Review: The Dead List by Jennifer L. Armentrout
SYNOPSIS:
It’s Ella’s senior year of high school and she and her best friend Linds plan to make it the best year ever. At Brock Cochran’s end of summer pool party, the girls vow to have as much fun as possible before they head off to different colleges next fall. But when Ella is mysteriously attacked on her way home from the party, everything changes. Ella’s carefree senior year plans disintegrate as she finds herself at the center of an attempted murder investigation.
Ella tries to move on, but her attacker isn’t done yet. He shows himself in the form of horrifying signs and symbols: a clown mask strewn on her bed, a dead bird in her backpack, a shadow moving past her window in the night. And as the weeks pass, it turns out that Ella isn’t the only one being tormented.
With the help of an old flame, Jensen Carver, and her friends and family, Ella tries to attain some sense of normalcy, but she can’t seem to shake the feeling that there’s a dark pattern hidden in the killer’s every move. Suddenly, even those in her innermost circle seem suspicious. In her seemingly safe West Virginia town, Ella starts to wonder who she can trust.
REVIEW:
I cannot deal with this book, holy sh*t I will be reeling from the plot twists for weeks! So let me start out by say I was blown away by this book, refreshing, unique…and I can never, EVER guess who the killer is when Jen writes mysteries. The plot is seamless, filled with plenty of tension and suspense but masterfully balanced with a budding romance. While fast paced, Jen doesn’t forget to make moments and memories for her characters and in doing so, she captures my heart as I cheer for Ella, not only her safety but her romance with Jensen.
Lets be real here, I was shipping Ella and Jensen from the page he was described on. While there past is heavy and does overshadow them, I enjoyed watching them work through there struggles to come together and thrive. The secondary characters, add depth to the story and you can’t help but fall in love with them. There is enough playful banter and jokes that while the story is tense, you also have pages where you are giggling and smiling. I can really appreciate that in a book, I never want to feel like I am on the edge of a cliff for 200+ pages. I really enjoy the break up in the story line and the side plots…*cough cough* romance *cough cough*.
But where Jen really excelled was the last 75-100 pages because let me just say, I am SHOOK! I can’t even process the plot twists other than they blew my mind. Honestly, this whole drama unfolds and then I am in my blanket of false security and BAM, just kidding, you thought it was over but Lord knows round 2 is coming b*tch. The back to back plot twists have me feeling whiplash, so d*mn clever. I just adored this story and while the characters seems older in some ways than their teenage years, I couldn’t get enough. I will definitely be picking this up for a re-read.
LINKS:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble
