Review: The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die

The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die

Author: April Henry
Pages: 224
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Read: June 12-14, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
“Take her out back and finish her off.”

She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know where she is, or why. All she knows when she comes to in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her.

And that she must run.

In her riveting style, April Henry crafts a nail-biting thriller involving murder, identity theft, and biological warfare. Follow Cady and Ty (her accidental savior turned companion), as they race against the clock to stay alive.

First Sentence: "I wake up."

Review:

This review is going to be uncharacteristically short for me, but the book itself is pretty short, so I suppose that's fitting. Since this is going to be one of those 3 star reviews that sort of reads like I didn't like the book, let me say this up front: I did like The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die. I'm not generally a big fan of thrillers, but I previously quite enjoyed Henry's Girl, Stolen, so I hoped that I would like this one just as much. Still, TGWWSTD was a fun, quick read overall.

In general, I would say that April Henry accomplishes what she set out to do in this book. TGWWSTD entertains. The plot moves along at a fast pace, and it's certainly never boring. The reader can't help but be curious and the pages flip by quickly. TGWWWSTD serves as the literary equivalent of a fairly mindless action movie, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The techniques Henry uses to accomplish this are quite standard thriller fare, which is why my enjoyment of this one boils down purely to the sheer entertainment factor. The main character has amnesia for much of the book, waking up in a cabin as two men prepare to kill her. Sure, amnesia happens, but it's over-employed in such action plots to up the danger level, since the MC doesn't have any idea where to go or who to trust.

Henry's writing consists of simple sentences and fragments. This style does create a sense of rushing headlong through the story. Thriller authors employ this method to create a feeling of urgency. While I do think it does work, I just generally prefer complex, more ornate writing. The combination of the writing, short chapters, and fast pace will likely make this an excellent choice for reluctant readers.

Most every chapter ends on a mini-cliffhanger, immediately resolved on the next page. Yet again, this technique does keep the reader moving through the novel at a fast clip. It's designed to make TGWWSTD a one sitting read, because you have to keep going to answer the lingering question from the last chapter. Effective, but trite.

While not thoroughly fleshed out, Henry's characters are sufficiently realistic for her purposes. Cady and Ty are likable enough that the reader does want them to win out over the bad guys. The skills that Cady possesses seem a bit convenient, though some are explained, like her ability to fight. What really feels unlikely is that Cady met Ty, a boy just this side of destitution, who is willing to miss class, endangering his dream of being an EMT, and work, risking putting him on the streets, to help save her from men with guns. Sure, he's nice, but, really, who's going to do that? I can see helping her when they first meet, but he's with her to the end, and I just don't see that. He also just happens to have the right amount of cash saved up so they can do what they need to do.

The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die runs just 213 pages. With short chapters and a fast pace, it's an excellent choice when you want something you can read quickly for sheer entertainment value. Ultimately, though, it's not particularly memorable and I won't be revisiting it.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: Didn't have one

Review: Tuesday's Gone

Tuesday's Gone
Frieda Klein, Book 2

Author: Nicci French
Pages: 384
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication Date: April 4, 2013
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Internationally bestselling authors Nicci Gerard and Sean French, writing as Nicci French, have sold more than eight million copies of their books worldwide. But nothing they’ve written written before has grabbed the attention of reviewers and readers like Blue Monday and its iconic heroine, Frieda Klein. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it a “superb psychological thriller . . . with brooding atmosphere, sustained suspense, a last-minute plot twist, and memorable cast of characters.”

In Tuesday’s Gone, a London social worker makes a routine home visit only to discover her client, Michelle Doyce, serving afternoon tea to a naked, decomposing corpse. With no clues as to the dead man’s identity, Chief Inspector Karlsson again calls upon Frieda for help. She discovers that the body belongs to Robert Poole, con man extraordinaire. But Frieda can’t shake the feeling that the past isn’t done with her yet. Did someone kill Poole to embroil her in the investigation? And if so, is Frieda herself the next victim?

A masterpiece of paranoia, Tuesday’s Gone draws readers inexorably into a fractured and faithless world as it brilliantly confirms Frieda Klein as a quintessential heroine for our times.

Prior Book in Series:
1: Blue Monday

First Sentence: "Maggie Brennan half walked, half ran along Deptford Church Street."

Review:

Ordinarily, I'm not much for mystery novels, and I read them only infrequently, since otherwise I get really bored with the predictable plotting, though it's not like romance stories are any less predictable and I still read those by the dozens. It may not make much logical sense, but this is how I feel. Anyway, I accepted a review request for the first book in this series, Blue Monday, sort of on a whim, and was surprised to find how much I enjoyed it. Tuesday's Gone steps up the tension of the Frieda Klein series and proves a very satisfying followup.

One of the things I really liked about Blue Monday was Frieda Klein herself, and she's still awesome. Frieda's so perceptive and a bit icy on the outside. She's a great listener but loathes talking about herself, or anything getting personal. Personal relationships are hard for her, and she keeps people at a distance. What I find so delightful about Frieda is that she's not a stereotypical woman; she can't be put into a box.

The mystery elements are well done, and several plot twists actually caught me completely off guard. The murder mystery is a seriously tangled web, but French pulls them together admirably. On top of the mystery arc for this installment, the big bad of the series as a whole is revealed, a person from Frieda's past. While there's not a whole lot of development with the larger arc, oh my goodness is it creepy, and I'm excited for the direction the series is headed, using the plot structure from the first two seasons of Veronica Mars, with the full series overarching plot and individual mysteries per volume. This works so well, because it keeps the reader's interest engaged in the larger story and makes reading them as standalones less desirable.

The one thing I found odd was that Frieda, who's consulting with the police in this murder investigation, goes around telling freaking EVERYONE about the work she's doing. I mean, come on, Frieda! She's smart enough to know better than that. Sure, sometimes she's doing so to feel people out, but she also tells some friends, and that's just not done, or at least I don't think it is. Especially since Frieda's generally so resistant to sharing information, I found this out of place.

I'm going to keep this short, since there's only so much to be said about mysteries without spoiling the plot. Basically, if you like mysteries, check out the Frieda Klein series, because it's well done, has a strong heroine, and features intriguing plot twists.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote:

"'How do you deal with it all?'
     'I'm not sure that I really do.' She twisted her glass round. 'It's like winter. I just trudge through, head down, and hope that spring won't be delayed.'"

Review: The One I Left Behind

The One I Left Behind

Author: Jennifer McMahon
Pages: 432
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

Description from Goodreads:
Bestselling author Jennifer McMahon is back with a gut-wrenching mystery about an architect whose troubled mother has been found 25 years after being kidnapped-by a killer who is still on the loose.

The summer of 1985 changed Reggie's life. Thirteen, awkward, and without a father, she finds herself mixed up with her school's outcasts-Charlie, the local detective's son, and Tara, a goth kid who has a mental hold over Reggie and harbors a dark secret. That same summer a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later, displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother Vera-an ex-model with many "boyfriends" and a thirst for gin-the most, Vera's hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there's no body and Neptune disappears.

Now a successful architect who left her hometown behind after that horrific summer, Reggie doesn't trust anyone and lives with few attachments. But when she gets a call from a homeless shelter saying that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of her past and find Neptune before he kills again.

With her signature style, Jennifer McMahon portrays the dark side of adolescent friendship and introduces characters who haunt the imagination, along with a disturbing web of secrets, betrayals, and murder.

First Sentence: "It began with the hands."

Review:

Mysteries and thrillers really have never been of too much interest for me, but I do tend to make an exception for serial killer stories. I'm going to try not to look to deeply into myself as to why that is. I tell you this, so that you're aware that this is not a normal genre for me to read, just so you know to take my criticism with a grain of salt. While I did enjoy The One I Left Behind, I definitely think it will be a more powerful read for those more into the genre.

McMahon's writing is good, and this definitely falls under more of a literary category than most mysteries I've read. If you go for action-packed thrillers, the slow pace of this one might irk you. If however, you like well-crafted stories that slowly unfold to the reader, McMahon's will be perfect for you.

The story alternates between 2010 and 1985 third person limited perspective on Reggie, with occasional tidbits from a book written about the events of 1985. In 1985, a serial killer struck in their little town Brighton Falls, Connecticut. First, a hand, removed from the woman's body, would appear on the steps of the police station. Then five days later, the body would be located, naked and strangled. Then, Reggie's mother's hand appeared, but her body was never found. In 2010, Vera, her mother, reappears, crazy and alive.

The stakes are upped when Neptune captures another woman, Reggie's childhood best friend, Tara. With that the search is on. In 1985, Tara, Reggie and Charlie are searching for Vera in the four days before Neptune will kill her; in 2010, Reggie's doing the same for Tara. This narrative structure works very well, and definitely amps up the suspense in the second half.

Reggie has been emotionally damaged by her childhood, both pre- and post-Neptune taking her mom. Through her investigation into the serial killer, she comes to terms with everything more, and learns valuable life lessons. Her emotional arc ties up a little too nicely, but she will probably have setbacks past the window the readers get to see.

Though I'm not usually a great guesser of twists, I did figure out who Neptune was really early on. That really does not affect my enjoyment of stories, because, mostly, I just revel in how smart I am the whole time, unless I do not approve of said twist. I think the killer just so obviously had to be the person that it was, but, as usual, any number of other suspects will need to be cycled through first.

Literary suspense fans, this book is for you! Enjoy! I wouldn't be entirely opposed to reading more McMahon, but I just don't read enough of this genre to make that entirely likely, at least with my current reading tastes.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'You're my one true friend, Len. The person I'm closest to in the world. I'm not going to pretend I know how to define our relationship, and I can't promise I'll ever be ready to move in with you. But I love you, Len. In my own fucked-up little way, I love you very much."

Review: The Calling

The Calling
Luther, Book 1

Author: Neil Cross
Pages: 324
Publisher: Touchstone
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
A brilliant crime novel and prequel to the acclaimed BBC series by the show’s creator and sole writer Meet Detective Chief Inspector John Luther. He’s a murder detective with an extraordinary case-clearance rate. He’s obsessive, instinctive, and intense. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. And yet there are rumors that Luther is bad—not corrupt, not on the take, but tormented. After years of chasing the most depraved criminals in London’s gritty underworld, he seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things any other detective wouldn’t and shouldn’t do.

Luther: The Calling, the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther, takes us into Luther’s past and into his mind. It is the story of the serial killer case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice—beyond fury, beyond vengeance, all the way to the other side of the law. Is Luther a force for good or a man hell-bent on self-destruction? Edgar Award–winning writer Neil Cross has created one of the most compelling characters in modern crime fiction. Luther: The Calling is a compulsively readable novel by the writer hailed by The Guardian as “Britain’s own Stephen King.”

First Sentence: "John Luther, a big man with a big walk, crosses the hospital car park, glistening with night rain."

Review:
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you probably already know that mysteries just aren't really my thing. They can be good, but they're all so similar in their plot arc, and I just don't feel compelled to read many. As such, I usually reject review requests for mysteries. However, I made an exception for this one, because it's based on a BBC series, one I haven't seen actually, but still! The allure of British programming is irresistable to me!

The Calling is a prequel to the the British Series, which is supposedly wonderful. Though I know nothing about it, I can see this book setting up Luther as he must be in the show. His married life falls apart, so that he can be the typical single, gruff detective and free, presumably, for hookups and romantic entanglements later on in the show. Happy husbands are not generally assumed to make compelling television. In The Calling, he also steps outside the bounds of what is allowable for police work, possibly for the first time, another thing that I assume sets up the plot of the show.

My favorite aspects of the novel, though, were those that do not fit into the detective stereotype. While Luther's marriage breaks up in the typical way, through her frustration over his workaholic nature, he cares more than most of the hard-boiled detective types. John Luther is a romantic; he loves his wife wholly and completely, and neglects her during cases, because he simply cannot rest (literally) until the case is solved. His need to resolve cases seems almost pathological. On top of his deep love and respect for his wife, Luther also loves to read and is a rather quiet, nerdy guy outside of the office.

Of course, when he's working, Luther is, without a doubt, a freaking badass that you really do not want to be messing with. He will stop at nothing to catch the bad guy and save a life. I had the most trouble with these aspects because I really cannot imagine him getting away with most of the things that he does. Of course, vigilante justice is much more entertaining than the way 'justice' would really work, with trials and evil men going free, but it just didn't seem believable to me at times.

This book is pretty graphic, so the faint of heart, those who like their mysteries to be of the cozy variety, should pass this one buy with a quickness. Also, even if you like graphic violence in your books, I want to warn that there are brutal scenes of animal violence (even worse than Origin) and crimes perpetrated against children. If you have young children, you might not want to read this, unless you're really good at not imagining fictional circumstances happening to your own kids.

All in all, The Calling did follow along with pretty standard mystery tropes, but I did enjoy it a bit more than usual. If you like dark, gritty mysteries, this should please you.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"She says, 'You're home.'
   He ignores the redundancy. It's just one of those things people say to each other. Most words people say to each other don't mean what they seem to. Spoken words carry they're real meaning like rats carry infected fleas."

Audiobook Review: Don't Turn Around

Don't Turn Around
PERSEFoNE, Book 1

Author: Michelle Gagnon
Narrator: Merritt Hicks
Duration: 8 hrs, 31 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Source: Harper Audio

Description from Goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Noa has been a victim of the system ever since her parents died. Now living off the grid and trusting no one, she uses her computer-hacking skills to stay safely anonymous and alone. But when she wakes up on a table in an empty warehouse with an IV in her arm and no memory of how she got there, Noa starts to wish she had someone on her side.

Enter Peter Gregory. A rich kid and the leader of a hacker alliance, Peter needs people with Noa’s talents on his team. Especially after a shady corporation threatens his life. But what Noa and Peter don’t realize is that Noa holds the key to a terrible secret, and there are those who’d stop at nothing to silence her for good.

Filled with action, suspense, and romance, this first book in a new trilogy offers readers nonstop thrills.

Review:
Listening to a book on audio, I've learned, can often make or break your reading experience. A good narrator can bring life to otherwise flat characters and create interest where you might otherwise have little. A bad narrator can make you hate a book you would have loved. While I've really been enjoying them, sometimes they're a bad choice. This one, though, thankfully, falls into that former category where the audiobook enhanced my reading experience.

The blogosphere buzzed about this book after the cover reveal, and I just couldn't decide whether I had any interest. The description didn't grab me and I'm really not much of a thriller reader, unless the genre is dystopian or post-apocalyptic. The series title intrigued me, because mythology, but I wasn't really seeing any sign of actual mythology anywhere (that's because there's not).

Trying to evaluate the novel itself, I think it is for the most part fairly standard action fare, although with more of a focus on cerebral warfare than physical. Most of the bodily action involves running and escaping, rather than fighting. The real battles take place with computers and coding: nerd battles. I really liked that, even though the whole computer hacking angle wasn't of any interest to me when I read the blurb. Also, I am always pleased when the strength the characters show for survival isn't necessarily physical but mental.

The opening scene with Noa in the hospital is confusing and dramatic and an awesome hook. You want to know what's going on with her for sure. Also, PEMA, a new, horrific disease that kills teenagers is creepy and seriously interesting. You know I'm a sucker for dark futures and evil organizations!

The characterization struck me as a bit weak. Noa has definite badass tendencies, and I really like the way she calmly faces danger. Unfortunately, after they spend a bit of time together, she starts acting like a doofus around Peter, which seems sort of out of character for her. More on that later. Peter rocks the whole 'poor little rich boy' angle without being too obnoxious, mostly because his acting out is hacking rather than drugs and alcohol. They're okay, and I root for them more than the other people, but I'm not overly attached to them.

I would have liked them more if it weren't so obviously setting up a future romance for them. There's really not much romance in this book, but, despite an uninspiring first encounter, they begin making googoo eyes at one another pretty quickly. Considering that he just broke up with his serious girlfriend, I thought that was in pretty poor taste. Even worse, there's another guy on the horizon for Noa, which means inevitable love triangle, and one I'm not getting good vibes from.

The character I do love: Cole. He is so sweet and I loved his relationship with Peter's brother, and his subsequent support of Peter. There was one character that I could not stand: Amanda. She's Peter's girlfriend, a year older and now in her first year of college. They bonded over their dead brothers (hers from a life of excess, his from PEMA), but have been drifting apart since she went to college. She bores me, and I was frustrated every time the narration followed her, which, thankfully, was not frequently.

I loved listening to Merritt Hicks' voice and made excuses to myself for why I needed to do particular activities that I could perform while listening to an audiobook. She's got sort of a deep voice, calm, with a bit of a cynical tilt to it. Obviously, though, with narrators, you either like them or you don't. She reads pretty steadily, and doesn't show as much emotion as some or go as theatrical with the voices. It worked for me though, and I will be keeping an eye out for more of her narrations.

My only complaint about the audio version is that the POV changes aren't handled well. When the third person narration switches from Peter to Amanda to Noa, it happens abruptly, as in without a longer than usual pause. Every time, I had to reorient myself, startled.

Despite that one weakness, I highly recommend the audio of Don't Turn Around, and plan to listen to the rest of the series. Hopefully, Merritt Hicks will narrate those as well.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Stand Ins, Two - Okkervil River

Double

Author: Jenny Valentine
Pages: 244
ARC Acquired from: Hyperion via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Chap has never gone by any other name. He's a runaway, staying at a rundown hostel with a bunch of other luckless kids. Locked in a storeroom for fighting, the people running the hostel take an interest in him and try to figure out who he is. He refuses to give his name, but one employee recognizes him. She says that he is Cassiel Roadnight, which he denies. Then she shows him a newspaper article with a picture of a boy, one that looks precisely like him, who has been missing for two years. Desperate for love and to be someone, Chap decides to become Cassiel, without considering why Cassiel disappeared.

Review:
From the summary and the seriously creepy cover, I expected Double to be a thrilling, action-adventure ride. In fact, it's not. There is mystery and suspense, but the bulk of the novel was surprisingly understated. Actually, I liked Double better for that, for not taking the easy way out and focusing on the more obviously dramatic side of things.

Chap made a good narrator, very well conveying his own sense of discomfort and fear. He obviously isn't completely innocent, but he considers every action that he makes. It would be hard not to feel for a boy who misses his grandad, the only family he ever knew, from whom he was separated at the age of 10. Chap had to grow up fast, and has been unloved through so much of his childhood. Given these circumstances, it is totally convincing that he might choose to be someone else for a while.

My favorite characters were definitely Edie and Floyd, which I guess wasn't much of a competition, since the book doesn't have a huge cast. Still, I loved Edie, perhaps because her prickliness reminded me of myself. She's both so happy to have her brother back and so distrustful of how he seems different. Floyd is delightfully flamboyant, and incredibly smart.

More than anything, Double is about a boy trying to figure out where he belongs. The mystery plot is definitely secondary. The pacing of the book is somewhat slow, although I was not bored, so this would likely not appeal particularly to reluctant readers. If you're looking for an action-packed thrill ride, this is not the book for you. However, if you like to read stories of people searching for their identities, Double's worth a read.

Rating: 3/5

Time Trap - Built to Spill

The Revisionists

Author: Thomas Mullen
Pages: 402
ARC Acquired from: Mulholland Books via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
In the Perfect Present, people have even attained the ability to travel backwards in time. Of course, with this power comes great responsibility, namely that of preventing revisionists from changing history, thus changing the present. Such is the job of Zed, or Z. His current job is set in Washington D.C., where he is masquerading as Troy Jones, a missing man, who has a similar back story to that of Z. Z must prevent the hags, the people trying to change history, from preventing a major disaster.

Review:
Were it not for my current goal of reading every dystopia ever, or at least the first in a series should it be a series, I would have stopped reading this book. From the very beginning, I found it boring, heavy-handed, and completely improbably. Not only that, but confusing to. The opening chapters alternate between the perspective of Z and a selection of other characters, who, for the first hundred or so pages meant little to me and were hard to distinguish and remember.

The book did get better once Z had less chapters and the other characters became more familiar, but I never ever liked it. For one thing, I'm really not into political thrillers, of which this is most definitely one. If that's up your alley, you may want to go for this, despite my bad opinion or, perhaps, because of it.

I mentioned that the story struck me as improbably, which may seem strange from a person who just eats up all the latest paranormal nonsense and loves everything fantasy/sci fi. Here's the thing. I think if someone's going to write a book or make a movie on time travel, they have to be really careful explaining how that's possible. This story did not do that. You pretty much have to have the characters travel to another dimension/time stream or have to make the declaration that everything happens as it did in the past, because your future was in the past. Mullen did not do this. They were capable of changing the past, and likely did frequently. That just doesn't work, at least not with more of an explanation.

The one thing I really did like about the book was the interweaving between Troy Jones and Z. He finds himself become very bound up in his cover, and, in some ways, indistinguishable. This added a really cool psychological element to the story. Only, if I had written this, I would have ended the story on an awesome twist, rather than a boring logical conclusion to the ridiculous plot he wrote. It would have been so much cooler were it just about Z being crazy.

"It's barely yours on loan
What you think you own
The place that you call home
The ideas in your bones
In your bones

This would still feel dumb
Back where you're from
Do you want to change your mind?
Do you want to change your mind?

'Cause you could never know that
In a time trap
In a time trap"

20th Century Boy -T-Rex

20th Century Boys

Author: Naoki Urasawa
Volumes: 22
Publisher: VIZ Media

Brief Summary:
A new political party/religious cult has arisen in Japan, worshiping the mysterious "Friend," who wears a mask and can bend spoons with his mind. He can even beat death. One day, Kenji, a dreamer and rock-and-roller stuck taking care of his missing sister's daughter and running the family store, realizes that "Friend" has been using a childhood symbol made up by himself and his close friends when they were kids. Not only that, but "Friend" plans to unleash destruction on the world and take over what remains, following a plot devised in their childhood secret fort. Only they, much older now, can stop him and only if they all band together. Who is "Friend" and can he be stopped?

Review:
A good friend recommended this manga to me about two years ago. I made a half-hearted attempt to read it, but swiftly gave up. That was definitely my loss. Now, having read through the whole thing, I can honestly avow that this rather length series is definitely worth the time to read, although I can see why I had a couple of false starts with it before getting through.

20th Century Boys did not grab me right off, and, given the construction of the story, I don't think that's particularly surprising. For many people, you may need to tough it out through a volume or two before becoming completely enraptured by the complicated and terrifying story. The reason it's difficult to get into is primarily the shifts in time. There are a lot of characters to get to know in several different time periods. At first, the constant jumps from the past to the present are exceedingly confusing and startling. Eventually, you do get used to them though.

Urasawa does some really interesting things in the way he built the story. There were a number of plot turns I did not see coming. At points where it felt like the story might end, you suddenly realize that the story goes so much deeper and gets so much more intense. Nor did they feel like off-the-wall changes, made only so that he can keep the story going. Urasawa definitely knew what he was doing; you have to in order to pull of so much interweaving and such a complicated tale.

Earlier, I mentioned that this manga was terrifying. To clarify, it's not a horror story so much as a dystopia, and a vision of just how evil young kids can be. This whole, incredibly successful scheme for world domination was created by a group of young boys, bored during the summer. Plus, there's the cultishness of the "Friend" group to add to the general horror.

For those who enjoy dystopias or shocking, twist-turning story lines that span generations, you will not want to miss this. Do not give up on it; trust the recommendation that my friend gave me better than I did.

"Friends say it's fine, friends say it's good"

United States of Eurasia - Muse

Variant
Variant, Book 1

Author: Robison Wells
Pages: 220
ARC Acquired from: HarperTeen via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Benson Fisher has grown up in and out of various foster families and schools. They all vary greatly, but all share one quality: they suck. Finally motivated to do something about his situation, he applies to a boarding school. When he gets in, he is sure everything will finally be different. And boy was he right, just not the way he thought. Maxfield Academy turns out to be a trap. There are no adults and no ways out. The kids have formed gangs and terrorize one another, some supposedly at the behest of the mysterious force ruling the school.

Review:
Variant is like a cross between Lord of the Flies and Winter's End, a less well-known dystopia by a French author that has a school setting like this. Having finished it, I'm not entirely certain how I feel about it. The story definitely left me with more questions than answers (typical) and somewhat frustrated. However, the whole thing was completely engaging and thrilling. Wells definitely had me flipping pages, reading as fast as I could to figure out what the heck was going on this frackin' creepy school.

There is something about schools that makes them perfect settings for horror, maybe the fact that, with boarding schools, you have very few rights. Or, maybe it's the fact that there are so many children; nothing is more terrifying than a creepy child. You expect adults to be jerks, but you hate to such betrayal and evil from younger individuals, perhaps because it hints at the evil in human nature.

Benson, despite his stupid name and the fact that he is a bit of a jerk, is a good main character. He thinks about himself first, something the others constantly rag on him for, but, really, who wouldn't be focusing on getting themselves out of such a weird place? My one criticism for him is that he does some stupid things in trying to escape, but, hey, I knew from the beginning that he was smart, but not insanely so.

Variant definitely is not the most pertinent dystopia for our lives, but it is a thrill ride from the first chapter. If you like action, mystery and twists, you will not want to miss this. I know I won't miss book two!

"You and me fall in line
To be punished for unproven crimes
And we know there is no one we can trust"

No Memory - Stone Temple Pilots

Before I Go to Sleep

Author: S. J. Watson
Pages: 356
ARC Acquired from: HarperCollins via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Christine Lucas wakes up every morning, unsure of who she is, how she got there and who the middle-aged man sleeping next to her is. She is an amnesiac, often able to remember nothing more than her childhood, and not much of that. Every morning, her husband explains how she was involved in a hit and run, after which she lost her memory. Every night as she sleeps, the day's memories are wiped away, leaving her to do the same thing again the next day. Now though, things are changing, because she has been seeing a doctor, behind her husband Ben's back. The doctor got her to keep a journal, in an effort to help her gather her memories and have a thread running through her life. As she compares her memories to her current life and what she's being told, she starts to realize that things do not add up. But is it her memories that are wrong or is someone lying to her?

Review:
Before I Go to Sleep is not the type of novel I ordinarily read, but the reviews looked good and I wanted to try it. I am definitely glad I did, although it's one of those stories so painful that it's hard to say that I really 'liked' it. However, it was very well done and the writing was skilled. The story is told over the course of just one day. It starts out with Christine awaking in the morning, getting filled in by Ben and his leaving for work. Then, she receives a call from Dr. Nash that tells her to find her journal, which she (and the reader) then reads, filling us in on the past couple weeks. Once done with that, the focus returns to the present. This narrative style worked very well, much better than if it had been told solely through journal entries.

At first, the story reminded me a lot of the movie 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler. In that movie, this same type of memory loss is portrayed as cute, almost a good thing, because they can fall in love anew every day. Before I Go to Sleep is much more realistic. As you see the world through Christine's viewpoint, you can really imagine just how terrifying it would be to wake up and not know anything about where or who you are, how devastating it would be to look in the mirror and find yourself twenty years older, how difficult it would be to really trust anyone or anything, even your own words, when you have no memories to back them up, and how impossible it would be to do anything, by which I mean that there is no way you would really be able to hold a job. You would have to be utterly dependent on someone else, which super sucks since you don't know if you can truly trust them.

The psychological aspects of this were incredibly arresting. Putting yourself inside that character is horrifying. Even though it is hard to really bond with Christine (she has trouble bonding with herself, because she doesn't know who she is, and she has definitely, in her past, done some rather bad things), you cannot help feeling for her and hoping that things will get better. It is so sad how helpless someone is without their memory.

I will also forewarn you that this book has scary moments and is, most definitely, a thriller, although much of the book isn't like this. Again, I do not much like thrillers, but I think this one was well done; the clues were laid successfully and, even though I could mostly see it coming, it was still shocking just because it's hard to believe such awfulness happens. This is a must read for folks who love psychological thrillers or those who have an interest in the importance of memory.

One More Murder - Better Than Ezra

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Millennium Trilogy, Book 1

Author: Stieg Larsson
Genre: mystery, thriller, political
Pages: 600

Brief Summary:
Investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist wrote a piece revealing Wennerstrom, a big figure in the stock market,is to be corrupt, but loses a suit for libel when his source turns out to have been a plant. Facing jail time and a bit out of sorts, he accepts an offer he otherwise would not have considered: move to Hedeby Island and write a chronicle of the Vanger family (also part of a large financing business), while also secretly researching the mysterious disappearance of Harriet Vanger in 1966. Mikael is joined in his research by the private investigator extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Review:
This series came to me recommended by many people whom I respect, so I was very excited to give it a try. Even so, it took me a while to get into the book: nearly three hundred pages. These pages detail Blomkvist's downfall, his research into the Vanger family and introduces Salander without making her role entirely clear. All of this was not awful, but it was definitely a bit boring at times.

A couple hundred pages in though, the story takes off, when the book switches focus to the mystery aspect of the novel. The researching here is exciting to read about. All of a sudden, I found myself devouring pages and eager to keep reading. The search for what happened to Harriet is incredibly absorbing and well done. The book did not end there though and I must admit that, while I was more invested in the characters at this point, the end was a let down from the middle section.

All that said, I still intend to read the full trilogy on the basis of the quality of this novel. Larsson may include more details than I am interested in at times, but the story itself is interesting. The characters are flawed and multifaceted. I recommend The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to those willing to slog through a bit to get to the good stuff. If you need instant gratification, this may not be your book.