Twenty Questions for Gloria by Martyn Bedford // A Different Psychological Thriller Than the Rest

Twenty Questions for Gloria, by Martyn Bedford
Publication: April 12, 2016, by Wendy Lamb
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Contemporary
Pages: 288
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Rating: ½

Gloria is tired of her ordinary life. An unadventurous teenager, she barely remembers the free-spirited child she used to be. So when a mysterious new boy strolls into school, bent on breaking all the rules, Gloria is ready to fall under his spell.
Uman is funny, confident, and smart. He does what he wants without a care for what anyone thinks. The only people for him, he says, are the mad ones, the ones who never say or do a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn.
He is everything Gloria wants to be. He can whisk her away and show her a more daring, more exciting life—one in which the only limits are the boundaries of her own boldness.
But Uman is not all he seems. And by the time she learns the truth about him, she’s a long way from home…and the whole country wants to know: Where’s Gloria?

My Thoughts:

Woof. It has been a real long time since I finished this one (way before BEA even), and I'm just writing this review now! This actually tells me how much of a review-procrastinator I am. But please, trust me, I am not like this in reality. In fact, I do call myself the most organized person I know. A little too arrogant, do you not agree? Anyway, I apologize for my babbling. No excuses, Michelle! *bangs head against a table* Twenty Questions for Gloria by Martyn Bedford is a psychological thriller/mystery/whatever you would like to call it that you absolutely need to keep. You need to keep loving it, reading it and devouring it because I promise you, it's so great.

I have heard some things about Bedford's writing, and it's been pretty positive for the most part. After receiving this pretty in the mail one day and adding it to my TBR, I realized that I do have another book of Martyn's on my list: Never Ending. Now that one looks good. Gloria's story is enriching with so many aspects that more mysteries need to take into consideration. Over here, Gloria's story is told from the perspective of her in the police station, getting interviewed by the detective. Her mother is there and Gloria is retelling the story. We get to hear her vivid thoughts and everything that's going on around her and what actually happened. Sure, we could read the news and just make assumptions on everything, but the real truth comes out when the victim speaks.

What I liked about this one was that Bedford took a different approach to your typical thriller slash mystery. This time around, we have a victim who actually wanted to go on this journey, set sail for a new life from her regular life in her small England town. She takes off with the new guy from her school, who she is immediately attracted to. No, this is not your instant-love woods story. This book is written for the people who were close to getting lost in their minds, trying to head on adventures. It's for people like Gloria, who just need a break from ordinary chaos and who just need to swim in their own thoughts. For me, I truly feel that when I am on vacation, or when reading a good book with no distractions around me. That's greatness.

I was immediately drawn to Uman, just like Gloria was, but in a freakish way where I suspected the worst from him. I did not like his background story, or his reason for anything. This just seemed completely unbelievable. I couldn't believe that story where the guy just shows up out of nowhere and picks her. Her is the girl who just tries to make it seem that she's nobody special, that she's ordinary. At the same time, I believe that every character/person has something special in them that makes them stand out, but it's just weird how the whole Uman thing came together.

This mostly was a non-romance story, but you could feel the lust. Anyway, I will not really comment on that factor, but it was interesting to read about, coming from the perspective of a teenage girl who had not really experienced much in the "taking risks" category, just like myself. Gloria was easy to relate to, and it seemed that I would have done much of the same that she did, but at the same time, she had her dumb moments. Her bad decision-making that just made me cry out loud, "WHY?" Like, why not call your parents? Why believe this guy? I would never have put my shoes in her situation first of all.

And when I look at this book from a bird's eye view, I see that it was pretty entertaining. Sure, boring moments occurred, but this is just a quick read that anyone could devour in a sitting or two. I finished it in two, and was extremely satisfied with the pacing and how everything turned out. 

Twenty Questions for Gloria was divided into twenty chapters (from what I remembered), and it took me on an emotional journey that is simply difficult to forget about. I just remember the instant attraction between Gloria and Ulam, as well as the tagline that just drew me in. I read this during one of my psychological-thriller-phases (which I get every now and then), and just really was happy with the turn-out. Of course, this is not the perfect read, but it gives every person, young or old, that whimsical view on the struggles of teenage-hood and dealing with maturity from a relatable line of sight. We certainly do not get that very often in literature these days.

*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review. Thank you so much!*

What are some good coming of age books that tie in with mystery? I sure do love my mystery!