WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW
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| “'If one of us goes down for this, it’ll be as bad as all of us going down for this,' ...'We can’t let that happen.'”- This Is Our Story, Ashley Elston |
Five went in. Four came out.
No one knows what happened that morning at River Point. Five boys went hunting. Four came back. The boys won’t say who fired the shot that killed their friend; the evidence shows it could have been any one of them.
Kate Marino’s senior year internship at the district attorney’s office isn’t exactly glamorous—more like an excuse to leave school early that looks good on college applications. Then the DA hands her boss, Mr. Stone, the biggest case her small town of Belle Terre has ever seen. The River Point Boys are all anyone can talk about. Despite their damning toxicology reports the morning of the accident, the DA wants the boys’ case swept under the rug. He owes his political office to their powerful families.
Kate won’t let that happen. Digging up secrets without revealing her own is a dangerous line to walk; Kate has her own reasons for seeking justice for Grant. As she investigates with Stone, the aging prosecutor relying on Kate to see and hear what he cannot, she realizes that nothing about the case—or the boys—is what it seems. Grant wasn’t who she thought he was, and neither is Stone’s prime suspect. As Kate gets dangerously close to the truth, it becomes clear that the early morning accident might not have been an accident at all—and if Kate doesn’t uncover the true killer, more than one life could be on the line…including her own.
Oddly, I spent most of this book feeling fairly neutral about it. And by "fairly neutral" I mean absolutely nothing. Seriously, this book did not get one emotion reaction out of me except maybe mild intrigue and detached curiosity. However, that actually worked in the book's favor for much of it, as my lack of emotion reaction stopped the main character from annoying me any more than slight irritation. Because if I was reading it with my normal attentiveness and emotional passion, I probably would have hated our lovely Kate. Instead, apart from a few snarky notes I wrote down, I didn't care much about her except as a narrative vehicle who occasionally got under my skin.
Of course, perhaps my lack of emotional attachment came from the fact that this is pretty generic YA mystery shit. You know, corrupt town, rich boys getting away with everything, main heroine with your typical poor fatherless background- Elston didn't take any risks here. The only reason why I even picked this book up in the first place was because she worked in a prosecutor's office and I hoped it would have some crime elements along with the mystery. And it did, and that made me happy- I especially liked the detective interviews with the boys.
I was amazed by just how much Elston seemed to enjoy the art of character assassination. No one is morally grey here, everyone is either pure evil or wonderful. Frankly, I especially found Grant to be a let down because she didn't really need to completely butcher his character for the sake of the story. And also, if he did turn out to be a complete asshole then why would I actually want the murder to be resolved, anyway? In order for a murder mystery novel to work, I actually have to give a damn in some capacity who the victim is. I think one of the biggest problems in this novel is how all the River Point Boys, even the victim, were shown to be complete and utter assholes. Except, of course, Love Interest. But for most of the book I couldn't help but think "Would it really matter if they all went free? Or if they all went to prison? I mean, sure, sucks, whatever, but no great loss to society either way, right? If they all went free, it wouldn't matter because Grant turned out to be a dickhead anyway and it's pretty safe to say that the killer isn't going to kill again, and if they all went to jail than it would also not really matter because they were also all kind of dickheads." Needless to say, those are not thoughts I should have running through my head when reading a whodunnit.
I would also like to take this moment to say that I am so sick of the constant corruption that it seems like every YA rich person/official seems to be take part in. Why don't we ever find nice, normal, well-adjusted rich kids, or mayors, or sheriffs, or prosecutors, or whatever? Is that what teens want to read about, now? Honestly, by falling back on these cliches it becomes a convenient way to avoid depth, and the authors know that these cliches are safe anyway because, especially if they're white, most of the reviewers are going to eat it up anyway, talking about how "refreshing" it is to see this happen when in reality it happens in every goddamn book. *deep breath*
There was also the typical bitching about how broken our justice system is and about how often "guilty men walk free" and "innocent men go to jail" and I wrote in my notes the same thing I think when I hear that- "you have any better ideas?". Since her ranting focused primarily on the court system, I'll say this, our court system is pretty damn good for what it is. We do a good job in letting both sides tell their story and giving both equal weight. I'm not saying it's perfect or anything, and I do have some ideas on how to make it better- for instance, I believe that double jeopardy isn't necessarily a bad thing, and that there should be a system set up so in certain cases it can happen, mostly because I don't think it's fair that a convicted criminal can appeal his sentence and possibly get it overturned but his case can't go back to court if more evidence was found. This hypothetical double jeopardy system would be set up like the appeals system, of course. I also believe things like judges can't belong to a political party, but I know how unrealistic that is. The difference between me and this book, though, is that I actually have ideas on how to fix it (and I acknowledge how unlikely it is that either of these two sample ideas would ever come to fruition), and I qualify my statement with what exactly is fair about the court system and what isn't. I don't just bitch about it and act like my civil duty is done because I talked about it, and don't actually have any ideas to improve the system (and no, a complete overhaul of the system isn't a viable idea- if it hasn't happened in the 200+ years we've been a country, it's never going to happen).
Writing this review, I'm struck by just how much this book reminds me of The Secret Place. Think about it, a close group of friends devoted to protecting each other. A rich boy victim. A video/photograph that has a lot of do with motive. Of course, Tana French's book was anything but generic and her writing and character depth can blow Elston's out of the water, but still. I mean, this novel is a lot shorter, but if the synopsis of this book intrigues you just pick up The Secret Place instead. You won't regret it.
One of the weakest links in this story is, in my opinion (aka, the only opinion that matters here), the love aspect. I cared nothing for Kate and Shep, and thought the only purpose for that half-assed twist was so Elston could give us a love interest that wasn't dead. Not to mention, that love interest made Kate even stupider than she was before. I don't know about her, but if this case was one of my close family friend's last shot at a big case before stepping down, I'd calm my fucking hormones down and help him. I wouldn't basically sabotage his case and ruin his career (and also potentially get my mother fired) just because I'm in love. I think right around there was the time I woke up from whatever trance I was in and actually started to hate Kate. That just seemed so selfish and unforgivable to me.
Like I said, I think my neutrality helped this book a lot. Because even when I "hated" it, I didn't really "hate" it. My emotions were very surface level. I think this is helped out by the writing. It wasn't anything really to write home about- the narration was your typical generic teen girl, the murderer narrative was your typical murderer, etc. The only thing that interested me, again, was the interviews.
So, do I recommend this book? Eh. I mean, the cover is cool, I'll give it that, and I'm sure a casual fan of YA mystery novels would love this book, but as for me and people like me- actual fans of mystery-thrillers? Probably not. Unless, of course, you like the same old, same old.
4 out of 10
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