Published by: MIRA, January 31st 2017
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 304
Format: Ebook
Source: MIRA, via Netgalley
Fifteen-year-old Yasmin Doner is a social misfit—obese, obsessive and deemed a freak by her peers at school. With her father dead and her mother in a new relationship, Yasmin yearns for a sense of belonging, finding comfort only in food and the fantasy of being close to Alice Taylor, a girl at school. Yasmin will do anything to become friends with pretty and popular Alice—even if Alice, like everyone else, thinks she's a freak.
When Yasmin notices a sinister-looking man watching Alice from the school fence, she sees a way of finally winning Alice's affection—because how this stranger is staring is far more than just looking, it's wanting. Because this stranger, Yasmin believes, is going to take Alice. Yasmin decides to find out more about this man so that when he does take Alice, Yasmin will be the only one who knows his name and where he lives…the only one who can save her.
But as Yasmin discovers more about him, her affections begin to shift. Perhaps she was wrong about him. Perhaps she doesn't need Alice after all.
And then Alice vanishes.
Fifteen-year-old Yasmin Doner is a social misfit—obese, obsessive and deemed a freak by her peers at school. With her father dead and her mother in a new relationship, Yasmin yearns for a sense of belonging, finding comfort only in food and the fantasy of being close to Alice Taylor, a girl at school. Yasmin will do anything to become friends with pretty and popular Alice—even if Alice, like everyone else, thinks she's a freak.
When Yasmin notices a sinister-looking man watching Alice from the school fence, she sees a way of finally winning Alice's affection—because how this stranger is staring is far more than just looking, it's wanting. Because this stranger, Yasmin believes, is going to take Alice. Yasmin decides to find out more about this man so that when he does take Alice, Yasmin will be the only one who knows his name and where he lives…the only one who can save her.
But as Yasmin discovers more about him, her affections begin to shift. Perhaps she was wrong about him. Perhaps she doesn't need Alice after all.
And then Alice vanishes.
| What this book should have been: highly disturbing, upsetting, icky. What this book somehow managed to be: captivating, thrilling, oddly romantic. I'm so confused that I like this book. Well maybe not that I DO like it, but WHY I like it. I like the relationship between Yasmin and Samuel. I love how close you get to Yasmin's thoughts, feelings, and desires. I know they're massively messed up, and wrong, but somehow I understood why she did everything she did. What this book very cleverly does is explain from near the beginning that Yasmin has an obsessive personality - without that, this book would be odd. It'd be like 'why are you talking to a strange older guy, are you crazy, do you want to be murdered????' but instead, she's fascinated by him and obsessed and utterly consumed. It makes total sense. And because she's consumed, I got consumed too. I ended up thinking this potential kidnapper was a pretty great guy? How? I don't know. This book is subtle and clever and trapped me without me ever noticing. You know how people say you can't look away from a car crash? This book is like that. I know it's wrong, and I should stop reading, but I was glued to the page. I loved it. Every minute of it. I would happily read more of Yasmin and Samuel (is it wrong that I kinda want them to become a serial killer couple??) |
Characters ★★★★★
Setting/world ★★★☆☆
Writing ★★★★★
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