So I completely forgot to publish another Our Year in Books post last weekend (gah!) but I have been reading. In fact I’ve read four books so far this year, but some of them will be reviewed other places, I’ll link when available.
Beautiful Malice though, I’ll do you here.
First of all, I think this is actually aimed at older teens – it’s US and the main strand is set at the end of high school. I certainly wouldn’t hand it to a younger teen – while it’s not particularly graphic, there are disturbing aspects to it, including a description of a rape and murder. (You’re now wondering how a description of a rape and murder could be anything other than graphic – you’ll just have to trust me on that, or read it yourself 😉 ) I read it in one quick sitting of a couple of hours, but I am a fast reader. It romps along very nicely, and doesn’t feel as empty as some teen fiction can, and I certainly didn’t spot the plot twist coming up towards the end.
The story is carried along well, and although the heroine has *many* tragedies befall her, you don’t get that feeling of here we go again that you sometimes can in these stories. In fact it’s all all too plausible – I did get a sort of Single White Female feel to it, which turned out to be not so far off the mark, but toned down somewhat.
All in all, I enjoyed it, it kept my interest nicely, and I’d be happy to recommend it to those enjoying vaguely psychological/ thriller type stories. Though like I said, not for the younger teen or faint of heart.
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