“THE EGG-SHAPED TIMER was on the welcome mat when she came home” (Pg 1, Sentence 1).
Goodreads Synopsis: Love hurts…Makani Young thought she’d left her dark past behind her in Hawaii, settling in with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska. She’s found new friends and has even started to fall for mysterious outsider Ollie Larsson. But her past isn’t far behind.
Then, one by one, the students of Osborne Hugh begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasingly grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and her feelings for Ollie intensify, Makani is forced to confront her own dark secrets.
Krystal’s Review:
The fact that this book was written by the same author as Anna and the French Kiss is mind boggling. Stephanie Perkins is an amazing author for being able to cross genres as far as she has. As the October Forever YA: Adult Book Club selection, this book forced me WAY out of my comfort zone. Gory, gruesome, brutal: all the synonyms to make me say, “Ewww…”. In fact, I literally said that word out loud while reading this book. I then had to explain to the person giving me a questioning look that the scene I was reading was particularly gross, and proceeded to read the part out loud about ears being cut off. Yeah…still grosses me out just thinking about it.
This book is basically a YA book adaptation of the movie Scream. One fascinating aspect of the book is that you find out, and the whole town finds out, who the killer is about midway through. My “whodunit” theories were cut short, and predictably wrong. I’m just terrible at figuring out who the killer is. I’m giving this one three out of five stars. The killer’s motives just felt flat to me, and the way the book finished left me unsatisfied. I liked it, and it was plenty creepy–definitely a good book to get you in the Halloween mood! Although, maybe leave the lights on and make sure all the doors and windows are firmly shut and locked. I left a kitchen drawer open this morning and had a: “was that my forgetfulness, or is there a killer in the house?” moment.
If you’ve read the book, or want to hear more about it, join the Forever YA: Adult Book Club discussion on October 28th at Applebee’s,6pm.
