Dangerous Girls Review

TITLE Dangerous Girls
AUTHOR Abigail Haas
PUBLICATION July 16th 2013 by Simon Pulse
READ June 21 to 22, 2013
SOURCE From the publisher for review

Paradise quickly gets gruesome in this thrilling page-turner with a plot that’s ripped from the headlines and a twist that defies the imagination.

It’s Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives.

But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations. As Anna sets out to find her friend’s killer, she discovers harsh revelations about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.

Awaiting the judge’s decree, it becomes clear to Anna that everyone around her thinks she is not only guilty, but also dangerous. And when the whole story comes out, reality is more shocking than anyone ever imagined...

I have complained on many occasions in the past about the lack of good murder mysteries in the YA genre. The ones that I have gotten the chance to read often feel much too far fetched for my liking or are much too predictable. But I have to say that I think Abigail Haas has hit a home run with her novel Dangerous Girls. The story starts off with a bang and keeps you guessing with every single page turn. I sat down one night to get started on the novel and just read a feeler chapter before bed and before I knew it it was 1 AM and the book was half done.

Elise and Anna have become best friends. They are inseparable and they act as each other's partner in crime as they go to college parties and experiment with drugs and alcohol. We get a really vivid picture of their friendship as the story unfolds because it tells the story of them meeting, the vacation they go on to Aruba as well as the events that take place after Elise’s death. The one negative thing that I have to point out about this novel is that sometimes getting a picture of what time frame I was reading about was difficult. The chapters jump from the present and to two different time frames of the past (arriving in Aruba and the beginning of Elise and Anna’s friendship.) Oftentimes it took me an entire page to realize what point in time I was reading about. But at the same time I do think that this method of telling the story was effective. I liked getting a clear picture of the past that these two girls had and seeing exactly what happened in their final days in Aruba. It would have been nice if the jumps from time frame to time frame were more defined, clear and concise.

As far as characters go, I found myself feeling incredibly bad for Anna. She had gone through a lot. Switching to a new school in the middle of the year, dealing with her mothers cancer and being completely outcasted were taking its toll on her in the beginning. I could definitely relate to how detached she felt because of all of these things and I was happy when Elise took an interest in her and Anna’s social life finally began to grow. The two had a really great friendship but I always viewed Elise as a really dark character who was constantly making bad decisions (didn’t we all know that girl in high school?) We get to see some darkness in their friendship as Anna starts to date Tate and begins to have a life separate from her friendship to Elise. The jealousy that comes from Elise and how torn Anna is about it all was portrayed really well and left you questioning who had murdered Elise because so many different motives were brought forth.

There are also some great chapters in the novel that are transcripts of phone calls or TV specials about the murder and these were a great addition to the story as well. There is a strong sense of a courtroom drama throughout the novel which set a perfect tone for the story. When Anna was on the stand being drilled about everything pertaining to Elise I felt so nervous for her! It was pretty intense. Once we get a clear picture of what happened to Elise I was floored. I have to say that I was not able to call this one at all and am so thankful for that.

Filled with twists and drama that will keep you turning the pages long into the night, Dangerous Girls is a can’t miss for anyone looking for a good murder mystery. It felt like I was watching an intense true crime show on TV but it was great because I got to walk away with all of the answers.