Review: Dangerous Boys

Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas
Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Young Adult
Published by Simon and Schuster on August 14th 2014
Format: eBook (336 pages) • Source: Purchased
Goodreads •

Three teens venture into the abandoned Monroe estate one night; hours later, only two emerge from the burning wreckage. Chloe drags one Reznick brother to safety, unconscious and bleeding; the other is left to burn, dead in the fire. But which brother survives? And is his death a tragic accident? Desperate self-defense? Or murder?

Chloe is the only one with the answers. As the fire rages, and police and parents demand the truth, she struggles to piece together the story of how they got there-a story of jealousy, twisted passion, and the darkness that lurks behind even the most beautiful of faces…

Review: I’m certainly not the first person, and I won’t be the last person, to say HOLY SHIT this book was crazy. I’m not sure what I was expecting with this one, but based on other people’s reviews I was prepared for something absolutely wild and full of twists. This book delivered in very many of those ways. Unlike a lot of people, I couldn’t bring myself to give it five stars and I’m still kind of trying to figure out why. Lately, every thriller/mystery/suspense book I even THINK about reading is compared to Gone Girl. I couldn’t even come close to predicting the vast majority of twists in that book. That was a five star-worthy suspense book for me because it kept me guessing literally with every page. For the most part, Dangerous Boys did the same. I kept wondering who was the boy in the hospital, who did she pick, and what the fuck was generally going on. Primarily I was thinking – how the HELL is this book going to end? I was already disappointed in the ending of Gone Girl! The ending here didn’t disappoint. It made my mouth drop open. (I think I jumped the gun talking about the ending so early in the review but whatever – Abigail Haas can start her book at the end so I can start my review with the end)…. Character-wise, I almost kind of didn’t believe Chloe and how she developed as a character. I can’t explain it without giving everything away, but those of you who read the book will get it. I just didn’t think that those things that happened in her life were enough to get her to behave in that way. She was not a believable character for me– but then again, this book was all about twists and lies and trying to uncover who you really are. I’m going to shut up before I ruin everything. Ethan and Oliver were really fascinating for me; I wish there was even more about them. Abigail Haas is a crazy insanely good writer and her style/format for this book was perfection. Seriously. It started with the ending and intermixed the chapters between “then” “now” and “the end.” It was an awesome device for moving the story along and changing the reader’s perceptions of what was going on, who to trust, and what may or may not happen next. Not a lot of authors can pull that kind of thing of successfully in my opinion. I think her writing and the format really is what made the book for me. Reading the end at the beginning made you wonder: how in the world is this story going to end up there? I’m going to keep this review short and sweet because there are way to many spoilers I want to say right now. I’ll just say this – READ IT. Even if you felt the way I did about the MC and weren’t too sold on some of the happenings, this book is incredibly intriguing and worth the read. I can’t wait to get my hands on Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas! (These two books are not in a series despite the similar names)

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