Review: Vengeance by Megan Miranda

Title: Vengeance
Author: Megan Miranda
Series: Fracture, book #2
Publisher: Walker Children's
Publication Date: February 4, 2014 -- that's today!!!
Source: won a signed ARC from the author, from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Nobody really believes in a curse. Until you know the people who disappear. Too much coincidence, you look for reason. Too much death, you grasp for something to blame. Carson pulled Delaney out and he died on the side of the road with her mouth pressed to his. Her air in his body. Troy. She told the cops it was suicide. Didn't matter. The lake released her and grabbed another. But when Decker's father dies in a pool of spilled water on their kitchen floor, all Decker can feel is a slow burning rage. Because he knows that Delaney knew that his dad was going to die. She knew and backed out of his house and never said a word. Falcon Lake still has a hold on them both, and Decker can't forgive Delaney until he knows why.

I loved Fracture when I read it in 2012, and I went on to love Megan Miranda's next book Hysteria, as well.  There were similar themes in both, but even so, each story stands apart and kept me guessing.  A good thriller is hard to come by, at least for someone like me, who is perpetually anticipating the outcome.

In this sequel/companion to Fracture -- and I say companion since Decker has taken over narration duties, though the events in Vengeance do follow those in the first book -- I didn't worry so much about the ending. For once with a Megan Miranda novel, I guessed it early on.  But there were many bumps along the way and a lot that I didn't see coming, so even if I did predict the outcome, I still felt unsettled for much of the book.  And that's how I know this was a great story.

I think what really helps this story along is the fact that yet again, we have a slightly unreliable narrator. Ever since Delaney was pulled from Falcon Lake a second time and survived, and since the death of their friend Carson, who was one of those who helped rescue Delaney, the people of this suburban Maine town believe the lake is cursed.  And it's taken six months, but Decker is finally starting to believe the rumors.  He's seeing things, feeling things, and he puts a lot of distance between himself and Delaney in the process.

There were times when I just wanted to beat some sense into Decker, to tell him to stop believing in ghosts and see what was right in front of him.  He was just so infuriating, what with his being a hypocrite and all. Other times, I wanted to pull him into a hug and tell him to stop bottling up all of his grief, that he was only going to end up hurting worse if he kept down this path.

It was interesting being inside Decker's head for this sequel, as opposed to the analytical, sometimes clinical-to-a-fault Delaney.  There was a marked difference between the two voices, and I'm glad Miranda decided to write Vengeance from Decker's perspective because it really does make you look at things differently. With Delaney, you were a part of the curse.  With Decker, you're an outsider...one that the curse is coming after.

Megan Miranda writes one heck of a psychological thriller, and she really puts her background in science to good use.  I also like that, though the romantic relationships in her books are important to the stories, they don't become all-encompassing.  After everything I've read from this author in the last couple of years, I am a huge fan, and I am very much looking forward to what else she has in store for us, including Afterlife and Soulprint, both of which sound as intriguing as everything that Miranda's written so far.  I just love an intelligent read that leaves me hoping for the best yet always fearing the worst.  If that sounds like your kind of story, then I'd definitely recommend this series to you.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Megan is a scientist - turned - teacher - turned - stay-at-home-mom - turned - writer. She is not nearly as indecisive as she sounds. She lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, where she volunteers as an MIT Educational Counselor, does the mom thing by day, and writes by night.

Her first novel, FRACTURE, was published in January 2012 by Walker/Bloomsbury. HYSTERIA, a YA psychological thriller, will be published in February 2013. VENGEANCE, a companion/sequel to FRACTURE, will follow in 2014.

Find Megan:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Labels: bloomsbury, companion novel, favorites, megan miranda, psychological thriller, reviews