Author: Cat Clarke
Series: N/A
Published: 22 December 2011 by Quercus
Length: 378 pages
Warnings: sex,
murder, suicide 13+
Source: Bought
Other info: Cat’s
other novel, Entangled, was reviewed here.
Summary : Four
girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt. Alice King isn’t expecting the
holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the
Scottish wilderness, but she’s not exactly prepared for an experience beyond
her darkest nightmares… Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a
cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there’s
Tara – queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better
than putting people down. Cass decides it’s time to teach Tara a lesson
she’ll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the
lives of these girls forever...
Review: Alice,
Cass, Polly and Rae are put in a cabin together on a school trip. The four of
them together may be a bearable combination, but there’s another. Mean girl
Tara has been placed in the same cabin and the teachers refuse to move her.
She’s generally hated by the girls who aren’t in her social circle, so much so
that Cass wants to teach her a lesson. But then that lesson goes wrong. And the
four girls are left with a body.
Like Entangled, it places girls in situations that are
improbable, but still intriguing to read about. From the start, I was hooked.
From the point of view of Alice, we are
told about the public’s view of Tara’s death, what really happened, and the way
she’s haunted by Tara. Actually, the haunting comes first, which is nice
because it leaves you wondering exactly what happened.
The characters are the main feature of Torn. The four girls
involved all have different reactions, different scales of guilt. It’s really
interesting seeing how they deal with it, and it shows that Cat is excellent at
writing well developed characters with depth and multiple dimensions.
About a third of Torn is the story of Tara, from the start
of the trip to the sudden end. Although it’s technically set up for the rest of
the novel, it’s still interesting and you feel like the girls are justified for
getting Tara back. Maybe they shouldn’t have gone that far, but from the way Tara treats them all really makes
you want to kill her too.
The supporting cast are equally built up, with differing
personalities. Everyone has something hidden about them, even Tara, who it’s
revealed isn’t quite as bad as you thought from how she treated everyone. The
two girls that were part of Tara’s entourage also don’t seem as bad when you
get to know them, but they aren’t quite as well fleshed out as the rest of the
cast.
The romance in this is done well, with the general
awkwardness of Alice having a hand in her boyfriend’s sister’s death. Yet
another part of Alice’s character is revealed in the fact that she knows she’s
guilty and that she knows Jack won’t want her after he knows what she did, but she
still tries to carry on a relationship anyway. This leads to an ending that’s
both sad, but makes you think Alice gets what she deserves.
The writing carries all sorts of feelings with it. Guilt,
love, doubt. The fairly short chapters all end at points that either leave you
wanting to read on because there’s a cliffhanger or leave you wanting to read
on because there’s a beautiful little quote.
Overall: Strength 4 tea to a gripping novel with a
great premise and cast.
love it love it
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