Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
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Synopsis:
It's Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives. But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations.
As Anna sets out to find her friend's killer; she discovers hard truths about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.
As she awaits the judge's decree, it becomes clear that everyone around her thinks she is not just guilty, but dangerous. When the truth comes out, it is more shocking than one could ever imagine...
One moment. One picture. One glimpse-that’s all it takes to make someone think they know the truth.
Yikes. So. I kind of hated this book. But….I really liked it, too. I needed something drastic, a shock to my system. I am on a major book high after I finished the Jasper Dent series. It’s not often that books put me so out of commission that everything afterwards becomes a heaping pile of poo, in my eyes. So, yeah, I had to read something dark, something so sinister that I couldn’t possibly start fantasizing about my lovely, flawed Jazz. But, when I signed on here, I knew I might not wholly enjoy the experience. That I might find characters that were so beyond flawed that it borders on a depressing line that I wasn’t ready to cross (I do so love a good flawed character these days, but woo buddy these were some fucked up characters). That I may be disturbed by the events leading up to the crime. I was 100% right.
I’m not guna lie. I knew who did it. I knew who the killer was. I can’t talk about why or how or what prompted the murder-you have to read it for yourself. It’s not easy to guess who it is and you’ll likely be floundering up until the final moment on whodunnit.
Wouldn’t we all look guilty, if someone searched hard enough?
The story is constructed in such a manner that you’re never bored. You never find yourself wanting to put it down. Each new page unravels another part of this intricately woven story and you start to speculate, to wonder, to explore any and all options. It fluctuates between present day (her trial), ‘before’ (the vacation where it all happened), and the past (high school where she, Elise, Tate, and the other girls all met). We get to see all aspects of the story in every perspective possible, but it doesn’t quite give you the full answer. I won’t lie and say I think this is a fantastic, wonderfully put together novel. I mean, it is! But, I can’t say I loved the format. I also can’t say I hated it. *Note: Please realize I have this under my ‘blur rating’ shelf* I think I just thought….well, I thought there’d be more from the vacation? Maybe that it would show the story leading up to the murder, all in one consecutive piece? But it didn’t. And now I understand why it didn’t, but it doesn’t change the fact that I thought this was a ‘real time’ story. Which is likely my own fault and hang up lol.
Would it have made a difference if I had cried?
Sporadically changing between the trial, when she met her friends, and during the vacay, we begin to see hard truths and ugly betrayals unfold. I think this is where my heart began to hurt. I am such a cliche person, in the fact that, unless it’s a Courntey Summers novel, I don’t much like ‘dark’ books. I mean, I love harsher stories now, whereas I didn’t before. But I need that silver lining, you know?? I am the epitome of the HEA dream. I crave it. I need it….but then again, I really don’t-not always. I just need characters to root for, that I care for, that I can obsess over. And, while I did root for our main character’s freedom and innocence, there wasn’t really anyone else to care about. I snarled at the screen when something would go wrong with her trial, when someone would alter the events that clearly they were glossing over, but, in the end, only having one character to ‘late’ (I didn’t love/like her but I also didn’t hate her….it was a mix) didn’t really do it for me as a whole.
I stare in the mirror, and remind myself: I’m here, I exist.
I’ll be okay.
My rating stems from three things-
The writing. It was great, compelling, kept me on the edge of my seat and flowed without ever being blunt or shortened for effect. I liked that…That sounds specific, but when writing flows, it flows. I don’t know that many stories constructed as such could be considered as ‘fluid’ as this one.
The end. I simply loved it. Want to see my absolute favorite quote/moment/revelation? It’s essentially a spoiler, so look at your own risk. If you’ve read it, you’ll know who said it. If you haven’t? Well, it’ll be your fault for looking. View Spoiler » Chills. Just many many chills.
The simplicity and gripping nature of the novel. The need to know more, even if it wasn’t the format I’d have liked.
So…that’s it.I hope I did a good job of expressing not only my concerns and issues, but also of letting everyone know that the story is strong and altogether gripping-even if you don’t like it, you’ll likely still make it to the end in record time….that’s just a hunch. After I finished, it was 2 AM and the house was dark- I needed to let my dog out in the back yard and found myself *not so discreetly* peering outside the back door, lest someone stab me repeatedly because I wasn’t aware. Don’t worry, my Pomeranian would have kicked their ass. I needn’t have worried.
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