**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of What Happened That Night by Deanna Cameron from NetGalley for review purposes. Thank you to NetGalley, Wattpad Books and Smith Publicity for this opportunity.
What Happened That Night by Deanna Cameron is a YA Mystery/Thriller. It is going to be published on September 17th, 2019. I gave this book 4 stars.
Here is the summary from NetGalley:
Golden boy Griffin Tomlin is found dead, floating in his pool, the morning after his family’s Labor Day party, and neighbor Emily Porterfield is arrested for his murder. No one knows why she killed him, except for her younger sister, Clara. The secrets behind What Happened That Night unravel in dual timelines:
In the present, Clara struggles with the aftermath of the murder―questions and distrust from her friends, denial from her parents, and visits to her sister in jail. And amidst all of that, another body is discovered that could be connected.
In flashback, the events that brought Clara, Griffin, and Emily together and that led to his death are revealed―events that involve a crush, an obsession, and a shocking twist.
The title of What Happened That Night is what drew me to the book initially, and then I read the summary and it was an easy choice to choose to read the book. I requested it, and I was excited when I found out that I was accepted. I was quick to pick it up, and pretty quickly I was drawn in by the story. The nice thing about this story was that it had a lot of layers, and just when you thought you had it figured out, something new and excited happened that made you realize there was more to the story.
I have to admit that when I read the summary, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what the story was about, and I should give a trigger warning for rape in this book, and I was right on one level. But then there were way more layers to the story than I had expected, and I enjoyed that because it made the story unique and unpredictable.
However, it still wasn’t my favourite thing I’ve ever read. The way that the story was formatted, which is something that I hope will be fixed in the final copy, was occasionally jarring. The transitions between time and locations jumps were often incredibly abrupt with no formatting clues to help you understand that there was a bit of a jump that just happened, and occasionally I had to re-read to make sure that I fully understood what had happened and how Clara had gone from point A to point B. Additionally, some of the writing felt a bit cliche in places. There were a few points where I noticed that sort of cliche “I let go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding” type moments, and I had to roll my eyes at that. I also felt that some of the dialogue was a bit awkward.
Ultimately, the story kept me reading. I wanted to know what happened. You know the basics of it, that Emily killed Griffin and that Clara knew why she did it, but you don’t know the exact circumstances. Those details are revealed gradually throughout the story by reading about what is happening Clara’s life in the current timeline, starting four months after Emily murdered Griffin and was arrested, and from the time before the murder. The switching back and forth between the two timelines was a really great way to tell the story. Deanna Cameron revealed information when I needed it, and teased just enough to make me want to keep reading.
As a character, Clara is really interesting and relatable. Her motivations and reasons for acting the way she does were really easy to understand. However, some of the other characters fell a little flat. Emily, the sister/murderer, had a lot of potential but I wished that Cameron had done a little more with her and maybe dropped a few more hints. Or maybe they were there and I just didn’t pick up on it. Griffin was an intensely disturbing character, and I was impressed with his characterization. I also really loved Kolby as a character. He had a certain unexpected depths. I was less keen on Aniston.
I feel the need to come back to the trigger warning. There is a fairly detailed rape scene in this book, and it is revisited several times in the character’s memories. It’s not something that triggers me normally, but this scene was very detailed and I wouldn’t feel comfortable recommending it, until I acknowledged that it has this major part of the story that could potentially really hurt someone. So if rape and sexual assault is something that bothers you, I would really suggest skipping this one. There are so many books out there, please find one that isn’t going to harm you.
That being said, I do recommend this book. Yes, the writing wasn’t my favourite, but I found the story compelling and I really wanted to know what happened and how it was going to play out. The story felt original and interesting, and it played with some cool ideas. It’s not without problems, but it’s definitely worth giving a try.
Thank you again to the publishers and NetGalley for this opportunity.
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