Sweetpea Book Review
I saw the advertisement for the TV show for this book, and I seem to recognize the main actress, so when I saw the book in Kindle, I thought I would give the book a read. Such a superficial reason, right? Yes, lately I seem to choose books to read based on what I see, either movies or ads. Anyways this genre of killing and sadism is not really my cup of tea, but I gave the book a chance.
I did finish the book so that speaks something about the book. It has a main plotline, keeping the reader guessing who she is going to kill next and whether she would be caught or not. There’s also a bit of back story quite cleverly peppered throughout the story, although I think this are more likely justifications for why the character kills and make reader sympathize (or at least emphatize) more with her. Spoiler alert – she had an accident when she was a child and her brain was damaged. A bit too convenient seems like after the fact.
The story is told from a first person view and the reader is supposedly reading from her diary. This works out at the start but as the story moves on, it seems like she is writing this diary post online. At this age, that is a bit hard to believe. No data is safe online, regardless if it’s posted online or not, as big brother is watching everywhere (hello there šš»). And she wrote on an office PC, how is that not being logged? Also she manages to evade quite a number of time CCTVs and other surveilances, it requires a lot of logic to be suspended. And this suspension snaps for me in the end when it is said her boyfriend was framed for sexual assault, due to semen found on the suspect, which the main character had been collecting in a jar. Err, wouldn’t your DNA be in there too, Sweetpea?
There’s also the annoying hip/teen lingo that seems to tone down a bit as the book progress. There are also a lot of references that are UK specific, which I find confusing, but I think is good because it lends to a more realistic voice, because if you’re writing a diary, it would certainly contain things are colloquail. That being said, there are a lot of references that I couldn’t understand at all.
In the end I think the book is quite interesting, with twist and turns. I don’t think I’ll read the sequel though, especially reviews said it is not as good as the first one, but also because the book is kinda depressing. It makes you doubt when someone says something nice like what Sweetpea says in the book, if whether they are really being nice or they are just a psycopath who is doing ‘The Act’. I am sure it is the former but the book just does that, plants doubt. So although I like the book, and would recommend it to adult reader, I won’t be continuing the series.
Thank you for reading.