Friday, May 29, 2015

ARC Review: The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

The Devil You Know by Trish Doller
Amazon / Goodreads / ARC via AndyeReadingTeen (THANK YOU!)
Published June 2, 2015

Eighteen-year-old Arcadia wants adventure. Living in a tiny Florida town with her dad and four-year-old brother, Cadie spends most of her time working, going to school, and taking care of her family. So when she meets two handsome cousins at a campfire party, she finally has a chance for fun. They invite her and friend to join them on a road trip, and it's just the risk she's been craving-the opportunity to escape. But what starts out as a fun, sexy journey quickly becomes dangerous when she discovers that one of them is not at all who he claims to be. One of them has deadly intentions. 

A road trip fling turns terrifying in this contemporary story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.



“Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” (ARC).


Confession: I want to love thrillers. Or at least find them thrilling. This novel is set up as a heart-pounding, blood- racing, keep-you-guessing kind of book. As are most thrilled preached as such. Cadie wants to live the life of a teenage instead of a mother to her younger brother (who is seriously adorable) because her father can’t deal, or even try to deal after the sudden death of her mother. When Cadie goes to a party she runs into two cousins. A spur of a moment idea (the need to do something kind of idea) leads her on a road trip with the two of them, and one of the local girls. One of the cousins is not at all what he seems.

Okay. This right here is my main complaint: The first half of the books was very much story- building focused and I feel I would have liked it more if we got more to the creeptastic, there is a psycho killer in our midst aspect of the story. Honestly- when the story did get to the psycho killer aspect, I seriously dug it. Other than that, the story was pretty eh. The whole trip was focused around the Devil’s Chair, but when they actually got there, it seemed to be seriously played down, and I didn’t quite know what to make of that.

Also, I totally guessed the psycho. I guessed he was the killer when he first appeared. And no, no I won’t tell you who it was. Where’s the fun in that? *evil chuckle*

Let’s talk about the characters a bit shall we? I’ve already described Cadie a bit, so we’ll just talk about the cousins. Matt and Noah. She meets Matt first when she invites him to the party, but meets Noah soon after when he’s working on Miss Kitty, the car a dead relative left him. Matt and Noah are pretty much opposites, granted they get along through the majority of the trip like they were best friends. And I really enjoyed the interaction. They’re both kind of irredeemable. But that was what makes them so much fun to read.

Sadly, I didn’t really particularly like, or connect with, either of the two boys. Who both are apparently drop dead gorgeous. (hehe, drop dead-get it?)


So I suppose it all comes down to do I recommend this. I really can’t. It was a little too short, to unexpressive, to guessable and too rushed for me. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but it’s apparently a lot of people’s ideal thriller. My wish? I wish there was less build up and more creepy aspects to the novel. I think that would have added a lot to the premise. The ending was too wrapped in a bow. Where’s the trauma when it’s needed? 

I really want to like thrillers. So, do y'all have any thrilling thriller recommendations? They would be much appreciated!


6 comments:

  1. Oh bummer. Hearing mixed things about this one but I too enjoy a good thriller every now and then. So I am back to debating about this one! Nice review all the same!!

    Some thriller recs:
    The Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting,
    Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick,
    Ten by Gretchen McNeil,
    Get Even by Gretchen McNeil...any Gretchen McNeil book really!
    Swerve by Vicki Pettersson--this is an adult thriller that releases July 7th, it was pretty good! I thought it had a nice creeptastic vibe.
    Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano
    Nearly Found by Elle Cosimano--I just read these two in the last week and half! Really good! I have reviews up on my blog of them as well as all these other ones I listed, except Swerve, that one won't be up until the end of June. Also Nearly Found won't be out until this coming Tuesday, so not too long!

    Those are the ones off the top of my head!

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    1. If you like thrillers, this one may interest you! I'll be giving a copy away later. And thanks for the reccs :D

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  2. I've loved Trish Doller's previous work - have yet to read this one though. Sorry it didn't entirely work for you! In terms of thrillers: Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas, as well as Dangerous Boys by the same author. Stephanie Kuehn's Delicate Monsters is also a psychological thriller. Finally, not YA, but Gillian Flynn's work is pretty great.

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    1. I'll have to look at some of her other work then. I HAVE HEARD GOOD THINGS ABOUT DANGEROUS BOYS. Quite good things. Thanks for the recs :D
      Jackie

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  3. I've seen this one around and it does seem pretty good, though I tend to be disappointed by thrillers because I see the ending coming which is just disappointing. If you want an excellent thriller, I'd highly suggest 172 Hours on the Moon by Johann Harstad. It was so amazing. I didn't see that ending coming and I couldn't put the book down because I was completely freaked out.
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

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    1. I abhor when I guess the ending...I guess I feel like a thriller should be..thrilling? This one just wan't it for me. Also, I've never heard of 172 Hours--I'll check it out. I want to like thrillers. Promise! Thanks for stopping by, Krystianna.
      Jackie

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