READING: Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick

Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick

Publication date: November 10th, 2015
Published by: Simon & Schuster Australia
Genre:Young Adult, Suspense, Mystery
Rating: 3/5

Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life. After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer. But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly?  Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows. As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks…  

I will start off by saying that I was pleasantly surprised by Dangerous Lies right from the start. Fitzpatrick's previous books were not among my favourites I must admit, but this one I liked straight away.

Apart from the unputdowanable element that exist in all of Fitzpatrick's books regardless whether you enjoy them or not, Dangerous Lies does not really depend upon mystery and suspense aspects but more on character development, and that is what I think was missing from Fitzpatrick's previous work. We could see Stella's transition to a mature and grown up individual throughout the whole book. Her relationship with Carmina, who I must say was my favourite character, was very well written without resorting to cliches and the inevitable sappiness.
The romance element was still present, this time featuring a male character so different from Fitzpatrick's Patch or Mason. Chet is as casual and chilled as they come and that's what I loved about him. He was not over the top or dominating in any way. He is just a good looking guy who falls in love with a girl he meets over the summer. It may sound plain but if you ask me, normality was a breath of fresh air compared to all the over exaggerated romantic relationships in YA I'm so tired of. Secondary characters were not left in the background either, each one of them different and distinct, playing an important part in the story (see Carmina).

What I would have liked however was a better ending. I felt a bit unsatisfied in the end and slightly disappointed at how everything wrapped up so quickly. I would have preferred the bad guys to be as bad as advertised and not just some run of the mill thugs who just popped in to finish the story.

Those of you who are sceptical about Fitzpatrick's books, don't be: Dangerous Lies will definitely appeal to you. I really hope Fitzpatrick will write more books like this in the future.

*This book was provided by Simon & Schuster Australia and NetGalley