The Shattering is a YA mystery with a bit of the supernatural thrown in by Karen Healey.
Keri has spent almost all seventeen years of her life planning for every event she can imagine. Before she broke her arm when she was seven, she already knew what she should say and do if it were to happen. When that proved to be a good thing, she began to plan for everything else.
But she never thought to plan what to do if her brother committed suicide.
Shattered with grief, she is approached by a childhood friend, Janna. Janna's brother also suddenly took his life, though many years earlier. Yet instead of approaching her as an old friend that understands the pain, she drops a bombshell on Keri.
She tells Keri it was murder. Janna wants Keri to meet up with a tourist she knows named Sione, a guy about their age, who also lost a brother to suicide. She says he has some answers.
The three teens begin looking at stats and find something very disturbing. Every year there is a boy killed - every one of them is an older brother and every one of them spent New Year's Eve in their idyllic town of Summerton. But as the three grieving siblings begin to uncover startling secrets and try to find justice for their loved ones, their information casts suspicion on those close to them.
And it's about time for another victim to be picked. Can they save them? Can they save themselves?
The Shattering was one of the best mystery books I have read in a looong time!!!
Each of our three main characters has an engaging, lively, personality-filled narration that is individual to each character and instantly involves you in a plot that is quickly hypnotic and creepy. Keri is sympathetic yet funny and likable, Janna is wild and maybe a little desperate and lonely, and Sione is lacking in self-esteem.
Karen Healey throws us into The Shattering with a brisk, fast pace that, for me, is even better than Guardian of the Dead (her previous novel). It's a supernatural mystery with twists and turns like crazy, grounded, believable characters and surprising revelations around every corner! Wow!!!
If you want to be entertained, surprised and freaked out a bit - you really need to read The Shattering. I absolutely loved it from start to finish and was turning pages like an insane bibliophile! Oh wait. I am an insane bibliophile. But still, believe me, this book is excellent! It's unexpected, scary, creepy, fascinating, and utterly gripping!
I was breathless reading the last pages - nervous, excited, and overwhelmed. Shock after shock threw me, tossed me around, and finally sat me down wholly satisfied and impressed. Holy crap! Very, very smart and extremely well plotted, let me tell you!
Want a little murder mystery? Want a little more than that? How about a whole lot more than that? Read The Shattering.
*I received a review copy of The Shattering from Hachette Book Group. Their generosity in no way influenced, nor sought to influence, my opinion of the novel.
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