Thursday, January 14, 2010

Book Review: All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab

One year after the murder of Carly, her ex-boyfriend Neily and cousin Audrey are still reeling. Even though Audrey’s father has been convicted of Carly’s murder, Audrey doesn’t believe it, and she sets out to find Carly’s real killer, enlisting Neily’s help.

There really aren’t that many YA novels that fall into the realistic mystery/thriller category, so finding one like this that’s so well-written and expertly set-up is a rare treat.

The story unfolds via alternating narrators, Neily and Audrey, and you need both points of view to truly understand Carly, the key to whole novel. It took me awhile to warm up to Neily. At first he seemed standoffish and whiny, and his frequent navel gazing and smarter-than-thou attitude was irritating. But you gotta love a guy who risks life and limb to bring his ex’s killer to justice even after she broke his heart as viciously as Carly did.

As a character, Audrey was a bit blander than what you’d expect from someone with such a tumultuous upbringing, but really, Carly is the star here anyway. Her slow descent into despair and self-destructive behavior after the loss of her mother was very touching and felt authentic. Her involvement in the Brighton Day School’s bad crowd and their criminal menace also rang true, culminating in a twist I never saw coming.

ALL UNQUIET THINGS was released this week in hardcover. Find out more about it and uncover hidden content on the author’s website.

22 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, this does sound good. I'll have to check it out!

brizmus said...

Yay for characters named Audrey! This sounds fantab!

Donna Gambale said...

Once again, book bloggers have added to my TBR! Many reviews of this have piqued my interest. I love your take on the characters.

Raíla said...

I've heard good things about this book! Put on my TBR list :)

http://booksoutofthebookshelves.blogspot.com/

Jen said...

This book sounded good to me, so I ordered it for our library. Your review makes it sound even better than what I had found about the book, so it's on my personal TBR pile now!

Carla said...

This sounds really good!! ordered a copy on amazon, but it won't be despatched for 13 days *sobs*

Jess said...

Ooh, I think AUT will be my next purchase! I love that it has a unique mystery/thriller angle.

Darlene said...

This sounds really good Lenore!

Florinda said...

I "met" Anna when she was contacting bloggers about reviewing books for Authors on the Web. It's nice to see she's off to a strong start at being one of those authors!

bermudaonion said...

I'm excited that this sounds so good, since I got the book at SIBA.

Staci said...

This one is on my list to read...sounds awesome!

Cecelia said...

There's so much positive buzz about this one...I think it's on the 'must read' list now...

Unknown said...

sounds amazing. thanks for the review :o)

Anonymous said...

I got an ARC of this one and tried it out, but found it too reminiscent of the television show Veronica Mars to take seriously. It was like a point for point remake.

Michelle B. said...

This sounds really good! :) The cover doesn't really give off a "mystery/thriller"kind of feeling though, ahaha.

Beth Kephart said...

Yes, a rare story, from what I can tell, for YA. Very interesting.

Readingjunky said...

You're right about it being hard to locate mystery/thrillers for the YA audience. I'm looking forward to this one.

Btw, you commented on my contest entry, and you are the lucky winner!

Let me know your mailing address and I'll send you your book. :-)

shkruger@hotmail.com

RJ

kay - Infinite Shelf said...

Ooh, this sounds good! Just by the cover, I had no idea before this week that this was a mystery-thriller. I'll have to check it out.

kanishk said...

This sounds good!

Work from home India

Zibilee said...

Its always funny to me when a character you can't stand ends up growing on you so much. It sounds as though you felt this way a bit about Neily. I had a similar reaction to a character in a recent read as well, and it really surprised me. I liked your insightful review on this one and think that this is yet another book I'd like to read!

Mariana S said...

I really want to read this one, it just looks awesome. Great Review, loved the final part :)

Vanessa said...

Sounds good! Thanks for reviewing.