
Anna is wrongfully accused of her best friend's murder on their group vacation. With a ruthless prosecutor on Anna's tail, her life is ripped apart turning her image into a monster in the eyes of the media and the public. Even her friends don't believe her. So begins her fight for freedom in a foreign country. What looms around the corner, put me into shock. As mentioned in title. It's missing one star due to more information required on a certain topic that needed a bit more fuel but I have to get vague not to spoil it.
The whole book is a character study, not just of Anna, but of every other person she knows. Her boyfriend, Tate. Elise. The other friends in their circle. Her lawyers. Her father. The media. It's an intense look at how awful people can be. I've been calling it in many ways the Gone Girl for Young Adults, because that's what I think of when I read this. These aren't perfect characters they are realistic, and every one of them is hiding something. Every one of them has messed up and is being selfish and horrible to their fellow human beings.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Triggers and content warnings include themes of murder, mental illness, substance use, and emotional manipulation.
Has Romance?
There are elements of romance interspersed throughout the narrative, with notable tension among characters.
From The Publisher:
Paradise quickly gets gruesome in this thrilling page-turner with a plot that's ripped from the headlines and 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 ever imagined...
Ratings (7)
Incredible (2) | |
Loved It (1) | |
Liked It (3) | |
It Was OK (1) |
Reader Stats (46):
Read It (8) | |
Want To Read (27) | |
Not Interested (11) |
1 comment(s)
Wow! This book completely sucked me in -- I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. (Of course, as I do now, I read from the perspective of the kids' parents -- and all I can say is my daughter will not be taking any spring break trips Aruba while still in high school.)
I don't want to spoil anything. I almost didn't read this one, because I thought the cover was weird. But it's fast-paced and well-written with well-developed characters. Plus sufficiently creepy - and the ending - wow!
About the Author:
Abigail Haas has written two adult novels and four young adult contemporary novels under the name Abby McDonald. Dangerous Girls is her first young adult thriller. She grew up in Sussex, England, and studied Politics, Philosophy & Economics at Oxford University. She lives in Los Angeles.
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