YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: #Murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil
#Murdertrending was chosen this year for YALSA's 2019 Top ten Quick picks and has been suggested for the upcoming YALSA's Top Ten Teen Books 2019. This book is funny, riveting, and alarming all at the same time- which makes for a perfect YA book.
#Murdertrending is a story set in the not to far off future that criticizes our current fascination with reality TV, justice, and social media. In this not far off Dystopian like future, Dee has been convicted of killing her step-sister and has been sentenced to death on Alcatraz 2.0. This is a world that has created a commodity out of our justice system- that those who have been convicted of corporal crimes are sent to a newly renovated Alcatraz island in which the inmates are hunted down by serial killers in the name of justice. Think of the ideas and morals behind Dexter, but without the forethought and planning to make sure that the people they are killing are actually guilty. Soon after Dee gets dropped of in Prince Slycer's lair, the serial killer who likes to dress his victims up as princesses and chases them until he can cut them into tiny pieces, dressed at Cinderella, she knows that she is screwed. It is merely out of dumb luck and the stubbornness to not want to be a screaming 'damsel in distress' in her last moments that she ends up killing the serial killer. She quickly becomes the biggest target and infamous as #CinderellaSurvivor. Dee quickly experiences heartbreak as she sees her only friends/confidants get brutally murdered. Soon she realizes, that she is the target of this entire game- having had a traumatic experience of being abducted as a child and kept in a 'kill room' for a week, she has an uncanny knack for figuring her way out of bad situations. YAY anxiety- because she has been worried about these exact moments since she escaped her first abduction.
This story is riveting and well written. It weaves in the perfect amount of pop culture and current references to feel that this could actually be going on in America right now for all we know. It weaves in the thriller aspect with a little bit of romance and some strong female role models to boot. This is my type of Dystopian thriller that keeps you gripped in reality (because we are not far off) and also takes the reader on a complete roller coaster of emotions and plot lines. This will be one of my top recommendations this upcoming school year. Themes of survival and growth (coming of age) for the characters is evident. She even leaves you with just enough of a question mark (?) at the end to make you hope that there is sequel coming down the road.
Books you might like if you enjoyed #Murdertrending:
- Unwind series by Neal Shusterman (realistic dystopian)
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (realistic dystopian with pop culture references)
- Armada by Ernest Cline (realistic dystopian with pop culture references)
- Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart (thriller- strong female character)
- I am Princess X by Cherrie Priest (Thriller- strong female character, abduction)
- The Girl I Used to be by April Henry (Triller- strong female character, abduction)
Source:
Ngilbert. (2019, January 29). 2019 Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/yalsa/2019-top-ten-quick-picks-reluctant-young-adult-readers
Comments
Post a Comment