Review: Deadly Cool

Title: Deadly Cool
Author: Gemma Halliday
Pages: 303
Format: Print/ Paperback
Published: October 11th 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen

I've been wanting to read this book ever since I heard about its release back in October. A murder mystery that also seemed kind of funny? Now that sounds like my type of story. So when I finally was able to buy it, I dove right in the minute I could.

Deadly Cool was kind of a disappointment for me. It wasn't that I didn't like the story, but just that I found the beginning kind of slow. It's weird to say this because so much  happens in the beginning, but I still personally found it kind of slow. I wanted Hartley Grace to get on with the investigation. No dilly dallying. But that seemed to not have been the case for me. Even throughout the investigation, I couldn't help but be a little bored. So she interviewed a view people. Big whoop. Anyone can do that. So she looked at a few pictures. Another big whoop. So for me, the story was a little slow and definitely didn't live up to my expectations of being a fun murder mystery.

Since I started off on a bad note, might as well continue on the same note. The killer was kind of a bust. Easy to pin point. Maybe if  you don't read a lot of murder mysteries or maybe if you don't watch murder mysteries on T.V ( I personally don't, I only read about them),  then you might not  guess the killer. For me, I was able to guess who it was around page 200. After that, the last 100 pages were pointless. I knew who the killer was, so why was I reading on? Because I also had a hunch about another character and I wanted to find out who he really was. Okay, so  my hunch was wrong, but I was still right about the killer. An easy to guess killer isn't much fun. So that was a little disappointing and a turn off for me. Oh well, can't get everything in a book you want, now can you?

A third and last negative note about this book, it wasn't funny. I just did not find this book funny. At all. Period. So she had to conduct an investigation and do trig. What's so funny about that? Hardy har har. Just wasn't funny for me. Anything can make me laugh. It doesn't take much. But this, this was just not funny. Hartley nor her friend were funny. They just weren't. Sorry.

On a positive note,  I still did like this book. The characters  were interesting, and despite guessing (correctly) who the killer was, I still semi- enjoyed the investigation leading up to the discovering. Needless to say I finished this in one day, turning page after page. I think I just really wanted to see Hartley's cheating ex-boyfriend actually turn out to be the killer, but it's obvious he isn't.  I was holding on to that hope because I did not like Josh at all. I can't stand two-timers  like that. Also, I liked Hartley as a character. The fact that even though her boyfriend cheated on her, she still stuck by him to prove his innocence. Gotta give her props for that.

So, will I be buying and reading Social Suicide, the second book? Definitely! I'd like continue Hartley's job in the world of investigation and learn more about this new-found romance between her and a certain someone (wink wink).

So overall, my rating:
3.5 curly pig tails

Angela