The Murder Complex – Book Review

Welcome to the Murder Complex

You cannot see us. You cannot feel us.

But we are here.

And we control your every move.

Plot (from Lindsay Cummings’ blog):

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision. The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family? Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

Review:

Let me start this review off by saying that I absolutely adored this book and can’t wait for the prequel novella and the second book to come out. So good!

Right away, The Murder Complex hooked me and kept me interested throughout the whole book. This book is a great possibility for those who love dystopian series such as The Hunger Games, Divergent, or Legend. The book switches between the points-of-view of the two main characters, who both learn things about themselves and their families’ pasts as the book progresses. Unlike most books where the major plot points are sometimes extremely obvious and predictable (to me at least), this book kept me guessing as to where it was headed next.

As the name might suggest, The Murder Complex does not shy away from blood and death, as there is plenty of both. In this kill-or-be-killed world, if you aren’t willing to kill someone, you can bet that you will be next to die.

One thing that bothered me a bit about the book was the progression of the relationship between Meadow and Zephyr. In the beginning, the relationship seemed very forced, and then almost out of nowhere, the tension between the two disappeared and they got along fine. The transition between the two separate stages of their relationship could have been a little more developed so as to not feel quite so sudden.

Throughout the last third or so of the book, the action picks up immensely and by the time I read the last page I was already dying to get my hands on the sequel. I need to know what happens! It’s not too often that a book literally leaves me yearning for more.

I give this book 4/5 stars and a definite “You need to go read this!”

You can preorder The Murder Complex, available June 10, 2014, HERE, and the prequel novella The Fear Trials, available June 3, 2014, HERE.

This review was originally posted on Hunger Games Network