Shadowlands by Kate Brian

Summary (from Goodreads):

Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection program. Entering the program alongside her, is her father and sister Darcy. The trio starts a new life and a new beginning leaving their friends and family behind without a goodbye.

Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. Just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

Review:

So, I kind of felt like this book started awesome, and ended awesome, but had a lot going on in the middle that just wasn’t that awesome. The first chapter is about the main character being chased down in the woods by a serial killer, and then escaping. Like seriously, how awesome is that beginning. I was actually sitting on the beach with this book and my friend was sitting next to me starting a different book. She told me that not much had happened in her first 50 pages. I said in like the first 10 of mine, a girl was attacked by a serial killer.

I just kind of had a hard time getting to know the main character after the attack. And then I kind of had a hard time believing all the things that followed. The main character’s family gets put into witness protection real fast. And they were given little to no direction. And then they were given no way to contact the FBI. It all just felt a little too rushed to be believable. Wouldn’t the FBI give more rules/direction/explanation? And why was it so hard for them to track down this guy, but it was so easy to know that the guy who attacked Rory was the same one responsible for so many other girls’ murders. Also, no attention was put on the high school who hired him…Can we say stricter hiring policies?

And then I hated Rory’s family.  Can anything be worse for a girl who was attacked then to have a family of people doubting her every sentence? Seriously, I underetand the elephant in the room with Rory and her sister, Darcy. But, the dad just never came off as a decent human being. And neither of them ever listened to Rory or took her seriously. And then the animosity between the sisters dwindles down, without them ever really dealing with the issue at hand. Add their issue to the dad’s issues, and the whole plot just seemed kind of rushed. Then in enters the new boys. And it kind of seemed like both sisters went on to new crushes really fast, considering how much drama was spent already on a different boy.

What the middle of the book did have going for it though was the mystery. I thought I had solved the mystery 3 different times with different ideas for the conclusion, and I was always wrong. While the character development was a little non-existant and the plot had some loopholes, there was this ever-present suspenseful mystery.  And you have no idea how happy I was to be surprised at the end for how it all concluded. I literally yelled out loud, “What???” And then I of course had to go back over certain scenes and make sure everything worked out, which it did.

Seriously, this was one of my favorite YA suspenseful endings! It’s the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers, and I know I’ve said that before, but this time I seriously mean it. I loved this ending!

So, in all in all, I loved the beginning and I loved the end. I loved the general suspense; I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I thought the characters were a little two-dimensional and that there were some seriously rushed pieces of the plot. I did have fun with the mystery, and I literally finished the book in a few hours.  The end was also so good that I started the sequel immediately after finishing. I give it a 7/10.