marjorielight's review against another edition
5.0
Review:
WISH YOU WERE DEAD by Todd Strasser
Since the day I read Give a Boy a Gun, I’ve been a Todd Strasser fan. His writing is authentic and scary, sort of like that feeling you get when you are all alone and you think someone is watching you. You feel your hair standing up on your arms and little beads of sweat break out over your upper lip. “Is someone there? Hello?” His new novel, WISH YOU WERE DEAD keeps the chills coming.
From the first chapter, Strasser’s YA thriller sets us up for more scares than a Halloween haunted house. We cautiously turn the page ahead to the next chapter, readying ourselves for another shock. He makes sure the evil keep popping out at us, giving us fright after fright.
WISH YOU WERE DEAD features a blend of four narrations: an anonymous teen’s blog listing the kids she hates, a first person narrative by a nice girl named Madison from a wealthy community, a bit of omniscient narration, and strange ramblings from a possible psychopathic kidnapper. Strasser is able to pull off having this many different narrators through his talent as a writer and the use of font styles to indicate a change in narration.
The main character, Madison, is losing her close friends, one by one, and is receiving strange emails and notes warning her of each impending disaster. To compound matters, she is attracted to the new guy in school, but is unsure whether he is involved in the disappearances or not. When Madison decides to take matters into her own hands, we cringe, knowing no good can come out of a choice like that. The pace is fast and the end is shocking. As I sat curled up in my chair at 1:00 am, wanting to finish it, I was wishing I had started it earlier in the day…it was so dark outside and only a thin screen separated me from the noise on the porch…
Strasser’s WISH YOU WERE DEAD is published by Egmont USA and is due out late September 2008. Some language and violence, but nothing over the top for most teen readers. The themes of bullying, tolerance, and friendship are all ones to which students can relate. A perfect read for chill seekers…make plans to spend the wee hours of the night with this one.
WISH YOU WERE DEAD by Todd Strasser
Since the day I read Give a Boy a Gun, I’ve been a Todd Strasser fan. His writing is authentic and scary, sort of like that feeling you get when you are all alone and you think someone is watching you. You feel your hair standing up on your arms and little beads of sweat break out over your upper lip. “Is someone there? Hello?” His new novel, WISH YOU WERE DEAD keeps the chills coming.
From the first chapter, Strasser’s YA thriller sets us up for more scares than a Halloween haunted house. We cautiously turn the page ahead to the next chapter, readying ourselves for another shock. He makes sure the evil keep popping out at us, giving us fright after fright.
WISH YOU WERE DEAD features a blend of four narrations: an anonymous teen’s blog listing the kids she hates, a first person narrative by a nice girl named Madison from a wealthy community, a bit of omniscient narration, and strange ramblings from a possible psychopathic kidnapper. Strasser is able to pull off having this many different narrators through his talent as a writer and the use of font styles to indicate a change in narration.
The main character, Madison, is losing her close friends, one by one, and is receiving strange emails and notes warning her of each impending disaster. To compound matters, she is attracted to the new guy in school, but is unsure whether he is involved in the disappearances or not. When Madison decides to take matters into her own hands, we cringe, knowing no good can come out of a choice like that. The pace is fast and the end is shocking. As I sat curled up in my chair at 1:00 am, wanting to finish it, I was wishing I had started it earlier in the day…it was so dark outside and only a thin screen separated me from the noise on the porch…
Strasser’s WISH YOU WERE DEAD is published by Egmont USA and is due out late September 2008. Some language and violence, but nothing over the top for most teen readers. The themes of bullying, tolerance, and friendship are all ones to which students can relate. A perfect read for chill seekers…make plans to spend the wee hours of the night with this one.
thereadingsparrow's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
Good pacing, there was a lot more intrigue than your typical YA book. The premise was unique.
The characters, though, didn't seem very realistic. I was befuddling by the juxtaposition of the main character Madison being both popular and a loner. If you're "popular," as she was defined, then why did she have no friends? It would be more plausible if the author stated that she had no friends because she couldn't trust anyone (very plausible), but that wasn't ever even implied.
Some of the characterizations were odd. It felt like this book was more plot than characters. But it was engaging plot, that's for sure.
Good pacing, there was a lot more intrigue than your typical YA book. The premise was unique.
The characters, though, didn't seem very realistic. I was befuddling by the juxtaposition of the main character Madison being both popular and a loner. If you're "popular," as she was defined, then why did she have no friends? It would be more plausible if the author stated that she had no friends because she couldn't trust anyone (very plausible), but that wasn't ever even implied.
Some of the characterizations were odd. It felt like this book was more plot than characters. But it was engaging plot, that's for sure.
tiombaby's review against another edition
4.0
I finished this book in less than twenty for hours. I was unable to put it down but when I managed I couldn't stop thinking about it. The character are intriguing, the blog post left me reeling and the short thought from the killers POV piqued my curiosity. Five stars⭐️.
honee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
mehsi's review against another edition
2.0
The beginning was great, and also the ending was awesome. But sadly the middle part was just boring for most of the time. The book was also confusing, in the beginning I didn't know who was who and who was talking. But that got a bit better, but still it is something that I would give -1 star.
ash_ton's review against another edition
1.0
Baadddd. The idea of it was good, the writing wasn't that great in my opinion.
philyra91's review against another edition
3.0
The day after anonymous blogger Str-S-d wishes the popular girl would die, Lucy vanishes. The students of Soundview High are scared and worried. Especially frightened and wracked with guilt is Madison Archer, Lucy’s friend and the last person to see her the night she disappeared. When two more popular students disappear after their names are mentioned on Str-S-d’s blog, the residents of Soundview panic. The clock is ticking. Madison must uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearances . . . before her name appears in Str-S-d’s blog.
Wish You Were Dead is billed as a tech-savvy version of I Know What You Did Last Summer and while that part is slightly true, because of its use of blogging and IM-ing, I can't say it was as good as I Know What You Did Last Summer.
The story is told from Madison's POV and being the last person who saw Lucy, it was interesting to see how she reacted and coped from the tragedy of Lucy being kidnapped. The suspense is definitely there but as soon as the blogger's identity was revealed, it didn't feel very mysterious anymore, even though the kidnapper was still an unknown entity. The climax of the story felt wrong too, like it was an unexpected development but not in a particularly good way.
Wish You Were Dead was a good story and I'm sure many would find it a real thriller but for me, the climax was a little anti-climatic.
Wish You Were Dead is billed as a tech-savvy version of I Know What You Did Last Summer and while that part is slightly true, because of its use of blogging and IM-ing, I can't say it was as good as I Know What You Did Last Summer.
The story is told from Madison's POV and being the last person who saw Lucy, it was interesting to see how she reacted and coped from the tragedy of Lucy being kidnapped. The suspense is definitely there but as soon as the blogger's identity was revealed, it didn't feel very mysterious anymore, even though the kidnapper was still an unknown entity. The climax of the story felt wrong too, like it was an unexpected development but not in a particularly good way.
Wish You Were Dead was a good story and I'm sure many would find it a real thriller but for me, the climax was a little anti-climatic.
desih2020's review against another edition
3.0
Awesome story line with an unexpected twist at the end. I definitely could not put this one down. However…. After about halfway through I found myself rolling my eyes every single time Madison mentioned Tyler’s name. She never stopped talking and thinking about him. It became quiet annoying and I almost put this book down because of it. The only thing that kept me going is the fact that I’m super nosy and had to find out what exactly was going on.
If you can look past an obsessive teen then I definitely recommend this one.
If you can look past an obsessive teen then I definitely recommend this one.