Vengeance by Megan Miranda
| Vengeance by Megan Miranda | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Jill Murphy
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| Summary: This follow-up to Fracture, the story of Delaney's strange gift, takes boyfriend Decker as narrator. Part romance and part psychological thriller, the romance takes centre stage. Vengeance is beautifully written, if a tad predictable. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 352 | Date: February 2013 |
| Publisher: Bloomsbury | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 140883958X | |
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Vengeance is a follow-up to Fracture, in which Delaney almost died, drowned under the ice of a lake. Things never got back to normal after that. Delaney can sense death. She is irresistibly drawn to people who are about to die. And people take a long time to get over the accident. Delaney survived for 11 minutes under the ice - how was this possible? And Carson, the boy who pulled her out, is dead. There are mutterings that Falcon Lake is cursed. It wanted Delaney and, denied her, is now taking others in some kind of freakish revenge.
We pick up a few months on. Delaney is now with boy-next-door Decker and Decker is plagued by visions of the terrible night of Delaney's near-drowning. He's terrified of losing her and equally terrified that the curse is real. He thinks about Delaney all the time and is jealous of the time she spends with other people, especially Maya, the new girl in town, whose mother is terminally ill. And then something terrible happens. Decker's father dies. And Delaney knew it would happen. And Decker just can't get over the fact that Delaney didn't warn him...
I liked a lot of things in Vengeance. Miranda can put a sentence together extremely well and the book is both a breeze and a delight to read. I tire of romantic books quite quickly so I enjoyed the mix of romance and psychological thriller here very much and again, Miranda moves seamlessly between the creepy parts and the teen relationship parts thanks to the quality of her writing. I also liked the way in which the eventual solution to the mystery is multifold. There's no unlikely squashing of coincidences and plot holes to get to an overly simple resolution. And I enjoyed the change in narrator. To read from Decker's point of view instead of Delaney's gave this second book in a series a real sense of freshness. I also liked the way in which the supposed curse was treated. People are superstitious and close friends often operate a kind of group thinking. But Delaney's gift is real. So you can read the entire story debating the truth in the curse rumours one way and then the other.
But there were things I didn't like so much. We should be feeling sorry for Decker. His father has just died and his girlfriend knew his death was coming but didn't warn him. He is griefstricken and feels betrayed, so he lashed out at Delaney. So far, so believable. But it is difficult to feel this natural sympathy for Decker because he is such a hypocrite. He keeps secrets from everyone, especially Delaney, but feels aggrieved when secrets are kept from him. And for a boy so desperately in love, he is terribly self-centred. I think I would have enjoyed the book more had I not kept wanting to smack Decker upside the head. The thriller aspect is well-plotted but perhaps a tad predictable. I had worked out what was going on fairly early on and the various plot twists came as no surprise.
Despite these couple of nitpicks, I thoroughly enjoyed Vengeance. It's an easy read but not a simple one and tremendously absorbing. It's also very relatable. The perfect choice for a beach read or a night in with lots and lots of chocolate!
You don't need to, but I think you might like to read Fracture first. For a romantic teen thriller without the paranormal element, you could try Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Vengeance by Megan Miranda at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Vengeance by Megan Miranda at Amazon.com.
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