Vengeance

VENGEANCE

by Megan Miranda

Publishing Date: February 13th 2014

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's 

ISBN: 0802735037

Summary

Falcon Lake wants vengeance. And so, it seems, does someone else... An intense, heart-rending psychological thriller to accompany the chilling and seductive FractureWhen Decker drags his best friend Delaney’s lifeless body out of the frozen lake, he makes a deal: Anyone but her. Everyone but her. The lake releases her. It takes another...All their friends blame Delaney for Carson’s death. But Decker knows the truth: Delaney is drawn to those who are dying, and she would have tried to help Carson.
Or so Decker believes until a body lies in front of him in a pool of water on his kitchen floor. Until he sees in Delaney’s eyes that she knew this would happen too – and she said nothing. Until he realises it isn’t the lake that is looking for revenge – Delaney is part of someone else’s plan.
This powerful and emotionally charged psychological thriller follows Megan Miranda’s stunning debut Fracture.

Review

Can I start off by saying that Fracture didn't actually need a sequel, in fact I wasn't actually going to read this but it came up in a Buddy Read so I decided to give it a go. It's a lot more consistent that it's predecessor, as I found that Fracture was a little chopping in the first half and heartbreaking in the second. With Vengeance it was simple average the whole way through. Also, before you read on if you haven't read the first book yet then DO NOT read this review! It's impossible to review this without dropping some serious Fracture spoilers. 

The story is told from Decker's point of view - where are Fracture was told from Delaney's - as he struggles with a family death. He's angry at the whole, and Delaney and needs to find a way to live in this little town without being consumed by the so called 'curse' of Falcon Lake. Decker and his group of friends are still trying to come to terms with Carson's death and it eclipses they're whole life and with a new girl in town it becomes increasingly clear just how messed up their lives have become. 

I really liked Decker in book one, but I found him a little harsh and after a while just plain annoying in this one. I'm a constant grudge holder but even I thought he needed to give the girl a break! The whole book seems to centre around how Delaney betrayed Decker and how no one is really over the fact she couldn't safe Carson from dying - which again is really harsh. I didn't feel much for her in the beginning, but by the end I did. She was damned if she did and damned if she didn't. She just couldn't win. 

The story itself had some holes in it. It wasn't exactly a mystery what was going on, focusing on the paranormal to hide the completely human acts of vengeance behind the scenes. Don't get me wrong it wasn't all bad, and I did prefer it to the first book but the odd moments that made me smile and the times it caught me breath unfortunately didn't outweigh the fact that I just couldn't get into this book. 

Maybe it just wasn't for me. Maybe it was a case of right book but at the wrong time... I don't know. What I do know is that I think it should have ended with Fracture. Megan's an amazing writer, but I felt like this story just didn't need telling.