Title: Buried
Author: Linda Joy Singleton
Series: Goth Girl
Mystery #1 (assumed. When it says A XXX novel/mystery, I guess that there's more some time later)
Published: 8 March 2012 by Flux
Length: 257 pages
Warnings: sex
references 13+
Source: Netgalley
Other info: Linda
has also written The Seer, Dead Girl, Strange Encounters and Cheer Squad
series.
Summary : In a
new school and determined to keep her secrets from being discovered, Thorn
finds a mysterious locket that leads to a shocking discovery. Surrounded by new
friends she barely knows, as well as the school's famous former student, a
smoking-hot musician named Phillipe, Thorn must investigate to find out if one
of them is a murderer.
Review: Thorn is
the new girl in the school, and one of two Goths, she’s also able to find
things, a fact she’d rather not share with her new classmates. So when she finds a locket, she ends up
finding with it the grave of a newborn baby. Implicated in the whole mess, Thorn
has to clear her name. The only way to do that is to ask around and see if one
of her friends is a killer.
Happy thoughts, right? Murder mystery with a goth girl at
the heart of it all should be right up my street. I really liked the idea. Didn’t
really care about the “smoking hot musician” who also crops up in the summary. Oh
well.
Rune and Thorn are your typical Goths, extremely individual and
open for adventure. Thorn is resourceful and clever, but sometimes annoying.
My favourite character is the Grin Reaper. I won’t say who
it is, but it’s someone you aren’t expecting it to be. The Grin Reaper is the
person that goes around exacting revenge on school bullies in such a way that
it’ll hit them where it hurts, and leaves a little smiley face at places of
work. I was a little disappointed when we were told what it was they did (with
a name like that and no description at first, I’d expect a very happy death
god), but said person was the best person in this.
The mystery wasn’t creepy in any way, but I suppose, that’s
not the point to this novel at all. The person responsible is also not the
person that you’d expect it from, and all the people who you think it might be,
while having fully legitimate reasons for being implicated, also have their own
reasons as to why they also are not responsible.
The characters didn’t really change much throughout the
novel, which was a bit disappointing. I also didn’t like Thorn’s reaction to
almost anything that wasn’t towards her darker alternative interests. Such as
her reaction to the Cotton Candy Cowgirls, a band that seems to be devoted to pink.
Yes, I get that she dislikes them. But that kind of reaction is bordering
rudeness.
The writing wasn’t stand out, but it’s not terrible either. You
get a good sense of what’s happening and Thorn’s thoughts, but not much more
than that.
Something I did like was
the mix of characters. Ok, it was essentially the stereotypical American High
school full of cliques, but the clichés meant it was easy to keep track of
characters
.
Overall: Strength 2 tea to a short and sweet mystery
that didn’t really capture me.
Sorry this one was disappointing! The fact that the characters didn't really grow is a bit of a shame. Thanks for the honest review - I probably won't be reading this one any time soon.
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