DANGEROUS Girls
by Abigail Haas
Pages: 388 (paperback)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books
Publication Date: August 1st 2013 first published July 16th 2013)
ISBN: 9781471119149
Summary
Elise is dead.
And someone must pay.
Anna, her boyfriend Tate, best friend Elise and a group of close friends set off on a debaucherous Spring Break trip to Aruba. But paradise soon turns into a living nightmare when Elise is brutally murdered.
Soon Anna finds herself trapped in a foreign country and fighting for her freedom. As she awaits the judge's decree, it becomes clear that everyone is questioning her innocence. To the rest of the world, Anna isn't just guilty, but dangerous. As the court case unfolds the truth is about to come out, and it's more shocking than you could ever imagine...
FOR SPOILER FREE REVIEW
Dangerous Girls
Book Club Discussion
**SPOILERS**
What were your first thoughts after finishing Dangerous
Girls?
Mily: What that actual f**k!?!?
How has this woman done this to me again!! Abby has this unsettling way of
being able to change the WHOLE book in the last paragraph and it leaves me
feeling confused and a little betrayed. Like the character has been lying to me
the whole time. It’s brilliant, but it also leaves me so confused.
Emma: “Oooooh that was gooooood!” And, then the weirdness of that whole situation hit me! Ha! I think I
didn’t realize it was even the end. I thought there was another chapter, or an
epilogue, or something. In some ways it felt incomplete, but in other ways it
was just right!
Mily: That’s exactly how it felt,
incomplete… like there was an epilogue missing or something. Although, as frustrating as it was, I kind of
love the way Abby can change the whole book in a couple of sentences.
Emma: Me too, you never know where you’re going to end up!
Both of us read Dangerous Boys before this, do you
think that affected the way you saw this book?
Mily: Yes. All I heard while
reading Dangerous Boys was how much better Dangerous Girls was. I think it
meant that I went into it was seriously high expectations. I adored the book, I
did. However, for me I preferred Dangerous Boys. I felt the progression of
Chloe’s character, however disturbing, at least changed and developed over
time. Anna just seemed to flip at the very end.
Emma: Yes definitely. I read Dangerous Girls knowing there would be a
twist, and I was trying to figure it out the whole way through. (I totally
didn’t figure it out!)
I have to agree with Mily, though, that it
didn’t feel as if Dangerous Girls lived up to the hype I’d heard about it after
having read Dangerous Boys first. Dangerous Boys was an absolute non-stop
thrill ride; Dangerous Girls was a slow build up to a climatic end. They felt
really different, and I preferred the intensity of Dangerous Boys myself.
Mily: That was it, Dangerous Girls
was very slow in places and however good it was I missed to intensity of
Dangerous Boys. There was always something going on and a new side of the
characters to see in Dangerous Boys and with this one it wasn’t until the end.
How did you feel towards the two main characters, Anna
and Elsie, at the beginning of the book?
Mily: I felt really sorry for
Anna. It was obvious from the start that Elsie and Trent were sleeping
together. It was also pretty clear that Elsie was a really bad friend. So yeah,
at the beginning of the book Anna had my sympathy.
Emma: It was weird for me – in Dangerous Boys I sympathized and supported
Chloe the whole way through (oh how I was made to feel stupid about that!), but
I never liked Anna or Elise. At the beginning of Dangerous Girls, I thought
Anna was innocent, but I wasn’t rooting for her. I don’t even know why!
How did you feel towards the two main characters, Anna
and Elsie, at the end of the book?
Mily: Anna’s a freaking
psychopath! Elsie wasn’t exactly sane and their relationship was dark and
disturbing to say the least, but Elsie didn’t deserve to be murdered. Also, if
you can tell me why Anna did it that would be really handy because I don’t have
a clue.
Emma: I felt really creeped out by them! I mean, let’s just imagine for a
minute *that* scene. The whole f*cked-up-ness that is that. And what it lead
to… Yeah…
Mily: Wait… is that why Anna did
it? It’s been about 2 months since I read it and I still don’t’ have a clue!!
Emma: I’m only assuming! Haha – I took from it that there was jealousy
and longing and betrayal and sudden realization of feelings Anna never knew or
accepted before. That last line; “how
much do you love me”. I’m constructing an entire belief system on that haha
What was your least favorite part of the book?
Mily: The scene where Anna and
Elsie are staring at each other while Elsie was cheating with Trent! That was
when the book took on a whole new level of crazy for me. There was something
about that moment that felt too twisted to even comprehend. As if all the dark
desires these girls had up until that point wasn’t enough, adding this sense of
dark sexual attraction to their relationship may have pushed it just that
little bit too far for me.
Emma: Again, the beginning of this book was not very “me” – High School
Summer Breaks and kitschy holidays – and I had to stick with it. I’m glad the
court case interspersed the past to give the signals that this all gets very
dark very unexpectedly!
Mily: I agree (slightly). The
setting was a little on the cliché side. Although throughout the book it worked
well.
Abigail has a unique writing style and this book was
no different. Would you have liked a second point of view?
Mily: No. I think Anna’s was all
that was needed with this one. Elsie’s might be interesting but I don’t have
the need to read it the way I did with Oliver’s point of view in Dangerous
Boys.
Emma: I think Chelsea’s viewpoint would have been really interesting!
Someone outside that “bubble” who desperately wanted in. Perhaps she saw more
than we did through Anna’s eyes. I mean, we never saw Anna in any way other
than how she saw herself…
Mily: I honestly hadn’t thought of
that. I was certain Chelsea was the killer for about half of the book, so I
think that you’re right. I would be really interested to read something from
outside of that “bubble” and Chelsea would be a really good choice.
Emma: I suspected her too!
Do you think Anna’s character turned out the way she
did through circumstance or nature?
Mily: I think there was a darkness
inside her but maybe if it wasn’t for Elsie and circumstance she would never
have known about it. Unlike in Dangerous Boys where Chloe’s dark side was
always quite near the surface I think Anna’s was much further down.
Emma: I’m going to go with circumstance…! I’ve re-read the last chapter
so many times, and I think there was a moment of true realization of herself in
Anna, and it was scary for her, and overwhelming… and passionately physical.
And it ended in a frenzy of all those things.
What was your favourite moment from Dangerous Girls?
Mily: My favourite and least
favourite moment is the same. It’s that one scene. It portrays everything this
book is about! A dangerous friendship that was built up on a foundation of
delusions. It’s sexy and twisted and unpredictable.
Emma: I really loved the court case scenes! (How geeky!) I loved seeing
how the evidence was manipulated. It brought a whole new game to the book!
