A Mess of a Book

 

I’m sorry to have to write a bad review, but I hated this book.  And what is really disappointing is that the concept is great, but the delivery is appalling. The story is basically about a 19 year old boy who has a car crash and there are two dead bodies in his car (dead before the car accident). He says he killed them, however he is not convincing. Who actually killed these two adults and why is this kid taking the blame. That is basically the concept of the novel.

Why do I hate it? Here are my three main reasons for hating this book:

1. The style of writing and pace of the novel keeps changing. Around half of the book is delivered in a standard narrative style. Half of the book is then told via lengthy text messages!! The other half told through newspaper articles. It’s horrible!! Oh and the last part of the book is told in an essay/article format with footnotes!!!!!!
2. The reveal of who killed the two adults and why the kid is taking the blame is revealed through newspaper articles in a very non event way. I almost missed it. I had to reread a paragraph – yes a short paragraph was used to reveal the whole mystery, to not miss the revelation. And this was done about 2/3 of the way through the book (possibly even sooner).
3. The book drags on. Once it is revealed who and why the murders took place, there is really nothing after that. The initial main characters drag on in a dwindling way, and the secondary story line/characters step forward but basically go nowhere either.

I did not like this book, which is a shame because I think the basic plotline was a great concept.