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A review by ambrose_7
#murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil
1.0
I find it hard to give this book any leg-ups besides the fact that it is action-packed and reads quickly. It's written like a YA book would be, with all the classic parts of it being there. Basic characters that stick to their two personality traits like glue, dialogue that's borderline cringy most of the time. But with this one, you have themes of extreme violence along with very adult language seemingly out of nowhere. I felt like I was reading an author who SHOULD be writing adult fiction but instead decided to make it YA. I didn't like the result of that one bit. It feels very offputting to me and I can't figure out what the target audience is. For someone like me who's into adult horror, the YA aspect of it was silly and took away from the meaningful ways the themes of this novel could have been portrayed. If you typically read YA, I can't help but feel the scenes of violence would feel shockingly out of place.
The whole novel is completely unrealistic and faulty. There was plothole upon plothole, and the focus of the novel was not on the parts of this that it should have been. It feels like McNeil wanted another Hunger Games but didn't put in any of the work to make it convincing and instead decided to put out some silly and unrealistic version of the United States where everyone in the general population is braindead. (You notice I'm not arguing that the politicians are corrupt, although even that is so grossly out of proportion it takes away from EVEN THAT message.)
This novel disgusts me. I don't understand how her editors let this go into publication as it was. And how anybody gained anything meaningful from reading this. I don't go after books often but this should not have been published. The end product is lazy, silly, and irreverent.
The whole novel is completely unrealistic and faulty. There was plothole upon plothole, and the focus of the novel was not on the parts of this that it should have been. It feels like McNeil wanted another Hunger Games but didn't put in any of the work to make it convincing and instead decided to put out some silly and unrealistic version of the United States where everyone in the general population is braindead. (You notice I'm not arguing that the politicians are corrupt, although even that is so grossly out of proportion it takes away from EVEN THAT message.)
This novel disgusts me. I don't understand how her editors let this go into publication as it was. And how anybody gained anything meaningful from reading this. I don't go after books often but this should not have been published. The end product is lazy, silly, and irreverent.