Monday, June 17, 2013

Review: Truly, Madly, Deadly by Hannah Jayne

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Title: Truly, Madly, Deadly
Author: Hannah Jayne
Series: n/a
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: July 2, 2013
Source: received from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Sawyer Dodd has it all. She's a star track athlete, choir soloist, and A-student. And her boyfriend is the handsome all-star Kevin Anderson. But behind the medals, prom pictures, and perfect smiles, Sawyer finds herself trapped in a controlling, abusive relationship with Kevin. When he dies in a drunk-driving accident, Sawyer is secretly relieved. She's free. Until she opens her locker and finds a mysterious letter signed by "an admirer" and printed with two simple words: "You're welcome."



The potential for creepiness was off the charts with this book.  The title, the cover, those two eerie words.  All of this led me to believe that Truly, Madly, Deadly would be a great psychological thriller...the kind that would keep me up reading till all hours of the night and leave me with disturbing dreams.

Somehow, the execution failed to deliver for this reader.  First, the book was relatively short and I read it pretty quickly, so there was no need to stay up reading and invite nightmares of my own making.  But I think the book suffered because of the length.  The pacing was rather quick, pushing the reader toward red herring after another, and though my theory from left field came to fruition, I still don't like the why and how of it.

That's partially because the characters themselves, as well as their motivations, never made all that much sense.  For one, the main character is the girl in the horror film who runs upstairs instead of getting out of the house and calling for help when she realizes the murderer is in the house with her.  I detest that character.  She never once makes an intelligent, informed decision.  There was also insta-love which led to behavior that, considering the circumstances, was inappropriate at best and nearly deplorable at other times.  It left me feeling a bit skeeved out.

The plot itself was pretty meh.  Lots of stuff happens, but therein lies the problem.  Too much is packed into such a short novel and none of it was explored to my liking.  Things happened, there was a period of freaking out, and then the event was forgotten for the most part.  There's even a Mr. Fitz-type situation, and while I've accepted it on PLL, it was too much for me in this story.  Especially when the situation came out of nowhere, wasn't reported, and the main character delved no further into it when the next freak-out occurred.

Pretty much, if this book hadn't been so short, I would have DNF'd it.  I was already pretty certain who the "admirer" was early on, and I didn't have all that much interest in seeing if I was right.  But I saw it through to the end, anyway.  And here I am, still disappointed.  It almost makes me curious to see if the author's adult series is any better.  Almost...

Rating:   photo 2-1.png 1/2


About the author:

Hannah is the author of the UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES from Kensington books and the upcoming young adult thrillers TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY and SEE JANE RUN available from Sourcebooks, Inc. When she's not battling the demons of the Underworld or tackling a murderer at Hawthorne High, Jayne kicks her feet up in her San Francisco bay area home and attempts to share couch space with two enormous cats.

Find Hannah:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | YouTube

11 comments:

  1. Awh. So sorry it disappointed! Hmmm...now, to read or not to read /: Lol. Great review!
    Jackie

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  2. Oh noooooo. It DOES look and sound like it would be creepy.

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  3. Aw man! I love when a novel feels fast paced, but it's a whole different story when it's actually TOO fast, leaving you feeling like you did in this one. Even more disappointing that YOU were disappointed in the end AND you already guessed who the admirer was. Will not be reading this one then :)

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  4. Major bummer! The synopsis did sound awesome. But having everything happen so fast and being able to guess the admirer early on is not good. If I do check this out I'll make sure to make it a library read so I can DNF without guilt.

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  5. Oh no! Awwww, sorry to hear this. Now a bit concerned. I haven't read your review, since I'll be reading it very soon, but the 2 1/2 scares me a bit. I will of course still keep an open mind, but it seems you and I have similar book tastes more often than not. Sorry you didn't love it. :(

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  6. How disappointing! I agree, that this one sounds like it could be really good and creeppers. It's so sad when a book doesn't deliver on its potential. I'll be skipping this for sure.

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  7. Oh man, this is the first review I've seen on this one and I've been waiting. *sigh* Curious enough to still want to give it a read but maybe I'll hold off for awhile. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Bummer I had such high hopes for this book. I love the old fashioned psychological thrillers, guess this one just isn't one.

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  9. Aww man, I had hoped this would be a good one! The Mr. Fitz totally took me a while to get used to on PLL, so if a similar situation is just thrown into a short book, I doubt I'll enjoy it.

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  10. I agree-- this book didn't quite live up to the promise of the blurb….

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  11. This is really disappointing to hear. The title sounds to be misleading. It's really too bad. I had been looking forward to this one.

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