Source: ARC
Review: Dangerous Boy presents itself as a dark, suspenseful read that will send chills down readers’ spines. However, the closest it gets to its goal is giving the distinct impression that the author is striving to create a scary atmosphere. Spooky locations and creepy pranks pop up one after another, but in the end they feel contrived. I, a person scared by everything, was not particularly moved.
The novel overall felt like something the author had crafted. It opens with a somewhat standard cliffhanger prologue, then backpedals to the main story. Characters are introduced, necessary background information thrown in, and words used “creatively” (i.e. in contexts that almost make sense, but actually do not). Hubbard clearly has experience writing, notably Prada & Prejudice, but Dangerous Boy reads as if she has a concrete idea of how a book is supposed to work and then forces it to do so; neither the writing nor the story seem effortless and natural.
The plot, instead of transitioning smoothly, jumps around from location to location. Occasionally there is the impression the author means to achieve some type of dramatic effect by revealing some new information and then cutting to another scene, but the reading experience mostly feels stilted instead of exciting. The overarching plot does not compensate for these flaws. From the beginning a reader will see there are two possible outcomes to the book: the one the book heavily foreshadows, or a plot “twist” that is easy to guess.
The characters of Dangerous Boy are not particularly interesting. Harper is an “almost genius” with a high IQ who cannot think of a smart solution to a problem to save her life. Literally. Her attempts to figure out the mystery are absurd; she does not try the obvious and most effective courses of action. (This is also a book where the entire plot would have been avoided if anyone had done the smart thing and called the police—but of course that never happens in books.) Her boyfriend will not be overly attractive to readers, especially since there is no build-up to their romance and their relationship appears to be founded primarily on PDA. My ARC jacket suggests Logan is a bad boy, not just his twin brother, but the official summary seems to have correctly deleted that assertion; I was not impressed with any badass attitude from him.
Dangerous Boy simply is not the book for me. The writing style seems off, the plot is predictable, and the characters are difficult to connect with. Even though Harper does find herself in terribly dangerous situations, I was not very scared. The best takeaway from the book is the hidden sound relationship advice: “Guys screw up. A lot. You just have to figure out whether their heart is in the right place.” Apply this to girls, too, and a lot of relationship problems will be solved.