Book: Dead Scared
Author: S.J. Bolton
Pages: 384
I Read: The paperback copy
I read it in: 5-6 hours
Plot Summary: When a rash of suicides tears through Cambridge University, DI Mark Joesbury recruits DC Lacey Flint to go undercover as a student to investigate. Although each student's death appears to be a suicide, the psychological histories, social networks, and online activities of the students involved share remarkable similarities, and the London police are not convinced that the victims acted alone. They believe that someone might be preying on lonely and insecure students and either encouraging them to take their own lives or actually luring them to their deaths. As long as Lacey can play the role of a vulnerable young woman, she may be able to stop these deaths, but is it just a role for her? With her fragile past, is she drawing out the killers, or is she herself being drawn into a deadly game where she's a perfect victim?
General Thoughts: This is the second book that I've read by S.J.Bolton. I have previously read Before I Fall Asleep by her as well as watched the Colin Firth- Nicole Kidman starer movie adaptation of the same. I was not the most impressed by the book or the movie. It was a pretty flawed book with a pretty obvious twist. However, when I read the premise of this book, I found it rather interesting and also, I got a great deal on this book during the Flipkart sale and thought why not give it a shot. So, anyway, let's get on with the review, shall we?
What I Liked: Quick list:
- Like I mentioned above, the core premise of this book- a rash of dramatic student suicides in Cambridge and the hint of something very sinister going on over there- was really interesting. Also, the way the story unfolded, the investigation, the suicides themselves- everything was very well crafted and well written.
- The pace of the storytelling was excellent. This is a page-turner in general and the events happen rather quickly, which makes it a pretty unputdownable book. Also, I noticed that this book has really short chapters, which is a good thing because nothing is dragged out more than it ought to have been and the narrative moves fast and is pretty crisp.
- The way in which the killer scares the victims into taking their own lives or, at any rate, just makes the victims so depressed and afraid is very, very creepy! It's like someone takes your worst fears and makes them come alive! Super creepy!
- There are two key female protagonists in this book- Lacey (the cop who goes undercover posing as a Cambridge student) and Evi Oliver (the Psychiatrist who is the head of counselling services at Cambridge). Both Lacey and Evi's character are nicely developed and both are women one can empathise, if not connect, with.
- The pace of the investigation, the way Lacey and Evi's theories evolve and the pace of events is just right- not too rapid that you can't process them and not so slow that you get bored of nothing happening!
- The real mystery or the big reveal is pretty well covered up- you can't guess all of it and only guess a few elements here and there. I love it when one can't guess what the big reveal/ twist is in a mystery book! Always a plus!
What I Didn't Like: Nothing much, really. Except that this book is the second in the 'Lacey Flint' series, for most part, you don't really feel like you are missing out on much by not reading the first part. However, there are several references to Lacey's tough life/ background/ of something bad happening to her before she became a cop, which I understand was possibly a big part of Book 1, but as someone who has not read Book 1, it gets a bit annoying to have repeated hints at her dark/sad past with nothing to go on. So, this is not a major negative, but just an annoyance.
Rating: 4/5
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