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pia_de_e's review against another edition
4.0
A young, pretty girl is found dead in a playground carousel. This happens in a small, safe Colorado suburb, almost with no crime, which makes it even more horrid.
Aside from Lucinda, the murdered girl, there are three main characters. They all have their own private, unresolved issues, that haunt them and mold their actions.
Russ Fletcher, the police officer in charge of the case; Cameron Whitley, the young stalker in love with Lucinda; and Jade Dixon-Burns, also a student at Lucinda's school, who has every reason to hate her (and does).
They guide us around Lucinda's life and Broomsville's society. It's not easy feeling an outsider in such a small community, and in one way or the other, these three are on the fringe.
Although very well described, the secondary characters are also crucial to the story: the well meaning but clueless parents, the mean parents, the younger sister, the wives.
My only "but" to this book is that the outcome, the killer was a total cliché. The who and the why are something I have read in other books before.
Nevertheless, an amazing book.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Aside from Lucinda, the murdered girl, there are three main characters. They all have their own private, unresolved issues, that haunt them and mold their actions.
Russ Fletcher, the police officer in charge of the case; Cameron Whitley, the young stalker in love with Lucinda; and Jade Dixon-Burns, also a student at Lucinda's school, who has every reason to hate her (and does).
They guide us around Lucinda's life and Broomsville's society. It's not easy feeling an outsider in such a small community, and in one way or the other, these three are on the fringe.
Although very well described, the secondary characters are also crucial to the story: the well meaning but clueless parents, the mean parents, the younger sister, the wives.
My only "but" to this book is that the outcome, the killer was a total cliché. The who and the why are something I have read in other books before.
Nevertheless, an amazing book.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
kim__gar93's review against another edition
2.0
Honestly, I was not a big fan of this book. The good? There were some sections of prose that shined. The bad? Unlikeable, flat characters, vivid descriptions of really gross acne, boring environment, and unfortunately, no heart. The way this book approached sex made me say, “ugh” or “yikes” more than once. The center of this story is supposed to be finding out who killed Lucinda and I had no drive to find out. Overall, would pass on recommending this novel.
amengelking's review against another edition
4.0
An unsolved murder told from 3 different character’s perspectives. The story is a slow build, written sparsely, abruptly, and unsettlingly, but still managing to, at the same time, be thoughtful, lyrical and probing. It was a different style of writing that took some getting used to. The characters were flawed and clearly “other”. I enjoyed it!
marybeth_c's review against another edition
2.0
Oh the melodrama!! Figuring out the who-dunnit kept me reading but this book is just oozing with melodrama, I had to laugh out loud a few times.
elenser's review against another edition
3.0
Quick and easy read. The multiple POV approach gets tiresome in parts and the big reveal is a bit of a letdown, but maybe that's the point as it keeps the focus more on the 3 main characters' journeys and less on the crime mystery portion.
booksbea's review
2.0
This is not a mystery thriller. It is a very sloooow character study that happens to have a murder in it. The writing was great. The author definitely found the right genre for her writing style with her other book: Notes on Execution.
astronomy_lover15's review
3.0
I was expecting this book to be a bit more intense before I started reading, but was a bit disappointed when I found it to be more...boring. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy reading the book, I still did. I guess I wanted something more exciting.
Anyway, the story revolves around the death of golden girl Lucinda Hayes who was found murdered in an elementary school playground, found by the janitor who works there at night. As the investigation is going on the book is written in the perspectives of three characters. Cameron, a boy who loved Lucinda, probably a bit too much. Jade, a girl who hated and envied Lucinda. And Russ, a police officer tasked with investigating the murder and has a bit of a connection with Cameron and his family.
Surprising thing is that in spite of the rather questionable things these characters have done, and the personality traits that would normally turn me off from ever liking thing, I found myself not disliking them, but rather feeling sympathetic to the situation. Cameron, in particularly, is rather obsessed with Lucinda to the point of stalker-ish behavior, but giving his circumstances in life, particularly his blackout episodes, it's a bit hard for me to just automatically write him off as a creep. And Jade, I was expecting not to like her attitude because of her hatred towards Lucinda, but no I don't. I understand why she feels the way she does, and honestly, it's understandable that she doesn't like Lucinda, even if the anger can be misguided occasionally. Like Cameron, it would be a bit too easy to label her the killer since hating someone doesn't automatically mean you'd want to kill them. Russ, on the other hand, was just...there. He has his fair share of problems in life, but nothing too interesting.
I will admit that I was bit surprised by how Jade's POV is the only one written in the first POV while Cameron and Russ's were written in third POV, but it didn't throw me off too much from the story and I enjoyed it just the same.
Overall, the book did not exactly live up to my expectations, but it is one still worth reading I believe.
Anyway, the story revolves around the death of golden girl Lucinda Hayes who was found murdered in an elementary school playground, found by the janitor who works there at night. As the investigation is going on the book is written in the perspectives of three characters. Cameron, a boy who loved Lucinda, probably a bit too much. Jade, a girl who hated and envied Lucinda. And Russ, a police officer tasked with investigating the murder and has a bit of a connection with Cameron and his family.
Surprising thing is that in spite of the rather questionable things these characters have done, and the personality traits that would normally turn me off from ever liking thing, I found myself not disliking them, but rather feeling sympathetic to the situation. Cameron, in particularly, is rather obsessed with Lucinda to the point of stalker-ish behavior, but giving his circumstances in life, particularly his blackout episodes, it's a bit hard for me to just automatically write him off as a creep.
Spoiler
Also, it would be too easy to say that he was the one who murdered Lucinda, which he didn't do.I will admit that I was bit surprised by how Jade's POV is the only one written in the first POV while Cameron and Russ's were written in third POV, but it didn't throw me off too much from the story and I enjoyed it just the same.
Overall, the book did not exactly live up to my expectations, but it is one still worth reading I believe.
booksarebetter's review against another edition
5.0
This was an impressive first book. I admit, that cover is a little underwhelming, but the story itself-wow. I haven't read a mystery this good in AGES. I really want to thank the publisher who asked if I wanted a copy of this because I'd requested three other mysteries on NetGalley, took a chance and said "Yes, please." And I'm glad I did.
This book stole my heart, and stomped on it. The main character is bullied a lot, which wow there are some hateful people in this book. The girls are strong, the boys are harsh, and there's a lot of violence towards one another. Small towns being what they are, everyone knows everyones business and isn't polite about keeping it quiet. After all, what would a small town be without gossip?
The main girl in the book gets murdered, but the way the ending turns out was startling and unexpected. I won't say much, for fear of spoilers, but it was an impressively well done mystery, and it takes a lot to impress me.
The characters all were phenomenal, and very lifelike, very real. I felt as if I was walking amongst them, learning about them, and trying to solve the mystery with them of who killed the girl. It was an amazing experience, reading this, and I read it twice before posting this review because of it.
Thanks to Simon and Schuster for providing me with this book, I really loved it!
This book stole my heart, and stomped on it. The main character is bullied a lot, which wow there are some hateful people in this book. The girls are strong, the boys are harsh, and there's a lot of violence towards one another. Small towns being what they are, everyone knows everyones business and isn't polite about keeping it quiet. After all, what would a small town be without gossip?
The main girl in the book gets murdered, but the way the ending turns out was startling and unexpected. I won't say much, for fear of spoilers, but it was an impressively well done mystery, and it takes a lot to impress me.
The characters all were phenomenal, and very lifelike, very real. I felt as if I was walking amongst them, learning about them, and trying to solve the mystery with them of who killed the girl. It was an amazing experience, reading this, and I read it twice before posting this review because of it.
Thanks to Simon and Schuster for providing me with this book, I really loved it!