The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die Review

TITLE The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die
AUTHOR April Henry
PUBLICATION June 11th 2013 by Henry Holt and Co.
READ June 01 to 02, 2013
SOURCE Raincoast Books for review

“Take her out back and finish her off.”

She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know where she is, or why. All she knows when she comes to in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her.

And that she must run.

In her riveting style, April Henry crafts a nail-biting thriller involving murder, identity theft, and biological warfare. Follow Cady and Ty (her accidental savior turned companion), as they race against the clock to stay alive.

Wow what a short, intense read this was. I wasn’t too sure going into it how I would fare with it because it was such a short novel and the first I have read from Henry, but I’m happy I gave this one a try. This one does not let up from page one and I was on the edge of my seat as Katie ran her butt off and tried her best to find out who she was and who was after her.

We catch up with Cady right in the thick of things. She wakes up beaten and bruised on the floor of a cabin and has absolutely no recollection of who she was and how she got there. She also has no idea who the two men are standing above her saying to kill her because she knows nothing. Straight away my interest was piqued, I wanted to know who these men were and why they had tortured Cady for information. What worked very well for this one was how linear the plot was. There wasn’t much romance or friendship drama to bog it down though she does make one connection along the way. When she meets Ty I liked him immediately. You could tell that he had such a kind nature but it quickly comes to light that he hasn’t had the easiest life. While that was all fine and good I did find that the extent to which he was willing to put his life on the line was a little unbelievable. I get that he likes to help out his fellow man and pay it forward but he got himself into some serious legal issues for a girl that he just randomly met at McDonalds.

With very short chapters our attention never has the chance to stray with this one. Something is constantly happening and the tension is top notch. We don’t get a lot of layers to our bad guys as everything is revealed which is something that I would have liked a bit more of. I always appreciate when I get to see multiple sides of the bad guy and maybe even come to understand their motive. Here we get very little information about them and a head honcho who is incredibly typical. I think for what this story was, it worked. It kept the novel short and if you sit back and take it at face value too many details may have began to bog the story down a bit.

There isn’t too much to say about this one because of how short and linear the plot is but I can say this: The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die turned out to be a godd, fun way to spend a few hours on a rainy Sunday morning. If you’re looking for a quick mystery to get you out of a paranormal rut then this one could be for you.