Truly, Madly, Deadly

by Hannah Schwartz

Every relationship has its secrets and Sawyer's dies alongside her perfect boyfriend. They said it was an accident… it wasn't. An exhilarating thriller, Truly, Madly, Deadly will leave readers chilled to the core.
Sawyer Dodd had it all: perfect grades, star position on the team, and the perfect boyfriend. But when Kevin dies suddenly in a car accident, Sawyer is stunned. Until she opens her locker and finds the note:
You're welcome.
Someone saw what he did to her. Someone knew that Sawyer and Kevin weren't a perfect couple. And that someone will do anything to protect Sawyer.

• ISBN10: 1402281218
• ISBN13: 9781402281211
• Publish Date: 2 August 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Sourcebooks Fire
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber]

Continuing on with my Crap Book Friday trend (I should probably think up some sort of witty name for this but effort), today I’m reviewing Truly, Madly, Deadly, which turned out to be a truly crappy thriller. There are various reasons for this, but I’m going to keep it brief because I do not have the energy to go into a full blown rant, especially as I don’t think this book deserves that much attention.


First of all, I called the “twist” within the first couple of chapters. It was pretty obvious what was going on, and I’m not sure if the author even tried to keep it subtle, or if she wanted her readers to feel smart by figuring out who the stalker/killer was early on. Maybe it was meant to be a huge shocker at the end. #youtried

The main character, Sawyer, had an abusive boyfriend. That’s the guy that died. This in itself wasn’t an issue, but I felt like Sawyer didn’t really process things properly after his death. The abuse didn’t seem to affect her at all, which annoyed me. I think if you’re including abusive relationships in books, you need to address it properly and really flesh the abused character out. It felt really cheap here.

And then Sawyer went and got a new love interest, and seemed to completely disregard the fact that her abusive ex was a thing. The instalove here was terrible, and I was rolling my eyes from the start.

So I didn’t get all that invested in this book, and I definitely didn’t have fun trying to figure out the mystery or the twist, because the entire thing was so damn obvious from the beginning. And I didn’t really care about the characters. Truly, Madly, Deadly had the potential to be a fun teen slasher book, but unfortunately it turned out to be terrible. Don’t bother trying to read it.

[Leah]

As soon as I saw the pitch-black cover of Truly, Madly, Deadly I knew I wanted to read it, even before seeing the synopsis. I loved the spookiness of the cover, loved the title and as soon as I read the synopsis I was hooked and I was desperate to read it, so I was chuffed to be accepted to read it on Netgalley and I dived in right away, excited to get myself lost in a thriller novel, because it’s been a while and I adore a good thriller! Let me tell you, this novel did not disappoint and I raced through it in two nights flat, that’s how utterly captivated I was by the novel, how on edge it kept me.

When Sawyer Dodd’s boyfriend Kevin dies, she’s devastated, but a bit of her feels free; after everything he did to her, it’s something of a relief to know he’ll never be able to hurt her again. But when she receives a note which says “You’re welcome,” her life is thrown into disarray when it seems to be that Kevin’s death was no drink-driving accident and when people start dying, people Sawyer know, and the police begin to suspect Sawyer herself, she finds herself in a race against time to find out who’s really behind all of these murders, before she finds herself to be the next victim. Now I thought the plot of the novel was stunning. The tension is there in the novel as soon as Sawyer receives that first note and it doesn’t let up at all, as Sawyer feels her life slowly slipping away from her as her stalker takes control.

I actually was massively surprised by who it was, I had my suspicions about who I thought it might be (and who I hoped it really, really wasn’t) but it surprised me because I only figured it out pretty much when Sawyer did, and it was unexpected. I just thought the entire novel was so well done. I really liked Sawyer as a character, and I felt sad for her that her life had changed so dramatically, not only with Kevin’s death but with her mom and dad splitting and her dad shacking up with someone else and getting her pregnant, and them moving to a housing estate with no other tenants, that’s rough stuff! I liked Sawyer’s friends, Chloe, Cooper, but mostly I really liked Logan. I was sooooo rooting for Logan and Sawyer, I just thought he was so sweet!

I really enjoyed Truly Madly Deadly, it’s a brilliant ride, full of twists and turns and it’ll keep you on the edge of your seat; in hindsight I think it was a bit of a mistake to read it at nighttime – I’m generally not one to be terrified by books or horror movies, but this one did get my heart racing and my pulse going. It’s a thriller of the highest degree and Jayne’s a very skilled writer! I can’t wait for her next novel, because this one was amazing and one I definitely recommend if you’re a fan of Young/New Adult novels and if, in particular, you like a bit of a thriller novel because this one will get your heart racing, let me tell you!