Poor Little Dead Girls, by Lizzie Friend Review

Poor Little Dead Girls, by Lizzie Friend
Published On: November 29, 2013, by Merit Press
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Thriller/Mystery
Pages: 285
Format: Hardcover
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 

Perfect people aren't just born. They're made.
The first time she is blindfolded and kidnapped, star-athlete and posh boarding school newbie Sadie is terrified. She wakes up in a dark room surrounded by hushed whispers, hooded strangers, and a mysterious voice whispering not-so-sweet nothings in her ear. 
But once the robes come off, she realizes it’s just an elaborate prank designed to induct her into the group that’s been pulling the strings at Keating Hall for generations. The circle has it all--incredible connections; fabulous parties; and, of course, an in with the brother society’s gorgeous pledges. 
The instant popularity is enough to make Sadie forget about the unexplained marks on her body, the creepy ceremonial rituals, and the incident that befell one of her teammates the year before. So the next time Sadie is kidnapped, she isn’t scared, but she should be. The worst of Keating Hall is yet to come.

 
   For years and years, I’ve always been a fan of those hardcore mysteries that are so unexpected and absurd at the same time. Of course, when I was a little girl, Nancy Drew was my favourite series and sort of books for a long time. I guess now, as I’m reading more mystery books more often, my love for them never faded away. Plus, this was one of those Private-like stories that come upon in boarding schools where girls don’t really have a say to run to the police station or wherever.

Poor Little Dead Girls captivated me from the first strand—from the first time I laid my peculiar (just kidding) eyes on its cover. 

It’s very much like Pretty Little Liars mixed with Private, by Kate Brian.

For a short 285-paged novel, I felt like I was reading one of those absurd stories that you read on the news and where you feel afraid, even for your own life. You’ll end up looking out your window before you go to bed, staring and lurking for someone/something strange to your eyes, and you’ll be so afraid that you won’t be able to fall asleep. Okay, I’m overly exaggerating it a little too much. But you get the point.

Is kidnapping that frequent in boarding schools? Hah, because every time I seem to be reading a book about one of those preppy perfect blonde girls (stereotypically, to be honest) I find that one of them gets kidnapped and the whole story begins to revolve around that. This was Sadie’s case, in this story. 

Before I hand you my little summary, I just want to note that this is not a paranormal-related book whatsoever. I was dumb and naive, and I totally fell for the “scary scratches” stuff and imagined some blood flesh-eating monster who is after all of these “perfect chicks.” NOPE. This is your typical mystery, and there was nothing supernatural about the whole situation. Because really, who believes Goodreads and its saying of genres? *laughs*

Aw—poor little dead girls. The title fits this whole story. So of course, there’s the new girl—Sadie. She’s honestly everything you expect from some rich stereotypically preppy kid that we mostly find in a ton of books. She’s a trihard. (Funny thing is that it keeps spell-checking to thyroid–maybe there’s something else we don’t know about her?) She’s such a butt-licker to everyone around her. She’s annoying, bitchy, and naive. She’s really so stupid that she got kidnapped and wakes up in some dark room surrounded by whispers and strangers. Sure, things happen, but it happens again. This time, Sadie thinks that she’s too popular and confident to think that this is a trap or something bad’s bound to happen. Of course, when you “have it all,” you don’t worry about anything, right?

What probably took out more than 1 star from 5 stars for me was this bitchy protagonist we had named Sadie. First of all, not to be stereotypical or anything (which I find that I very am with this book), but most protagonists in boarding school mysteries are bitchy and gross. So why did I expect any better from her? 

She was dumb, she was wicked, and she was a witch.

“She woke up feeling as if she had barely slept, her head pounding like her skull was suddenly two sizes too small. She felt like she was emerging from a bad dream, or from one of those drunken nights on TV where all the actor has left is a bunch of blurry flashes with nothing to connect them.”

Phew, now that we got all of that handled… let’s talk about the story, and what really happened to these ugly characters.

I honestly can say that this was majorly predictable, for most of the time. I could totally see this all happening in some big-shot university or college where nothing rarely happens. This was like one of those strange mysteries happen that are so easy to solve, but no one will ever come near to, when the answer is right there. 

I started off with low expectations—much lower than what we’ve got over here. Without finding this at the library, I would’ve never heard of it, since there’s not a bunch of buzz and rave. I guess I now understand why—it is more of a meh, but quick read for people who decide to. No one’s necessarily noting that you need to read this book in order to continue living your fabulous life—but it’s there if you decide to read something quick to find out your thoughts. 

As I was reading, I was motionless and sat there with a straight-on poker face. There were NO feels or details, or depth. Don’t expect to sit there with rage, or happiness, or fear. There was nothing, nada, while reading. If this was a 400-paged book, I probably wouldn’t have gone on and read it all. 

The way the book ended was something special, to be honest. I never really saw it coming, and my prediction for the way it would hit me wasn’t even close. The secret spy society and dark setting it had in the background truly and surely was captivating, and I felt very urged to see what would happen next in the future of the characters’ lives.

What I wanted more of the most? DEATH AND SCARINESS. The author did a great job at the romance keeping—as it was barely there and it absolutely didn’t need to be, for once. No insta-love or love triangles were present, haha. Why not portray the mystery to another darker level? Add some psychopathic behaviour and there, we’ve got passion.

You may feel like I was ranting for more than half of the review, but the negativity that I’ve claimed to see was strong, but it didn’t effect my feeling too much. Overall, this book was not bad. It was okay, in that matter and it was just a simple but tiny bit darker than I expected, for a good thing. The protagonist sucked, but the story was not bad at all. I’d say give this a shot if you adored Private by Kate Brian, or PLL.