Dangerous Boys

by Abigail Haas

It all comes down to this.

Oliver, Ethan, and I.

Three teens venture into an abandoned lake house one night. Hours later, only two emerge from the burning wreckage.

Chloe drags one Reznick brother to safety, unconscious and bleeding.

The other is left to burn, dead in the fire. But which brother survives?

And is his death a tragic accident?

Desperate self-defense?

Or murder . . .?

Chloe is the only one with the answers. As the fire rages, and police and parents demand the truth, she struggles to piece the story together - a story of jealousy, twisted passion and the darkness that lurks behind even the most beautiful faces . . .

Praise for Dangerous Girls:

"The best teen thriller I've ever read." Wondrous Reads

"I haven't wanted to talk about a book this much since Gone Girl" goodreads.com

• ISBN10: 1471119173
• ISBN13: 9781471119170
• Publish Date: 14 August 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Childrens Books
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[girlinthepages]

I have to admit, I bought Dangerous Boys several years ago and had been waiting to read it for a time when I really wanted a treat, as I loved Dangerous Girls so much that I thought another thriller by the author would DEFINITELY deliver. And while Dangerous Girls will still hold a place in my heart as one of the greatest YA thrillers of all time, I was just so disappointed by Dangerous Boys. Perhaps it was the lack of the courtroom drama/unsolved crime element to the book, or perhaps I was comparing it too much to the author's other work, but Dangerous Boys really fell flat for me.

I saved Dangerous Boys for a rare day of PTO that I spent laying out by the pool, one of my all time favorite summer activities. I breezed through the first 100 pages or so somewhat impatiently, waiting for the book to really feel like it was picking up. However, I really never felt like the story started- I felt like I was continually stuck in the buildup phase with no payoff, despite the timeline of the novel jumping between past and present (a technique that I generally enjoy). I felt like I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and something really shocking to happen, but it all was just so predictable- who the "bad" brother was, who was falling under what manipulation, etc.

While Dangerous Boys no doubt had it's disturbing thriller elements, I found that what kept me turning the pages was the family dynamics rather than the mystery itself. Chloe's small town held a lot of families with dysfunctional relationships that pushed people to do things they normally wouldn't, or toughened their compassion out of a pure drive for survival. I was especially intrigued to read about the trials that Chloe went through trying to handle her mom's depression, having to defer school and navigate the role reversal in her family with her serving as the functioning adult in the household. I think Dangerous Boys is a quieter novel than Dangerous Girls in its disturbing elements, focusing more on how people are pushed to their limits through the day to day tasks and trials that they must face and resent, rather than one dramatic event that exposes people's true character. While I definitely appreciated this different take on a thriller than Dangerous Girls, it ultimately felt too slow, and my attention ended up wandering at several points during the reading process.

Overall: While there's no doubt that Abigail Haas is a fantastic writer, Dangerous Boys ended up being too quiet and slow for me after reading the whirlwind thriller that was Dangerous Girls.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[Bianca]

Our lives are made up of choices. Big ones, small ones, strung together by the thin air of good intentions; a line of dominos, ready to fall. Which shirt to wear on a cold winter’s morning, what crappy junk food to eat for lunch. It starts out so innocently, you don’t even notice: go to this party or that movie, listen to this song, or read that book, and then, somehow, you’ve chosen your college and career; your boyfriend or wife.

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

I went into Dangerous Boys expecting Gillian Flynn, but it didn't quite hit the mark. As someone who hasn't read Dangerous Girls, it went against every fibre of my being to read this book first, as I normally prefer to read authors' works in order of publication, if I plan on reading more than one book before starting. Therefore, I didn't have much to go with when I started this book, and I wasn't sure what I was going to get. But it certainly wasn't Gillian Flynn.

Dangerous Boys was a good book, don't get me wrong. I enjoyed it for the most part, but other parts just annoyed me and it was difficult to ignore them. Particularly the treatment of mental illness (and yes, I know that the character who treated a mentally ill person like crap wasn't meant to be an A* personality, but that's besides the point). It just made me sad, to be honest.

The mystery throughout the book was which brother had survived the fire, and I can't say that I wasn't curious, but I didn't particularly care. I didn't like Chloe's relationship with either of the brothers, and I fucking hate boring love triangles, so if they had both died at the house that would have been fine by me. But since one of them was alive, I was intrigued to find out which one it was, and I had my hopes set on one of them surviving in particular.

Chloe wasn't the most interesting main character. I felt awfully sorry for her because she had to put her life and hopes and dreams on hold to take care of her mother, and then terrible shit happens to her, and then Oliver comes in and starts emotionally manipulating her. Not cool. But personality-wise she wasn't all that interesting to read about for the most part. And she's not a Gillian Flynn-type female MC.

Sorry about the constant Gillian Flynn comparisons, but not really.

I was just expecting more of a mindfuck, and I'm hoping to get that from Dangerous Girls when I read it in the near future. I really hope it's better than this book, because I've heard amazing things and it would be a shame if it turned out to be average.

[Nessa Luna]

I have decided to do a thing called 'short reviews' in which I will write short reviews about books that I read, that I still haven't written a full review about it. Because it has been a while, or because I just haven't had the time since I've read the book. But I did want to share with you the way I felt about the book, so here it is - the first short review! 

To be honest, I didn't think this book was as amazing as Dangerous Girls was. With that book, the ending left me BAFFLED and made me want to know what was going to happen next, but I didn't really have that with Dangerous Boys.

The book was very exciting, I loved the story and the difference between this book and DG (while Dangerous Girls was about a group of teenagers partying their asses off on Aruba, Dangerous Boys was about a mundane town where everyone knows everyone), and I also really liked how they were also a bit the same okay I wasn't really a fan of how both stories were about someone cheating on someone else and people ending up dead because of that, but hey what can you do about it?.

The writing of this book was just as good as Dangerous Girls, and it made me want to read on and on and on and on. But it was also a bit of a letdown. I had been expecting the police interrogations and interviews that were in Dangerous Girls, but this story was more like a story. Divided into two parts, 'Then', and 'Now'. The Then was telling the story of Chloe and the brothers, and how they met - and the Now was after the fire had happened.

I did find it very nerve wracking at some points, and I really did want to find out what had really happened, but I have to say I wasn't that surprised when I found out the truth. But yeah, even though the ending didn't leave me as baffled as DG's ending, it did make me want to know what was going to happen now - it made me do the 'OH DAMN' thing though. Because OH DAMN.

In the end, I enjoyed Dangerous Boys a lot, but nothing will really top the way I felt after finishing Dangerous Girls. Nothing.

My opinion on this book in one gif: 

[Kelly]

3.5 Stars
I enjoyed it for the most part, but won't deny that I expected so much more after reading Dangerous Girls. The ending felt a little like TA DA. THE END.

[Leah]

Last year I read and absolutely loved Abigail Haas's debut thriller Dangerous Girls. It was unputdownable, completely gripping and the way the story switched from the present to the past was an awesome technique. So I was super excited to see Dangerous Boys up on Netgalley and I crossed my fingers that I would be accepted and I was so excited when it happened! It sounded just as great as Dangerous Girls and I couldn't wait to see if it lived up the Abigail's previous work.

If I had to use one word to sum up Dangerous Boys, it would be the f word. The long, drawn-out version, because I can barely believe what I just read. Even after reading Dangerous Girls and being aware of Abby's writing style, and technique I was still blown away by what I read. I was literally scared. Books generally don't scare me - the last time anything scared me I was a kid, and I watched Scream, but I took a good look around after I finished the final sentences of Dangerous Boys, just to be sure I was safe. It was bananas, let me tell you. More so, probably, than Dangerous Girls.

Love triangles are as old as the day is long, but the love triangle in Dangerous Boys felt fresh and different, mostly because the two brothers were like chalk and cheese. Ethan was super sweet, super kind, always wanting to make things better, and Oliver was dark and dangerous, offering Chloe something she's rarely experienced and giving her the chance to have some fun and excitement in her life when it's sorely lacking, since she didn't get to go off to college as she expected to. I was torn between the boys. I love a bad boy, but I thought Ethan clinched it for me, personally. The idea of a bad boy is nice, but the nice boys always win out.

Abigail Haas is one of the most talented writers around - she's proven that since she can write YA, Chick Lit and her thrillers. I mostly enjoy her thrillers best because I just love the rush of adrenalin as the plot unravels and secrets are revealed. I loved the back and forth action, from The End, to Before, to After. It's such a great writing method and I love how it ratchets up the pressure and it was so, so hard to put the novel down until the bitter end, which did not disappoint. Chloe literally shocked me. I had no idea that was how the novel was going to end and it was freaking insane. It was cray-cray. Seriously, you'll put the book down, as I did, and want to use the f word I would rather not type.

This review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read