A review by syazahaniss
That's Not My Name by Megan Lally

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book was very mild as a thriller yet hard to take seriously as a YA book, so I don’t know where that leaves it.

It’s not bad - I was rooting for Lola to find a happy ending - but I thought that realistically, it was a bit weird that a bunch of teenagers were trying to investigate their friend’s disappearance and actually did a much better job than the professionals. I know they’re trying to make Roane as the bad guy but the fact that his character is very black or white without any character development is very YA of the author.

I was quite impressed by Wayne Boone’s motive for kidnapping and keeping those girls hostages (it sounded legit) but he felt very safe as a serial killer. There were no knife/gun/weapon use, no sexual assault, no nothing. Maybe I’ve read way too many gory thrillers but he was very mild compared to them and so I couldn’t take him seriously.

I also had some questions regarding Madison’s accident at the start of the story; was she really in a car accident and that’s where Wayne kidnapped her or did he cause it in the first place? I thought he grabbed her at her apartment mailbox? What happened to her car then?
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