The Murder Complex (Murder Complex, #1)

by Lindsay Cummings

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller-set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate-by Lindsay Cummings, co-author (with Sasha Alsberg) of the New York Times #1 Bestseller Zenith. "Legend meets La Femme Nikita in this dark and dangerous bloody thriller. The nonstop action of The Murder Complex kept us guessing at every twist and turn. It's a must for fans of action-packed dystopians like The Hunger Games and Divergent."-Justine Magazine Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision. The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is-although he doesn't know it-one of the MC's programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family? Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

• ISBN10: 0062220012
• ISBN13: 9780062220011
• Publish Date: 2 July 2015 (first published 10 June 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 5 April 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Greenwillow Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[inlibrisveritas]

The Murder Complex was a fun, action-packed dystopian thrill ride, and even though it didn’t feel ‘new’ I really enjoyed the story overall.

The Murder Complex puts us in a rather interesting setting. The world is broken and has a shambled dystopian city, but Cummings actually portrayed the society in a different way. It’s a nearly post apocalyptic setting where a good portion of the people have died out due to a disease. The remaining people live in a poor shadow of what it used to be with strict rules from the government and the fear of dangerous criminals that rules the streets at night. The overall story was fairly good too, with enough intrigue to keep me interesting and a great bit og action to keep the blood pumping.

Meadow Woodson is a bit of a mechanical main character thanks to her father’s harsh training and the things she’s forced to do survive in the Shallows.While I understood her ‘do what you must’ attitude and I love that she isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, but I didn’t have much to connect with. She spends most of the book in a constant state of ‘me vs them’ and she looses her temper a lot, but other than anger I didn’t really see much from her unfortunately. That being said she does kick a lot of ass. Zephyr on the other hand had a bit more depth. He had a lot going on and uncovering everything about him is part of the reason I was so hooked.

My biggest issue was the romance though. Honestly the book would have went over better for me without the romance between Meadow and Zephyr, it felt a bit forced to me. They had a few instances of cute interaction but it wasn’t enough for me to be fully convinced to invest my time in shipping them.

Overall I enjoyed The Murder Complex, which had an interesting story with a new setting. While I didn’t connect with Meadow and I really curious to see what happens in the next book, especially with the ending we’re given in this one.

[boghunden]

This. This was good. A lot of death, blood and violence.

[celinenyx]

The Murder Complex is a novel in the tradition of Divergent, which combines a bleak dystopian setting with constant action and fighting.

Meadow has been taught to fight, to kill, and to survive. Life is gruesome in the Shallows, and people will do everything for a few credits. The Initiative keeps everyone in line, but doesn't put a stop to the hundreds of murders that happen every night. Meadow meets Zephyr, a Ward, a nobody, that somehow is important to the Initiative.

There are two reactions to The Murder Complex: either people really like it, or they hate it. Of course, this is a generalisation, but I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most people that don't enjoy it are disappointed with the fact that The Murder Complex is a standard dystopian. And I don't mean this in a bad way - it's fast-paced, thrilling, enthralling and interesting. But it doesn't innovate the genre, or change its boundaries, like some other dystopian books have done. If you're tired of dystopian, this won't be the book to get you out of the slump.

The Murder Complex is one of the most violent dystopian YA books I've read so far. The Hunger Games was pretty gruesome, but most books that followed it became tamer. Books like Matched or Delirium barely have any violence at all. The Murder Complex goes back to its roots, and doesn't hide the fact that both main characters can kill without second thought. There is a lot of blood and plenty of dead bodies.

I liked that the main characters Meadow and Zephyr are slightly... broken. They don't always act rationally, and that's exactly how I think someone would cope in a world like the one they live in. They have a single-mindedness, a tunnel-vision, that helps them survive. For Meadow it's protecting her family, for Zephyr it's staying alive for his best friend Talan.

There is no denying that Zephyr and Meadow have some kind of odd instalove. It didn't bother me much to be honest. In the world they live in there is no time to go on dates. You can't go to the movies or cuddle on the couch. It's kill or be killed - and if you can find love, you grab it with both hands and won't let go. Some of the prose accompanied by the instalove made me cringe a bit, but the idea behind it I don't mind.

In regards to the world-building, I think the author opted for fast pace over information. There is enough world-building in the background to make it interesting and to make it believable, but it's nothing like the detailed and thought-out world that a writer like Mira Grant creates in all her books. There was enough world-building to satisfy me - but it might not be enough for other readers.

Compared to many of the other popular dystopians out there, I think The Murder Complex keeps its own. It makes more sense than Matched, handles romance better than Wither, and is more fast paced than Delirium. All I can hope for is that Ms Cummings doesn't pull an Allegiant* in the rest of the series.


* Pulling an Allegiant: introducing distracting side plots in the final book that have nothing to do with the rest of the series. Also known as "bitten off more than (s)he can chew" world-building wise

[bookishzelda]

Wow so The Murder Complex is unique for many reasons but I think the most is because of the main character Meadow. She is willing to do anything for her family, even kill. I mean literally. I feel like normally you would have an mc that would say something like that but be too kind at heart to follow through. Not Medow, she lives in a world that won’t allow you to be soft and she is far from sheltered. She can be cold as much as she can be warm. She is such a kick butt heroine. She is strong and not afraid to die. Not really, her only fear in that respect is who would take care of her family. She is pretty selfless and I love how she dotes on her little sister.

Zephyr is also a pretty cool character. I love how sweet and adoring he can be but on the flip side. Well, he has a darker side than most.

The fact that both MC’s have killed people takes away a certain amount of innocence that makes this story different. It’s something that can be huge to a personality. There is so much to these characters. They are survivors to the fullest extent of the word.

The world created in The Murder Complex is dark. There is something called the Dark Time when most of the murders happen. Plus just the way that you have to get a job and obtain rations is crazy. I think this is probably one of the worst dystopian worlds I have ever read, not in bad writing as in wow I would not want to live there. I thought that Lindsay did an awesome job of creating not only the visual in my head but the feeling of what it’s like to live there. Scary is all I can say over and over again.

This book is really good and I’m having a hard time finding a way to describe it without giving too much away. I loved the mystery part of it and honestly sometimes I would think I had something figured out, I would be wrong. There are lots of things that surprised me. When I first started reading the book was interesting but a little slower, once Meadow and Zephyr meet for real things get crazy. I couldn’t put it down and had to know what they were going to uncover next.

The romance is light but good. I enjoyed it. Nobody is flimsily throwing the l word around like it has no meaning. There are intense things that happen to Meadow and Zephyr but they still have a strange pull towards one another.

Cliffhanger? Yes. Appropriate? Absolutely. I couldn’t picture this book ending other way. If people mounted white horses and rode off into the sunset that would be totally wrong for this book.

If you are looking for something a little darker that involves some serious mystery uncovering look no further. I highly recommend picking up The Murder Complex, I really enjoyed it.

[kimbacaffeinate]

The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings is the first in the dystopian Murder Complex trilogy. Cummings blended science fiction and mystery into this futuristic Floridian thriller. This in Lindsay Cummings debut novel and I quickly devoured it.

The world building unfolds slowly as we take in dual perspectives provided by Meadow Woodson and Zephyr James, a ward. They live in a tightly controlled world where everything is a fight for survival from food rations to jobs. The most intriguing aspect of this world is that the murder rate is higher than the birth rate. It is a dark, oppressive world with rules enacted by the initiative that they must obey. Speaking during the silent hours or harboring pre-fall memorabilia will get you killed on the spot.

Trained by her father to kill, fight and survive any situation, Meadow is fearless yet retains a compassionate side. She lives with her brother, little sister and father on a houseboat off the shores of Florida. Wise beyond her years, she fights for her family and her unwavering love for her little sister Peri.

Zephyr James is a ward. He lost his parents and lives in what used to be the everglades. Zephyr has no idea he is one of the Murder Complex’s trained assassins. A chance encounter with Meadow changes everything for both of them. He is complex, and dreams of a girl he thinks could save him. He despairs over the blood on his hands and seeks forgiveness. He struggles between who he wants to be and who he thinks he is. He often himself unworthy. Despite that, there is a childlike purity to him.

The Murder Complex was a compelling read, as we moved back and forth between the perspectives of Zephyr and Meadow. The tale moves rather quickly since we are not weighed down with a lot of world building in the beginning. The tale is dark and gritty at times. It is a violent, desperate world where only the strongest survive. With each detail, I became more immersed in the world. Murder Complex shared a simplistic yet complex world, and I found its components, rules and solutions to be both horrifying and fascinating. Meadow and Zephyr roles in this trilogy and their relationship intrigued me. There is a little romance, but it is secondary to the dark thriller. The sci-fi elements woven into the tale felt Fringe like and Cummings gave it believability. Of course, we ended on a cliffy after a huge climax that revealed and answered so many questions. Gads, now we wait for the next installment. There is a prequel, The Fear Trials, which was published May 27, 2014. It shares Meadows training with her father.

Copy received from publisher in exchange for unbiased review that originally published @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[limabean74]

Have you ever had a book hangover so bad you can’t even form a simple thought without thinking about the book. I have been trying so hard to recover from The Murder Complex. Now I sit to write a review and I can’t find the right words to tell you how amazing this book was and how I have never read a book like this and I actually want you to read it because I think you should or need to, it’s a must. So now I will take a deep breath and try my best but I will warn you my words will do this book no justice it’s that friggin good…

The format of this book switches from Meadow to Zephyr our main characters. I actually loved this format, It was interesting to see the situation laid out with both characters each telling the story in each other’s point of view but the story moved forward it doesn’t play out the situation in both point of view (if that makes sense) I honestly adored both characters and seeing both of there lives in this world that no one dies, no one is allowed to leave and if you go out at night you could be killed. If you are killed it’s like no one really cares (maybe just your family) they leave you on the street and people clean you up like garbage and then business as usual. The world she builds actually prevented me from wanting to walk my dog at night. When I put the book down it took me a few minutes to get out of her world. You get such a strong sense of your surroundings and how scary this world is to live in.

The characters, I still think about them. Meadow, she is strong, passionate and will do anything for her family (no matter how I felt about them myself she cared about them), I loved her and I love how kick ass she was. Zephyr was kind of wimpy I thought, however he does have some ass kicking in him but it takes some time before it comes out. My heart breaks for him, like I wanted to hug him and tell him it’s ok but he also might scare me a little but Meadow scares me more. I understand the need for hard love but Meadow’s Father and Brother were hostile I thought and I know they did it out of love but something about what they did rubbed me the wrong way, I really felt for both Meadow and Peri (her little sister) they have such a love for each other and I know the entire family cared but with all the harshness in the world you would have hoped there would be at least a little family love but it goes very well with the story and totally works.

The Story, I just don’t even know what to say I don’t want to give anything away, I spend most of my time just saying Oh my god…Oh my god….WHAT!!!! The story flows has a fast pace and I never felt like I just wanted to get through the book, I absorbed every word and took in all the emotions coming off the pages. I some points I may have yelled out loud and actually had to put the book down to talk to myself about what was happening. The end leaves so much in your head. I loved all the twists and turns and I enjoyed learning the secrets about Meadow and the world. I was completely blown away and turned every page holding my breath waiting to see what happened next.

I gave The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings 5/5 stars and would have given it more stars if the rating system allowed. I adored the characters, loved the world in a scary kind of post-apocalyptic kind of way (if you can love a post apocalyptic world love this one) and a need for more. I 100% recommend this book. I honestly hope this review made a little bit of sense lol I just LOVED this book!

- See more at: http://www.becausereading.com/review-murder-complex-lindsey-cummings-review/#sthash.bqrpTtB6.dpuf

[KitsuneBae]

Actual rating: 1.5 stars

This review also appeared on: Thoughts and Pens.

Don't be fooled by this book. Everything about it is horrible, from the characters to the romance to the world building and to the plot. I just want to sit down and skitz on top of it.

Characters- Indecisive heroine, pansy hero
Romance- Icky Instalove
World building- If you love living on a cemetery then this is the book for you.
Plot- Plenty of hide and seek, holes and lacked any cohesion to make any sense.

Beware the hype, readers!

FULL REVIEW TO COME CLOSER ON THE RELEASE DATE!