Weekend – Christopher Pike

Guest review by Kristian Elliott.

First published June 1st 1990 by Hodder Children’s Books.

Genre: Young Adult Thriller

Note: This review contains spoilers. 

“The sun is out. The beach is beautiful. The sea is perfect. And for nine friends this weekend in Mexico is a dream vacation. But that dream turns into a nightmare by a mysterious plot for revenge.”

I was recommended Weekend after hitting a wall while writing a short story about some teenagers on vacation at a mystery house. I’m glad that I came across this as it’s helped me considerably in terms of how to build tension and suspense.

This group of friends have all gone on vacation to visit their sick friend, Robin, who was poisoned at their last party. Someone mixed insecticide into her drink. Now, a dialysis machine is the only thing keeping her alive. It’s clear that one of the friends on vacation poisoned her, and when strange things start to occur, they realise someone is trying to avenge Robin.

Pike does an amazing job with the dialogue between characters. There is plenty of humour and you get a real sense of their teenage antics. The characters are vivid and Pike portrays their angst and guilt in a way that the reader reciprocates. This is particularly at its strongest when Shani divulges all the terrible things Leda did to embarrass Kerry during her cheer rally. The incident led to Kerry being teased and bullied around school for being a slut. Leda also stole Kerry’s boyfriend. Then there’s the big reveal where we discover it was Kerry who poisoned Robin, by accident: she wanted to poison Leda. Essentially, the victim created another victim. What Pike does best throughout this book is create suspense, and  slowly reveals the mystery in a fast-paced manner.

The main issue I had with this story was the way in which the group of friends punish Kerry for poisoning Robin. It didn’t feel realistic. Flynn’s role in particular irked me: he seemed too perfect and too good to be true. Good looking, no problem with that. So amazing with a hand gun he can shoot a rattlesnake in half several yards out, just before it bites someone on the leg; maybe that’s possible. Pretends to be a psychopath obsessed with avenging Robin so that he could get all the confessions from the group – makes some sense. He’s Robin and Leda’s long lost brother who just to happens to be able to donate a kidney to Robin and save her life – really?

Regardless, this was an enjoyable read.

Score

7/10

Recommended to…

I recommend this book to lovers of YA Thrillers. If you’ve read any of Pike’s books before and enjoyed them, then you’ll love this. Sticking with the theme of friends on vacation, I recommend reading Oblivion Road by Alex McAulay.

I’m new to reading Christopher Pike and this was only his second novel. I’ve heard that he’s the master of fast-paced thrillers in YA. So I’m going to read the highly rated The Last Vampire series next, also by Pike, which I’ll review.

Killing Ruby Rose – Jessie Humphries

Book one of Ruby Rose. First published May 1st 2014 by Skyscape.

Genre: Young Adult Thriller/Suspense

Note: To view spoilers, highlight the white text.

In sunny Southern California, seventeen-year-old Ruby Rose is known for her killer looks and her killer SAT scores. But ever since her dad, an LAPD SWAT sergeant, died, she’s also got a few killer secrets.

I have to admit, in this case I did judge the book by its cover and the main reason I bought it was because it was so pretty to look at. I even let my sister read it first without arguing about who had dibs. She devoured it and urged me to read it so that we could discuss it, which piqued my curiosity. My sister – much like me – is very vocal about books she loves and we recommend them to each other so that we can properly discuss and dissect the nuances of the text.

So, of course, I HAD to read it ASAP.

Killing Ruby Rose was so much more than I expected. I was ready for some watered-down Veronica Mars type story but Killing Ruby Rose took a turn in an unexpected direction.

The story was more gritty than I expected it to be. Ruby has real issues and the therapy part of the story felt real. Her issues weren’t brushed over, but addressed and incorporated into the story. The plot itself didn’t pull any punches. Some things,like when Ruby has to ally herself with a rapist, were hard to swallow but the way the dilemma was presented made you understand why Ruby made the choices she did.

One thing that did frustrate me was Ruby’s inability to put some things together. She’s meant to be very smart and she’s been stalking her targets for a while, compiling information to build a case, yet she can’t see what is in front of her. It could be understandable at points – especially for the bigger plot twists – because she is under a lot of stress, but some of the things seemed glaringly obvious and it was a bit disappointing that the reader could put the clues together and the amazing Ruby couldn’t.

The romance with Liam was well-written, and at no point overwhelmed the story: it was a thriller to the end which I liked. He was supportive of Ruby and with her every step of the way. However, some of the other supporting characters needed more development, like Ruby’s mother. We got told that she was cold and unloving and left to rely on Ruby’s assessment of her. We learnt more about her dead father than we did about the people surrounding Ruby, and although he is an integral part to Ruby’s development, it was a bit disappointing to have a well-rounded main character surrounded by two-dimensional ‘extras’.

The conclusion wrapped up enough questions to not leave you feeling cheated out of answers and enough open for a sequel. I’m interested to see how Ruby’s new living situation pans out and how the revelations she faces about her past affect her future.

Score

7/10

Recommended to…

Fans of Veronica Mars or other crime shows. The Gallagher Girls series is also a good choice if you want something more lighthearted but with teenage girls still kicking ass – this time as spies, not vigilantes.

Dark Places – Gillian Flynn

Guest review by the voice behind The Writer’s Cookbook, Kristina Adams.

First published May 5th 2009 by Shaye Areheart Books

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller

Gillian Flynn is most famous for writing Gone Girl, but she’s also written two other novels: Dark Places and Sharp Objects.

Dark Places tells the story of Libby Day, a twentysomething whose life changed forever when she was just seven: her mother and two sisters were killed on the same night, and her brother got the blame. She’s spent her whole life living on the money donated by kind-hearted citizens, but twenty years later that money’s run out. She agrees to speak to a club that are fascinated by her family and convinced that her brother is innocent. Libby, on the other hand, has spent twenty years insisting that he’s to blame. Can she be persuaded to the contrary?

Style                                                                           

The story is told from three perspectives: Libby, her mum and her brother. Libby’s perspective is in the present day whilst her mum and brother tell of the events leading up to That Night. I found some of the parts told by Libby’s mum and brother slow, but they were necessary to the story and discovering what happened. A lot of it is information that is vital to the reader that Libby must find out on her own or can never know.

Characters

Libby is a dark, dark person. When something triggers her PTSD or depression she refers to this as her ‘dark place’. For anyone with depression or PTSD she’s a very relatable character, and for anyone without it’s an insight into how the mind of someone with either condition works. That being said, I would be very careful reading this if you yourself are in a ‘Dark Place’ – I find dark books very difficult to read when in a dark place myself.

Opening

I found the book slow to get off the ground, but I decided to give it a chance, reminding myself that it wasn’t Gone Girl (which I’d read first). It doesn’t immediately grab you, but it is worth sticking with because there are some truly crazy characters and there’s a twist at the end.

Plot

The plot is intricately weaved with a twist or two, just like in her other books. I did predict part of the ending, but I don’t know if that’s due to writing style or me reading more crime novels.

Score

7/10

Recommended to…

If you enjoyed Gone Girl or Sharp Objects, I’d recommend this book. Likewise if you’re into crime, mystery, thriller or drama, or a fan of Tess Gerritsen. Gillian Flynn is classed as a crime writer but what she really writes about is the brutality of relationships that many people are scared to think about, let alone write.

 

Odd Thomas – Dean Koontz

First published August 29th 2006 by Bantam

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Note: To view spoilers, highlight the white text.

“From time to time, I do consider that I might be mad. Like any self-respecting lunatic, however, I am always quick to dismiss any doubts about my sanity.”

I’ve had my eye on this book for a while. It was on my to-read list for ages. I finally got round to reading it after promising myself I wouldn’t buy any more books until I read some I already owned. I was only halfway through when I started texting my friends recommending it as a must-read.

The premise is deceptively simple: a short-order cook with the ability to see the dead must save his small, desert-town from an imminent catastrophe. I was wary of the ‘horror’ aspect initially: it’s not a genre that calls to me because I must admit I do freak out easily. I had to read The Woman In Black for class at one point, and spent a week jumping at every shadow.

The first thing that grabbed me about Odd Thomas was its unique narrative voice. It’s so different to anything I’ve recently (or ever) read that I was immediately grabbed by Odd’s quirky personality. Odd talks directly to the reader, giving a sense that he’s telling the story only to you. It’s a one-sided conversation in which you find yourself nodding along with Odd’s musings or chuckling as he digresses from the topic at hand. His eccentricity is only surpassed by Little Ozzie’s, his writer friend and the man who urged Odd to recount his experiences in the form of a novel.

The whole cast is quite colourful. Odd’s soulmate, Stormy, has a thing for delayed gratification. His boss at Pico Mundo Grill is obsessed with Elvis and his neighbour is afraid one day she’ll turn ‘invisible’. Koontz builds up an amazing cast of unique characters I grew to love by the end of the book. Little Ozzie and his cat are my personal favourites. 

The locations are beautifully described; I’m not sure if Pico Mundo is based on a real place, but either way, I could picture it vividly in my mind. I love how Koontz unapologetically embraces the oddness, never spoon feeding the reader. The whole ‘blown-up cow’ debacle had me in stitches, as well as confused in a good way. Only a narrative voice such as Odd’s could get away with scenes like that.

In retrospect, the plot was slow to unfold but Koontz’s narrative had me so hooked on the characters and their interactions that I didn’t realise how far I was into the book before the plot began to thicken. But once it did, I found it hard to put down. I read at every moment I could find: I’d go to the beach on my lunch break or I’d bring the book along to family functions, trying to get a few pages in.  

Odd Thomas was one of the few books to truly surprise me in a long time. There was a big twist in the middle that I never saw coming. When Fungus Man shows up in Odd’s bathtub I almost screamed. Then I had to go back and reread it. It’s a great twist because it opens up the story in an unexpected way, making you realise that there was more than one villain all along. I have a tendency to overanalyse books — something that I’m worse for since doing my Creative Writing MA — which is why I was so excited to read a book with an unexpected twist.

Score

8.5/10

Recommended to…

Lovers of quirky narratives/narrators. Odd Thomas is a good follow-up book if you enjoy Stephen King. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake popped up as a recommendation when I bought the book, and that’s now been added to my to-read list.

Followed by…

Forever Odd