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A review by ratnix
Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets by Chelsea Ichaso
2.0
I was sent an arc through net galley
I'm very conflicted by this one. The plot seemed promising, at first, but in the end... eh... I was underwhelmed.
I have two main issues: the writing and the main character.
Firstly, I found the writing odd. Even in the first chapter there's this sentence that made my skin crawl: Piper keeps an extra sweater stuffed inside her locker because she's always cold.No meat on her skinny bones. Like... was it necessary? Another example is this 2010s YA inspired sentence: I wasn't a sister.I wasn't even a friend.I was the darkness.
But even the jokes felt flat considering the plot and vibe of this book, at least to me. Personally, if I'm investigating how and why my sister fell off a cliff, the last thing I'd do is crack jokes. I get that it could be a copying mechanism but... it just didn't work. Example:
Get it? Because Abby hums a lot.
Let's move on to Savannah, the main character who with no exaggeration deserves the award for "one of the most annoying characters". I felt that the author tried to paint her as an unreliable narrator but as the end what came out was... Savannah. I can see why she was disliked by some characters based on her actions. She's selfish,impulsive,acts before she thinks etc,etc...
Even the plot at some points was dumb(the plot was focused on Savannah's actions,wow what a shock.
I will say however that the book is fast paced and an easy read which is a plus. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough.
I'm very conflicted by this one. The plot seemed promising, at first, but in the end... eh... I was underwhelmed.
I have two main issues: the writing and the main character.
Firstly, I found the writing odd. Even in the first chapter there's this sentence that made my skin crawl: Piper keeps an extra sweater stuffed inside her locker because she's always cold.No meat on her skinny bones. Like... was it necessary? Another example is this 2010s YA inspired sentence: I wasn't a sister.I wasn't even a friend.I was the darkness.
But even the jokes felt flat considering the plot and vibe of this book, at least to me. Personally, if I'm investigating how and why my sister fell off a cliff, the last thing I'd do is crack jokes. I get that it could be a copying mechanism but... it just didn't work. Example:
"If you talk to Abby, she'll just make up a story. She's a drama queen."
"I mean, technically she's an opera queen."
Get it? Because Abby hums a lot.
Let's move on to Savannah, the main character who with no exaggeration deserves the award for "one of the most annoying characters". I felt that the author tried to paint her as an unreliable narrator but as the end what came out was... Savannah. I can see why she was disliked by some characters based on her actions. She's selfish,impulsive,acts before she thinks etc,etc...
Spoiler
So, Savannah has the idea that Mr. Davis is the one who pushed Piper off the cliff so she heads down to a path to inform the police but realized she's lost her necklace somewhere so she tries to find it but before she does, the teacher finds her. Naturally, her teacher offers to help her by reminding her how much trouble he'll get if something bad happens to a member of their group. To which Savannah replies "You're going to be in trouble either way". And thus begins a mouse and cat tag between them. Listen, I'm not smart but if the person I thought had tried to murder my sister was near me, I would try to play it cool, that nothing's wrong and certainly wouldn't indirectly confess that I know something.Even the plot at some points was dumb(the plot was focused on Savannah's actions,wow what a shock.
Spoiler
Here's an example. The group thinks that Sam and Abby were the ones responsible for Piper falling off a cliff so what do they do? They steal Sam's phone to search it, which is a great idea, I'll admit. But, Savannah,having found what she was looking for, decides to take a screenshot and message it to herself through Sam's phone because she "doesn't have time to take her phone to take a photo?" You're telling me it's less time consumming to take a screenshot,dial your number, send that screenshot to yourself and wait for it to be delivered, delete the message and the screenshot than grab your phone from your pocket and take a picture of the message?Spoiler
Also, now that I was writing the paragraph above, I noticed a plot hole: The message Savannah found said: "Abby: Piper's asking questions Sam: I'll take care of it" But we never found out what he meant by "I'll take care of it"? Because it certainly has an ominous echo behind it so why did they ignore it even after the reveal?It seems that they completely forgot about it.I will say however that the book is fast paced and an easy read which is a plus. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough.