turn. At times it was easy to forget it was a thriller because the trio would be camping or kayaking or just hanging out like a normal road trip story. Yet there was that menacing aspect that I was never sure how it would play out.
The end was fulfilling if not a little abrupt. I don't know if I completely bought the bad cousin's motivations and it seemed like it could have been fleshed out a bit more, but it wasn't implausible and the story still wrapped up pretty nicely considering everything it needed to accomplish in 256 pages.
Bottom Line: This still isn't Something Like Normal, but it was entertaining and suspenseful. The characters are compelling and I was never exactly sure how it was going to play out, something that's always a plus with a thriller/mystery. I wouldn't run out and read this, but I certainly think it would make a great plane or beach read this summer.
I received an electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley (thank you!). All opinions are my own.
This review first appeared on my blog.
I figured I had a 50/50 chance of liking Caddie's story and I'm happy to say I fell on the positive side. The Devil You Know is a very short book, it's only 256 pages (I read it in probably two-and-a-half hours after work last Sunday) so it lacks some of the depth and pensiveness of Doller's other books. But it still works.
Going in I expected a thriller, but it was much more of a psychological tease if not for Caddie, then for the reader. The story only takes place over a few days, but for much of those two days it's a pretty ordinary story about some teens on a road trip. Caddie meets the cousins Noah and Matt at a campsite where she goes for a party with some friends from high school. She recently graduated, but she's stuck in her dead-end Florida town taking care of her younger brother and father after her mother died a few years before. She goes out for a night of cutting loose, meets the cousins, and decides to take an impulsive road trip with them around Florida.
The boys are on a road trip after their grandmothers funeral in a car their grandmother left Noah. They plan on going to off-the-beaten-path spots to camp and kayak and just chill out. Caddie was initially attracted to Matt, but she quickly realizes that Noah is the guy for her and pretty much immediately starts hooking up with him. Caddie was a very modern unapologetic girl who doesn't think there's anything wrong with being attracted to a guy and responsibly hooking up with him and that made her a very interesting character.
Even though Caddie has decided Noah is the guy for her there is an undercurrent of sexual tension with Matt which makes for another layer of the story. It definitely isn't a love triangle, it's more of a lust triangle. It's also unpredictable because Noah has a bit of a checkered past. He's up front with Caddie telling her that he's been to jail and has worked through a lot of issues in his life. Like Caddie I wanted to trust Noah, but I was never exactly sure if I could.
That said, going in I knew from the description that one of the cousins wasn't who he said he was and I quickly had a hunch which one that was and that hunch was eventually proven current. However, that didn't take away from the suspense or the mystery. The suspense builds very slowly with little things seeming odd, but then being able to be explained or brushed over. It was easy to see why Caddie wasn't seeing red flags at every turn. At times it was easy to forget it was a thriller because the trio would be camping or kayaking or just hanging out like a normal road trip story. Yet there was that menacing aspect that I was never sure how it would play out.
The end was fulfilling if not a little abrupt. I don't know if I completely bought the bad cousin's motivations and it seemed like it could have been fleshed out a bit more, but it wasn't implausible and the story still wrapped up pretty nicely considering everything it needed to accomplish in 256 pages.
Bottom Line: This still isn't Something Like Normal, but it was entertaining and suspenseful. The characters are compelling and I was never exactly sure how it was going to play out, something that's always a plus with a thriller/mystery. I wouldn't run out and read this, but I certainly think it would make a great plane or beach read this summer.
I received an electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley (thank you!). All opinions are my own.
This review first appeared on my blog.