Review: Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

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Image via Abby McDonald.

First of all, I want to say the biggest thank you to Steysha who recommended this book to me. Gal, you definitely have great taste in books. (Not that I didn’t know this before.)

Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas is freaking amazing. I promise you that if you start to read it, you won’t be able to put it down. I’ve got a thing about mystery/thriller books, so I’m really judgmental and picky about them. If the plot is not interesting enough, then, sorry, I just won’t read it. But this one sure passed the test. I did have really high expectations, but this was so much better than I expected!

Steysha, the brilliant recommender of said book, said that it’s quite similar to We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. Since that was my favorite book of 2014, how could I say no to this book? Thus, the reading began, and let me tell you, I haven’t felt this much tension throughout a book in a long, long time.

The plot is mind-blowing. So mind-blowing, in fact, that you’ll be thinking about this book for days and days to come and praying for it to be made into a movie. But enough rambling. Let’s talk about the actual book, shall we?

The main character is Anna, and she goes with her friends on holiday to Aruba, where things don’t go too well. One of them is brutally murdered. I won’t spoil too much for you when I tell you that Anna becomes the number-one suspect. Let me stop here for a minute and say that I’ve never gotten so angry over a book until this one. When Anna’s trial began, I thought I would end up throwing my Kindle against the wall because it was all so unjust, specifically the actions of lead Detective Dekker. He was, to me, one of the most despicable book characters of all time, and I’ve never felt so much anger toward a fictional character. Never.

On the other hand, I felt so sorry for Anna — imprisoned without hope. However, I found her character really well-written. She was logical but not boring and very down-to-earth with such enviable strength. Throughout her whole prison experience, when all hope seemed totally lost, she always found something to hold on to. She’s a real survivor.

Now, on the technical side of things, the writing was amazing. The way we learned about past and present events, the little hints, the half-sentences: all of these caused me to waver on who I believed the murderer to be. It’s honestly difficult for me to find the words to describe how good this book is. Again, the plot. Believe me, if you finish this book, you’ll be like, What the hell?” You’ll never be able to guess the murderer. If you do, then consider a career as a psychic because, believe me, there are so many twists in this book that you’ll lose count. Once you think, “Ok, I totally know who did it,” Abigail will just make you rethink all of your thoughts, and you’ll be left alone with your broken theories and your anxiously bitten nails.

I’m so impressed with this book that I could write an entire book about it, but I won’t. To put it plainly, if you love a good mind-blowing whodunit, then what are you waiting for?

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