Well in depth, lots of details and action, ends on a cliffhanger to start the next book. A very good read.

NEED is an amazing sci-fi thriller that grabs onto you from the first page and doesn't let go. Essentially, NEED is a startup website that gives you anything you 'need' in exchange for a small price. But the price of your NEED is increasing drastically, and the book reveals an intricate web of betrayals and blood that NEED leaves behind in their small town. NEED approaches the idea of what we think qualifies as a need, the way we think, and just how far we'll go to get what we want.

Set in a world where Slasher films really did happen, Lynnette is a member of what's known as the "The Final Girls Club." The club is made up of women who meet a very specific criteria - they all were the only survivors of two massacres, and they all killed the person responsible. They meet once a month to support each other and work towards moving on with their lives - until one day one of the members doesn't show up on time. Her monster has come back to kill her. Now, Lynnette is on a race to not only keep herself alive, but to keep the members of her club alive as well. This probably would have worked pretty well as a movie, honestly, but as a book it didn't quite work for me. First, Lynnette as a narrator was awful. She's unreliable from the start, so I found myself utterly distracted the entire book because I was always trying to figure out if I should believe what was happening. I know a lot of books use the unreliable narrator trope now, but it was a difficult sell in this book. I would have much preferred if a different narrator (Heather?) was responsible for telling us what was going on. Or if Lynette's character was tweaked a little. Second, the plot twists were not really plot twists. It was really easy to figure out who was going to be responsible for the killings happening, so that was disappointing. The twists didn't leave me going "oh wow!" so much as "ugh, finally, we got there." My third issue is that it seems like Grad Hendrix either didn't keep track of everything, didn't want to explain everything, or thought that no one would pay attention. For example, at one point a character is mentioned to have a cell phone that they are going to use to keep track of Amber Alerts and to check in with every five hours. Three sentences later, they say that they're going to keep the phone turned off and only have it on for the check in times. How...how are you checking for Amber Alerts? Why did you make a big deal about checking for Amber Alerts, only to then say you're turning the phone off and not getting them anyway? In another scene, Lynnette is dictating a message for someone to send. She claims that it was a difficult process, and that she had to spell out a lot of the words. The example given is using "p as in Paul which is fascinating, because the only words with "p" in her message are purchased, photos, people, and peace. Am I really supposed to believe that someone couldn't spell one of those words without help? Really? I could go on and on, but honestly? I had high hopes for this book. The summary sounded great, and I was really excited to read it. I'm glad I didn't spend money on it. The writing is just not good.

I usually love a good historical fiction read, but this one never caught my attention like others I have read. Took a while to get into this book. It was hard to follow for me. I liked that the theme was very relevant to the times we are living in.

Honestly, I just found this really boring? There was nothing novel about the storyline or the characters, and I didn't care about what happened at all. Set in a small neighborhood were everyone knows each other, the story takes place 14 months after Ruby Fletcher, a girl who rented a room in one of the houses, was convicted of killing two neighbors. With her conviction overturned, Ruby reappears in town determined to get revenge on everyone who turned against her. Everyone in town, in turn, is determined to completely ignore her until she leaves. Maybe it was because the victims were dead before the novel started, and were clearly disliked by everyone in the community anyway? There was no real reason to feel anything - and that goes for all of the characters. The narrator is really unreliable and wishy-washy, and her building the case of what happened at the end was illogical and would never hold up any weight in court. The rest of the neighborhood also seems like it's filled with jerks. It was just a very lackluster read, unfortunately.

Really great read for people who like a little romance and friendship.

I rate this 5 stars - it was a funny book because Hilo came crashing down to earth in his gray silver underpants. He never wanted to take them off which made me laugh.

Although I read to the end, I disliked this book very much, and I'm surprised it has so many great reviews. The writing is stiff and cliched and the characters are the same. The narrator Anna is a missing persons detective with a troubled past that’s revealed bit by bit through flashbacks as she works on multiple cases in an "unofficial" capacity while on leave from her job. It's clear that we're expected to see Anna as compelling and sympathetic, but I found her to be unlikable and her backstory was so dragged out that it became boring. The plot jumps from one case to another without a coherent connection and there are so many characters and events jammed into the past and present scenes that it's easy to lose track of things. I was also put off by the way the author weaves the real life case of Polly Klaas into the story - this feels sensationalistic and inappropriate, and it does nothing to make the fictional part of the story seem more real.

Fanon's book has been called the definitive work on decolonization. He had the unique experience of growing up in Martinique, serving in France during WW2, then joining Algeria in its struggle for independence. Fanon writes with great power on the psychology and the politics surrounding decolonization.

Great book if you are interested in historical fiction in the World War II era. I felt very connected to the characters throughout the stories and felt like I was walking in their shoes. I liked the parallel between the present day and past. Quick read!