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astarions_bhaal_babe's review
4.0
“How much do you love me?”
HOLY FREAKING JESUS ON A BICYCLE.
The actual review is here.
And, in case you're wondering, no, I don't feel any better, today.
Consider this book as a twisty mystery novel, consider it a YA psychological thriller, consider it what you want, but
don’t
ever
underestimate
it.
I mean it. Don't.
[a:Abigail Haas|6551240|Abigail Haas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1377257031p2/6551240.jpg] apparently likes to screw up with people's head. And, be careful, because she's really good at it.
To be honest, I jumped into this after a series of disappointing novels, and I didn't expect much from it.
I was looking for something light but that could also shake me a bit.
Oh boy, if only I'd known what I was getting myself into, I'd have armored and shielded myself.
Or my heart.
Or both.
Dangerous Girls is the papery confirmation that you should never judge a book by its cover.
Did I like it? I loved it.
Did I regret reading it? Not an inch.
Did it make me feel things? Yes, and they all rhyme with pain.
I highly recommend it to all those people who are in for a challenge.
Not because this story is hard to get through, but because it will leave you empty and numb for days and days after you've finished it.
Not everyone can cope with that; but, if you feel like you are not afraid to let a book ruin your day
I forgot to mention that it will also make you question your whole friendship history. This book should come with a warning sign. And a therapist trimestral subscription.
In short, Elise and Anna are friends. The best of friends, the matchy-matchy, sharing clothes and sleeping over, kind of friends.
One day, while they’re on vacation, Elise gets murdered and Anna gets accused of being the killer.
The journey inside her head begins, and so does this story.
I could go into details, on and on, about how this book also presents a substantial amount of subplots, or how it narrates about other characters, as well, because the author clearly doesn’t want you to miss out on anything, but I’d be dwelling. And lying.
Dangerous girls revolves around a murder.
Wrong.
It revolves around a friendship.
Simple, you might say.
There's nothing simple about this novel.
We all have been there.
We all have had someone, during our teenage years, for which we would have hiked a mountain, for which we would have stolen a bag of chips at the store. Someone for which we would have killed, without having second thoughts.
Anna and Elise’s relationship finds its roots in all of this. It baths in love, a love so torrid and deep, nobody else can understand. Nobody else is allowed to understand.
Not even their group of friends. Not even Tate (especially not Tate), Anna's boyfriend.
When you think about it properly, you'll realise it's not even an equation, it's never been one, because other people can only gravitate on the surface of these two best friends' bubble, and never on the inside. Never too close.
Elise and Anna become friends almost by chance, almost by destiny. There’s something that pulls them together, even when they should be miles (miles and miles, because I'm still too much into this book) and virtual worlds apart, they can’t help but collide, and melt together.
They wrap each other and themselves together in a blanket made of obsessive affection, of morbose domesticness. White lies, slow glances and sharp teeth become their favorite weapons.
“Elise and I fall into friendship like gravity.”
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, gravity is the force that attracts objects towards one another, especially the force that makes things fall to the ground.
Did you see that? That is what I like to call foreshadowing at its finest.
The story flows perfectly. I read it all in one sitting. I also might have stress eaten a whole pint of mint chocolate chip ice-cream, because of it, but that's not important.
What's important is that this book is not just decently hyped over, it's not just fabulously carried out; this book is pure evil disguised as pure goden.
Abigail Haas's style is simple, but it has something to it that puts you in your place with a few sentences. I think it most of all teaches us that a writing style doesn't need to be pompous and polished to go straight to the heart.
AND THAT FUCKING ENDING.
I'm still shaking. Did you hear that noise? That was me, one day after, yelling into the void, because of this novel.
The writing digs deep and through Anna’s mind. It mocks you, it takes you by your hand and shows you facts that you need to know, even when you’ll feel like you don’t want to. It gives you a version of a story you can’t help but see as the truest one.
It introduces you to Anna and her unreliable narration. She’s young, pathetic, jealous, mean, and real. So real you’ll find yourself embracing her anxieties and doubts as your own.
The structure of the novel brings you back and forth into a spiral of past and present situations that are there to help you solve the mystery.
But, at the end of the day, the point here is not even about solving a mystery.
It’s about friendship, and the things you’d be willing to do for it.
shubba_the_emo_reader's review against another edition
5.0
What in the fuckity fuckwit mind fuck did I just read?? Like my brain just went
meeranair_54's review against another edition
4.0
A group of eight friends travel to Aruba, determined to have a rambunctious time away from their daily routine of school and family. Days that were meant to be spent in carefree splendor begin to go horribly awry when Elise goes missing. No one notices it at first, after all Elise is the quintessential party girl – bold, rebellious and a risk taker. Everyone is distraught when they find her body, but as the days pass, hidden sentiments become clearer. Could one of them have been driven to commit such an atrocious crime?
Abigail Haas’ writing is so spectacular that I finished this book in one sitting. It was the perfect thriller – gripping, not too predictable and fast paced. Chapters shuffle between different timelines and yet they come together seamlessly. Almost as if you were reading different pages of Anna’s diary. I really liked the structure of the novel. It goes back and forth between three main periods – before the accident in Aruba; before Aruba and after the accident in Aruba. I think this structured chaos sort of added to the build up of the climax. The plot is not unique as it follows tropes that have been explored previously, such as that of friends vacationing only to face trouble later, girl liking the popular jock in school etc. But I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, nevertheless.
I liked Lamar’s character a lot more than Tate’s. To me, Anna and Tate’s relationship wasn’t very convincing, even though he was nice to her and everything. Anna and Elise’s friendship is infectious. They were each other’s saving grace. So much so that it bothered quite a few people. Also, Chelsea and Max didn’t really have much of a presence throughout the book. I still can’t figure out what their purpose was. But the ending made up more than enough for the little flaws. The ending is a smack in the face, a crash into reality and how astoundingly crooked it can be. I really really liked this novel and would recommend it to everyone in the mood for a suspenseful read. It is simply unputdownable. I will certainly be picking up the author’s other works.
Abigail Haas’ writing is so spectacular that I finished this book in one sitting. It was the perfect thriller – gripping, not too predictable and fast paced. Chapters shuffle between different timelines and yet they come together seamlessly. Almost as if you were reading different pages of Anna’s diary. I really liked the structure of the novel. It goes back and forth between three main periods – before the accident in Aruba; before Aruba and after the accident in Aruba. I think this structured chaos sort of added to the build up of the climax. The plot is not unique as it follows tropes that have been explored previously, such as that of friends vacationing only to face trouble later, girl liking the popular jock in school etc. But I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, nevertheless.
I liked Lamar’s character a lot more than Tate’s. To me, Anna and Tate’s relationship wasn’t very convincing, even though he was nice to her and everything. Anna and Elise’s friendship is infectious. They were each other’s saving grace. So much so that it bothered quite a few people. Also, Chelsea and Max didn’t really have much of a presence throughout the book. I still can’t figure out what their purpose was. But the ending made up more than enough for the little flaws. The ending is a smack in the face, a crash into reality and how astoundingly crooked it can be. I really really liked this novel and would recommend it to everyone in the mood for a suspenseful read. It is simply unputdownable. I will certainly be picking up the author’s other works.
simmyt's review against another edition
oha oha oha oha mükemmel mükemmel mükemmel ohaaaaaaaaaa
emleemay's review against another edition
5.0
"Wouldn't we all look guilty, if someone searched hard enough?"
Why, hello there, awesome book. You managed to take me straight out of this whole Goodreads censorship/deleting reviews fiasco and plant me right inside another time and place; many brave books have tried and failed this past week to do what you have done. So, thank you.
[b:Dangerous Girls|16074758|Dangerous Girls|Abigail Haas|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1356513050s/16074758.jpg|21869436] is in danger. It's in danger of being underread. It's in danger of being given a quick once over and then dismissed as something vapid, senseless and probably crap. It isn't, my friends. It's damn good. [b:Dangerous Girls|16074758|Dangerous Girls|Abigail Haas|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1356513050s/16074758.jpg|21869436] is one of those multi-layered books that does several different things at once and still manages to do each one equally well. Haas does what, in my opinion, all good mystery writers should do: she doesn't hang everything precariously-balanced on her reveals. The ending is fantastic but it doesn't matter because the book is also about so many other things. It is a satisfying story from start to finish that took me through so many different emotions.
So, what is this book? It's a mature YA mystery. I use "YA" with some hesitation here because it's full of all the kinda stuff that will make some parents clutch their rosary beads - sex, alcohol abuse, drug use... oh yeah, and there's that whole murder thing too. It's about a teen summer vacation gone wrong. Anna, her best friend - Elise, her boyfriend - Tate, as well as others, all go to party hard, get laid and have fun. Then, one day, Elise is discovered stabbed to death in her bed and Anna and Tate are the prime suspects. From there, we are taken on a journey through a murder trial that seems to paint Anna in a worse light with every piece of "evidence" provided. The story of the present is also broken up with flashbacks into how Anna and Elise became friends.
This is a dark story that takes you through the many nasty corners of teen girl friendships but it also shows the other side, the importance of friends to one another and the complicated psychology behind it all. Elise is such a wonderfully complex character. I think most people know an Elise. That reckless, volatile person who is always the life of the party, so confident, often overtly sexual and looking for a new adventure at every turn. But underneath there's something a bit different, a sadness or an anger or loneliness, that hides beneath the mask they've created.
My knowledge of the law and judicial system is limited to one year at AS that I hated, so I'm far from an expert on what is realistic or not. But I've always been fascinated by the portrayal of court trials as a kind of show or circus where everyone plays their parts. Where it isn't about guilty/not guilty, but about the performance you put on and how convincingly you deliver the script. Like in the musical, Chicago. Anna's trial resembles a circus and it horrifies me at the way each little piece of a person's life can be taken out of context and manipulated to mean whatever the prosecutor chooses. Scary.
I honestly loved everything about this wild little gem and I'm now going to recommend it to everyone I know. That means YOU too.
Why, hello there, awesome book. You managed to take me straight out of this whole Goodreads censorship/deleting reviews fiasco and plant me right inside another time and place; many brave books have tried and failed this past week to do what you have done. So, thank you.
[b:Dangerous Girls|16074758|Dangerous Girls|Abigail Haas|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1356513050s/16074758.jpg|21869436] is in danger. It's in danger of being underread. It's in danger of being given a quick once over and then dismissed as something vapid, senseless and probably crap. It isn't, my friends. It's damn good. [b:Dangerous Girls|16074758|Dangerous Girls|Abigail Haas|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1356513050s/16074758.jpg|21869436] is one of those multi-layered books that does several different things at once and still manages to do each one equally well. Haas does what, in my opinion, all good mystery writers should do: she doesn't hang everything precariously-balanced on her reveals. The ending is fantastic but it doesn't matter because the book is also about so many other things. It is a satisfying story from start to finish that took me through so many different emotions.
So, what is this book? It's a mature YA mystery. I use "YA" with some hesitation here because it's full of all the kinda stuff that will make some parents clutch their rosary beads - sex, alcohol abuse, drug use... oh yeah, and there's that whole murder thing too. It's about a teen summer vacation gone wrong. Anna, her best friend - Elise, her boyfriend - Tate, as well as others, all go to party hard, get laid and have fun. Then, one day, Elise is discovered stabbed to death in her bed and Anna and Tate are the prime suspects. From there, we are taken on a journey through a murder trial that seems to paint Anna in a worse light with every piece of "evidence" provided. The story of the present is also broken up with flashbacks into how Anna and Elise became friends.
This is a dark story that takes you through the many nasty corners of teen girl friendships but it also shows the other side, the importance of friends to one another and the complicated psychology behind it all. Elise is such a wonderfully complex character. I think most people know an Elise. That reckless, volatile person who is always the life of the party, so confident, often overtly sexual and looking for a new adventure at every turn. But underneath there's something a bit different, a sadness or an anger or loneliness, that hides beneath the mask they've created.
My knowledge of the law and judicial system is limited to one year at AS that I hated, so I'm far from an expert on what is realistic or not. But I've always been fascinated by the portrayal of court trials as a kind of show or circus where everyone plays their parts. Where it isn't about guilty/not guilty, but about the performance you put on and how convincingly you deliver the script. Like in the musical, Chicago. Anna's trial resembles a circus and it horrifies me at the way each little piece of a person's life can be taken out of context and manipulated to mean whatever the prosecutor chooses. Scary.
I honestly loved everything about this wild little gem and I'm now going to recommend it to everyone I know. That means YOU too.
mallegar's review against another edition
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Infidelity
Moderate: Terminal illness and Cancer