Title: The Devil You Know
Author: Trish Dollar
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publishing Date: June 2nd 2015
Pages: 256
Genre: YA Psychological Thriller
Genre: YA Psychological Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audio
Source: Audio
Eighteen-year-old Arcadia wants adventure. Living in a tiny Florida town with her dad and four-year-old brother, Cadie spends most of her time working, going to school, and taking care of her family. So when she meets two handsome cousins at a campfire party, she finally has a chance for fun. They invite her and friend to join them on a road trip, and it's just the risk she's been craving-the opportunity to escape. But what starts out as a fun, sexy journey quickly becomes dangerous when she discovers that one of them is not at all who he claims to be. One of them has deadly intentions.
A road trip fling turns terrifying in this contemporary story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.
I liked this read. For what it was meant to be it was good. A psychological thriller that messed with my head, gave me doubts when I thought I knew who was the bad guy, Had me on the edge of my seat. I had great time listening to this book.
Aracadia always follows the rules. Gets good grades, works hard, takes care of her family. The one thing that Aracadia does not do well,.. be a teenager. She doesn't have time for that. Now it is the summer and she needs to have some fun before all the real decisions are made. College, life. stay or go. She goes to a party, meets to guys, and decides to go on a road trip with the two guys... total strangers.... yea i know.,,,
So this book was a very good read for me. It did have its moments where the dumb decisions the characters made, made me want to shoot someone ... but as in most horror or psychological thrillers... dumb decisions are made. If they were all smart decisions I guess we wouldn't get anywhere.
The story was about which guys is the bad guy. The story follows Aracadia, her friend, and the two strangers through a party, camping, amusement park, and other fun stuff. Things happen, People disappear, Arcadia falls for one of the guys and yes there is a bit of a love triangle where Aracadia wants one of the guys and other guys wants Aracadia. So there is that. But I didn't mind. Back to the story... The entire read I was wondering which one of the guys if not both were causing the bad things to happen.
Throughout its pretty obvious at least one is bad... which one, its hard to tell. Its obvious that Aracadia is in a bad place. Its hard to see how she will get out of it because she doesn't notice and things do not add up to her like they do to the reader. So yes I wanted to yell at her... a bunch... however the story is about the mystery, the thrill, and the hero in the end... The story did a great job with this. So I enjoyed it. Everything else was just filler for me.
I can't say I liked or disliked any of the characters. They played their part and it was good. I hope that in the end Aracadia learned from her dumb decisions but I am not sure she did. I thinks he grew in deciding she needed to stand up for herself and live her own life but.... I don't think she grew in the decision making department.
It seems from what I wrote I didn't like it much but I really actually did because I went into the read wanting a psychological thriller and that is exactly what I got. In fact I think this book would make a great movie.
If you read this book and expect great character growth.. not going to get it here. But if you want a character driven thriller with some fluff.... its the right book for you. I liked it a ton.
The story was about which guys is the bad guy. The story follows Aracadia, her friend, and the two strangers through a party, camping, amusement park, and other fun stuff. Things happen, People disappear, Arcadia falls for one of the guys and yes there is a bit of a love triangle where Aracadia wants one of the guys and other guys wants Aracadia. So there is that. But I didn't mind. Back to the story... The entire read I was wondering which one of the guys if not both were causing the bad things to happen.
Throughout its pretty obvious at least one is bad... which one, its hard to tell. Its obvious that Aracadia is in a bad place. Its hard to see how she will get out of it because she doesn't notice and things do not add up to her like they do to the reader. So yes I wanted to yell at her... a bunch... however the story is about the mystery, the thrill, and the hero in the end... The story did a great job with this. So I enjoyed it. Everything else was just filler for me.
I can't say I liked or disliked any of the characters. They played their part and it was good. I hope that in the end Aracadia learned from her dumb decisions but I am not sure she did. I thinks he grew in deciding she needed to stand up for herself and live her own life but.... I don't think she grew in the decision making department.
It seems from what I wrote I didn't like it much but I really actually did because I went into the read wanting a psychological thriller and that is exactly what I got. In fact I think this book would make a great movie.
If you read this book and expect great character growth.. not going to get it here. But if you want a character driven thriller with some fluff.... its the right book for you. I liked it a ton.
It did the job well and I enjoyed the read bunches.
I have been writing for as long as I can remember, but didn't try to be a published author until more recently, something for which you should be thankful.
I was born in Germany, grew up in Ohio, and graduated with a degree in journalism from Ohio State University. Married someone really awesome and moved around with him a bit from Maine to Michigan and back to Ohio. I've worked as a radio personality and as a staff writer for my hometown newspaper. I also had a couple of kids along the way who have become two of the most interesting adults I've ever met.
These days I live, work, and sail in Florida with a relentlessly optimistic border collie and a pirate.
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I agree that I didn't like or dislike any of the characters and that made me no feel very invested or connected with the book. I thought it was totally readable and had some cool parts (like the atmosphere, I loved all the swamps and alligators), but I knew who the bad guy was from the beginning, so the lack of that shocking twist probably also killed it for me :( I'm glad you liked it!! I'm always on the lookout for good YA Mysteries!
ReplyDeleteOoh nice! I have heard pretty good things about this one. There might have been comments about Arcadia's intelligence, but I guess you gotta have some stupidity with the characters when it comes to thrillers. Otherwise, he/she catch on way too quickly and the killer would likely be stopped before the halfway point! Still this is one I must read. I have it buried somewhere in my TBR trunk. Really can't wait to read it though! Great review!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this one for the thriller aspect! I was constantly second guessing everything that was going on and I changed my mind on the 'bad guy' a million times.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!