Twisted Thriller for Teens: Book Review

*originally published on 01/05/2016

I have always loved mystery but my love of suspense thrillers probably intensified when I was in my teens (1990s).  I read authors Lois Duncan, Mary Downing Hahn, Joan Lowery Nixon, Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine (to just name some). I still gravitate towards teen thrillers as who can do drama better than young adults!

TWISTED Written by Hannah Jayne

2016; 304 pages (Sourcebooks Fire)
Genre: young adult, suspense, thriller, mystery

(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY)

Rating: ★★★1/2

Bex was once Beth Ann.  After her father is accused of being a serial killer, her life is turned upside down.  At seven years old, Bex wears a necklace given to her by her father that the police discover was once belong to a murdered girl.  When the case seems strong against him he goes on the run leaving her behind.

Ten years later, her beloved maternal grandmother passes away and she is sent to live with a couple without children.  Bex likes them at first sight and seems to be making friends, and maybe even having a boyfriend.  No one knows of her past and her life is going well until a teenage girl is found murdered – by her and her new friends – and has all the hallmarks of her father’s victims. When the detective from her father’s case returns and asks for her helping in baiting her father…Bex cannot help but have doubts about her father being a murderer.

I love the synopsis of Twisted and the first half of the book had me glued.  Then the story began to get a bit predictable and it felt like a letdown.  Jayne is great at setting up suspense and a story but then it becomes like a dead end road.  The ending left me disappointed as the suspense had evaporated and I felt it was too pat.  The dad jokes were a bit too much…and Bex’s sudden change also seemed out of the blue.  I reviewed Jayne’s previous young adult thriller, Escape and have to say that Twisted has shown Jayne’s growth in creating suspense and capturing her audience.  I honestly think that as Jayne writes her books will get better and I will be trying her next book if I can.

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