"The problem though, was that someone had seen. Someone knew what they'd done that night, and so much more. And someone was going to make them pay."
I started this book a few days before my school exams started... That was a total mistake! I had to unfortunately put this book down, because my brain needed to focus on my studies. For a few weeks, The Perfectionists sat unread in my cupboard. After my exams ended, I was excited to get back to reading and this book was definitely the perfect choice for my "exams are over mood."
I was in the mood for reading a mystery and this book certainly delivered! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough in order to figure out who the killer was. Which is why the ending made me mad...
But let's talk more about the story itself...
This book is told through the POV's of five people. yes, FIVE people. These people have their own personalities, their own relationships and their own secrets. At first, the POV's were extremely confusing. Trying to figure out who was Caitlin, Ava, Julie, Mackenzie and Parker was extremely difficult. Once I got a grasp of who's who and what's going on in their lives, the book became a solid read. Each characters personality was able to shine through and that is extremely applaudable for an author who wrote FIVE POV's. My favourite POV's were Julie and Parker. There's something about them that seems a tad bit out of the ordinary (and I can't wait to find out what it is!).
This book is all about secrets and perfection. I loved the idea that Shepard brought through. One might have a perfect life, but that doesn't mean that one has a perfect character or perfect morals. It just means that one might be really good at hiding their dirty little secrets. I love when characters in a novel are human and flawed. I felt as though Shepard was able to make her five main characters realistic and utterly flawed. The characters in The Perfectionists were human. They made mistakes, their actions had consequences (well kind of) and their lives didn't really turn out the way they wanted to in the end i.e. nothing ended "happily ever after". (But who knows what will happen in the second book?)
Unfortunately, I couldn't help but compare this series to Shepard's other popular series, Pretty Little Liars. I read the first Pretty Little Liars book (which I don't remember much of) and I'm an avid fan of the TV series. Firstly, there are five characters in this novels and their personalities somewhat resemble the personalities of The Pretty Little Liars characters. Secondly, there's a popular unlikable character who dies. There are a bunch of other similarities between these two series.
The way The Perfectionists ended made me mad! I can't really talk about it, because I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I'm going to try as best as I can to get my feelings across. The mysteries get solved and then... BAM! The solving of the mystery wasn't what the main characters thought it would be... It was a clever cliffhanger ending, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. This book solved absolutely NOTHING, ZILTCH, NADA. As the reader, we get told a story that we expect to figure out more about and we are being fed a few clues, but and the end of it all, all the clues were for nothing and none of my questions were answered
This book has it all, mystery, murder, suspense, secrets, high school issues (their high school is a serious nightmare) and utterly flawed characters. Unfortunately, the ending, killed me! (pun intended) It made me terribly mad to realise that none of my questions were answered and the murderer is still loose.
I need to get my hands on the second book, The Good Girls, ASAP...