In this latest Whodunnit movie, “Knives Out” follows a detective (Daniel Craig) who gets mysteriously called to an extravagant mansion where a best-selling murder-mystery author, Harlan Thrombey, (Christopher Plummer) has been murdered. One-by-one, Harlan’s family and staff are interviewed to see where they were before the crime was committed on the night of Harlan’s birthday. And so begins the utter madness and quirkiness of this movie that was a mixture of “Clue” meets Agatha Christie. More
Synopsis: Paradise in Aruba quickly gets gruesome in this “ripped-from-the-headlines thriller (Kirkus Reviews)” with a twist that defies the imagination.
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 harsh revelations about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.
Awaiting the judge’s decree, it becomes clear to Anna that everyone around her thinks she is not only guilty, but also dangerous. And when the whole story comes out, reality is more shocking than anyone could ever imagine…
Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Thriller
My thoughts:This is the type of novel that you don’t need a bookmark for because you’ll end up reading it in one sitting. Dangerous Girls is the mystery novel that I didn’t know I needed in my life, and it has successfully become one of my favorite novels of 2016. If I were to sum up this novel in one sentence, I’d say that this is a YA equivalent of Gone Girl (don’t worry the plot isn’t identical). This novel is addicting and will engross you from the first page until the very last. It is a novel full of twists and turns, taking you through different points in time in order to figure out not only who killed Elise, but why.
DangerousGirls follows Anna going through the investigation and brutal trial followint the murder of her best friend, Elise. The story also jumps back in time in order to show you past memories of Anna with Elise, her boyfriend, and her other friends spanning from years ago to days before the murder. It helps set the stage for the reader to realize that the relationships in this novel weren’t picture perfect. In fact, they had so many flaws that they were bound to crumble under the slightest tension. Haas expertly uses the scattered timeline of the novel in order to present the reader with important facts first and then unfolds secrets and twists along the way. It successfully kept me on the edge the entire time, wondering what had happened to lead up to Elise’s murder.
**Do not read this review unless you have read the first two novels in the Mara Dyer Trilogy in case of spoilers**
Synopsis: Mara Dyer wants to believe there’s more to the lies she’s been told. There is.
She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead. She should.
She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance. She will now.
Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story. Retribution has arrived.
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery, Supernatural
Cover: I want to hang up all of Michelle Hodkin’s book covers in my room since the covers are that beautiful.
My thoughts: This is one of the most satisfying conclusions to a trilogy that I have ever read. I read this novel looking for answers to the questions that arose in the first two novels, and boy did I get some answers. The book begins right where the last installment left off without wasting time reviewing what happened before. It picked up easily into the mystery that revolves around Mara Dyer and what happened when the hospital collapsed in Evolution. It shows Mara Dyer being tested on by Dr. Kells who will do anything to figure out Mara’s abilities and how to control them. Using inhumane techniques, Mara goes through horrible tests in the hospital she was forcefully put into.
A major contribution to the development of the plot were Jamie and Stella who assisted Mara in escaping the hospital to find out who was testing their supernatural abilities while also trying to find Noah. It takes these three characters on a journey around Florida and eventually New York City in their efforts to find the truth. Reading Jamie and Mara’s effortless banter helped lighten the heavy mood in the book which made me crack up at certain points during the most serious of scenes. I really enjoyed seeing Jamie play a bigger role in the plot as he assisted Mara who was adamant to find Noah again. It helped make the plot flow easier rather than having Mara alone trying to figure out why people are testing her abilities. More
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