Hannah Jayne
Contemporary Young Adult/Mystery
272 pages
Sourcebooks Fire
Available now
Source: eARC from publisher for review
THE STORY (from Amazon)
They Said It Was An Accident...
Sawyer Dodd is a star athlete, a straight-A student, and the envy of every other girl who wants to date Kevin Anderson. When Kevin dies in a tragic car crash, Sawyer is stunned. Then she opens her locker to find a note:
You're welcome.
Someone saw what he did to her. Someone knows that Sawyer and Kevin weren't the perfect couple they seemed to be. And that someone—a killer—is now shadowing Sawyer's every move...
MY THOUGHTS
Truly, Madly, Deadly draws us in with the dark promise of a thrilling mystery, one that’s sure to raise the fine hair on the back of our necks and force us to check over our shoulders just to make sure no one is there. Unfortunately, the promise of the synopsis is never quite fulfilled by the story itself, the cast of characters as a whole lacking the depth that would turn this quick read into a thoroughly grueling and intensely emotional read. The mystery element does keep the pages turning with some speed, but so many intriguing and potentially poignant facets to the characters and their various relationships go unexplored, much to the detriment of our overall reading experience.
Sawyer is a young woman we genuinely want to know, the hints we get here and there of what she’s gone through with both an abusive boyfriend and the dissolution of her parents' marriage more than enough to make us want to dig deeper into her life. Frustratingly, however, one of the largest issues in the story–the abuse she suffered at the hands of her now-deceased boyfriend–is almost entirely glossed over, the ramifications of Sawyer’s being hit by someone who claims to have loved her tucked neatly away in favor of her stalker’s murderous attention.
Additionally, the terror she experienced in her relationship with Kevin could have been a key component to building a foundation for us with Sawyer herself, yanking us into her story with painful force and keeping us riveted as she deals with the maelstrom of emotions stemming from both his life and death. Instead though, we see Kevin repeatedly in rather pleasant flashbacks, our only moments with him some of her more affectionate memories that seem incongruous with the knowledge that he raised his hand to her. Thus, instead of being emotionally connected to Sawyer–witnesses to her pain and her healing–we remain detached, confused by the conflicting views of Kevin and surprised by how minor a role the abuse plays when it’s seemingly the catalyst for all that follows.
Overall, Truly, Madly, Deadly is a fast, read-all-in-one-sitting type of story, it just superficially acknowledges the elements that intrigue us most while exploring in more detail the ones that hold our interest least, leaving us wishing things had unfolded in a slightly different way. That being said however, Ms. Jayne does know how to keep readers flipping the pages and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
Rating: 3/5
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This
book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a
review.
I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.
