Sadie Ross is finding life difficult and a little scary because she cannot stand her stepsister, her boyfriend is away at college and now, someone is stalking her enemies and everyone is calling her the "kiss of death."
Sin ser una maravilla, el principal punto fuerte de esta historia es que resulta entretenida e incluso logra sorprender ligeramente. Lo que me decepcionó un poco es que no fue lo que yo creía, la sinopsis da a entender que la trama tiene algo sobrenatural y no es así, o al menos eso es lo que interpreté yo. No es que se digan mentiras, pero no es lo que parece.
Sadie, la protagonista, se siente sola tras haber roto con el supuesto amor de su vida, al que luego critica, y al tener que soportar que su padre se haya vuelto a casar tras la muerte de su madre y que eso suponga aguantar a Eleanor, una hermanastra que la odia. Sadie es una chica solitaria, pero en el cementerio conoce a Tony, un chico aparentemente encantador, y su vida comienza a cambiar. No, no penséis que se narrará un romance precioso y con toques de misterio, la relación es increíblemente fría y me dio la impresión de que no se la creían ni ellos.
La que más anima la trama es Eleanor, es cruel y dedica gran parte de su tiempo a fastidiar a Sadie, pero gracias a ella vemos momentos de tensión y no nos centramos únicamente en un tonteo sin gracia entre Sadie, Tony y otro chico.
Aunque tenía varias teorías, reconozco que no me esperaba el desenlace. Ningún personaje del libro parece muy normal y es como si todos tuvieran un lado oscuro, así que cuando comienzan a darse algunos asesinatos, es inevitable que ninguno se libre de ser sospechoso.
La puntuación real sería un 2,5/5, pero le doy un 3/5 porque la historia supo mantener mi interés y por lo del final. Si se hubiera profundizado mejor en ciertos actos y en la personalidad de los personajes, es probable que hubiera quedado más impresionada.
Just wanted to say that it's a good time waster, Certainly it isn't the most advanced mystery plot you'll read but it's quite entertaining as to guess who done it. I thought the twist was pretty decent but it leads to few problems. There are a few plot holes in the book that's unanswered such as who threw the brick through Sadie's bedroom and who killed the cat? And what's the deal with the whole bird motif which is that they're foreshadowings of death? It was played a lot in beginning but completely dropped... Because the book forgets its own details, it gets an average rating.
I am trying to find the distinction as to what makes this a Point Crime instead of a Point Horror/Thriller because it reads like a Point Horror.
Most of these authors for the "Crime" brand are UK authors but I am assuming that since there are little paranormal elements that is why it is in a different "series" but most Point Horror books didn't have any either so I am confused.
The back of this book is giving off a whole different vibe too.
Main character Sadie Ross is not as completely alone as you would think. Yes, her mother is dead and her boyfriend David went off to college but she lives with her dad, stepmother and stepsister.
Stepmom Melanie is trying to be kind to Sadie but she is seventeen and not having it. Melanie's daughter Eleanor is in contrast because she is a full-on wicked stepsister towards Sadie with borrowing her clothes, putting her down with both mental and physical taunting as well as reading her diary.
Eleanor also tries to give Sadie a dead blackbird because the day Sadie's mom had a heart attack, there were birds around. Birds make appearances in Sadie's nightmares due to her guilt over a silly fight they had that day.
Things don't get much better when school starts back up because Eleanor is now going to Sadie's school after the summer wedding. Sadie already has an awful classmate named Tracey to deal with as she picks on all the uncool kids...her other newest target is Martin Kemp.
Martin shot and killed a bunch of cats and kittens with an air rifle so he had to be sent to therapy...and his doctor just happens to be Tracey's dad. She sneaks into her father's office and looks through his CONFIDENTIAL files on his patients even if it is common knowledge to everyone that Martin is not exactly a popular person.
The company he keeps doesn't help because the Cope brothers, Maurice and Stephen, are known town punks but a quiet and longing for acceptance type like Martin has little options. Martin gets some help from Sadie and kind words against Tracey's bullying so he helps out when Eleanor has decided to make copies of Sadie's diary and plaster them all over school by tearing as many down as possible.
The only thing that has Sadie from being completely miserable is just going to the cemetery to visit her mother to get out of the house. One day while bring flowers, Sadie meets a young man who is visiting his own mother's grave right next to that of her own mom. He introduces himself as Tony Stern and Sadie can't help but notice how good looking he is and that they share a common thread.
Soon, Sadie is sent to see a psychiatrist because Melanie and her father think she is depressed too long after her mother's death but it doesn't help that Eleanor is making Sadie's life worse. Eleanor has told Maurice Cope that Sadie is hot for him so he is harassing her and sweet Martin Kemp can't help but be in love with a girl finally showing him kindness.
One day looking at the paper, Sadie sees an ad near the personal column that asks if Sadie Ross would want to meet Tony Stern, the boy from the cemetery. Shocked at first, Sadie writes him a reply but comes across him in person once again at their mothers' graves to tell Tony she was accepting.
Mostly there is all of this normal teen drama going on before people around Sadie start dying and creepy messages appear in the paper. There are plenty of red herrings when David comes back to town after quitting college and we learn that Tony's great-grandfather was a madman named Daniel Cross that killed everyone in his family except for Tony's grandmother as a baby hidden by the maid before getting axed to death.
Everyone in this book is some degree of unhinged and once we get to the final act of the story, the pool of culprits get smaller and do lead to one banger of an ending I will admit. The only thing that could have made it better is if some loose plot threads had been tied up but they just...end.
Kiss of Death didn't live up to its name as being completely awful but it didn't get really good until we got to the last 60 pages. More like a Kiss of Disappointment...
Me parece que la reseña de la contratapa del libro da a entender una historia pero luego cuando lo lees es totalmente distinto a lo que uno se imagina. Esta bueno el libro pero le falta más suspenso y que te atrape la trama de la historia.
La trama es buena y la narración entretenida, logra atrapar al lector y sumergirlo en un halo de misterio en el cual todos los personajes parecieran tener un lado oscuro o saber más de lo que dicen. Pero hace agua en varios aspectos: la historia de amor central es fría, forzada, como si los mismos personajes no se creyeran que se aman. No se profundiza en este punto. El final sorprende, pero decepciona; ya que todo el tiempo pareciera que está sucediendo algo sobrenatural cuando en realidad no lo es. Da la sensación de que el final fue escrito a las apuradas o ensamblado, quizá el autor dejó pasar mucho tiempo en la escritura y al retomar las ideas fueron otras. No sé. Pero no pude evitar sentir que el final correspondía a otra historia distinta.
I’m utterly disappointed, what could’ve been a great story fell flat on its face with barely a plot to hold it together. The story kept jumping to different days and escalating things way too quickly, it also felt extremely rushed. Not to mention the overwhelming amount of plot holes. I did like the slasher element to it and it kept me wondering who the killer may be, but it would’ve benefited immensely with more character development and a well drawn out plot. I’d say skip this one, you aren’t missing much.
Lo estoy trabajando por primera vez con mis alumnxs de 12 años y les está fascinando. Todo el tiempo se la pasan haciendo hipótesis de lectura. ¡¡Estoy esperando a que lleguemos al final para ver sus reacciones!! Más allá de algunos problemas argumentales que pueda tener, tiene unas imágenes súper potentes, incluso poéticas por momentos. Creo que es un libro que puede iniciar lectorxs.