Complicit

After the accidental shooting (or maybe it was murder) of their troubled mother, Jamie and Cate Henry are adopted by a kind and affluent family who are still reeling from the death of their two biological children in a car accident. Jamie suffers from stress-related problems that cause loss of feeling in his hands and occasional bouts of memory loss. But Cate, once a good girl, started to do very bad things: she lies, she plays mind games with the other girls, but she always seemed to get away with every terrible thing until the night she burnt down the neighbour’s barn. Everyone in town including Jamie and their adoptive parents heaved a sigh when a judge sentenced Cate to a period of incarceration in a juvenile detention centre.

But show more now Cate is out and she has wasted no time letting Jamie know she is coming back for him.

Complicit. the YA psychological thriller by author Stephanie Kuehn is one heck of a crazy ride. Told by Jamie in the first voice, he makes for a very sympathetic narrator while there are hints that he may not always be a reliable one- there are those lapses in memory and the sometimes feelings that he is either hiding clues or doesn’t know the truth or maybe he’s forgotten some important elements. We want to believe Jamie because we like him but there’s just something in what he is saying that doesn’t feel right.

And then there’s Cate’s hints that she has some bitter truths to tell him, secrets she has been keeping that have to do with their past. All of this is bound to mess with the reader’s mind as much as Cate’s mind games did with her friends. Complicit is one twisted and twisting tale and it’s nigh unputdownable. show less

4.5 Stars... really addicting

Jamie has just found out that his older sister has been released from juvie... and now he can't feel his hands. 2 years ago, Cate went away for starting a fire, but now she's out and apparently she wants Jamie to know some things. Like what really happened when their real mother died... and other things that Jamie can't remember.

Jamie and Cate were adopted by a couple after their mom was shot and killed. Cate was outgoing and fun, Jamie had tons of problems. Through the years with therapy, he's been able to get most of his anxiety under control, until Cate returns. Now he's freaking out worse than ever, and he's starting to realize that the only way out is to find out the truth of their past.


My Thoughts:
This show more is a seriously thrilling, addicting, messed-up, and unsatisfying kind of book. I really enjoyed reading it, and I had to keep reading it until I finished. I have a thing for books that feature teenage boys as the main character. I relate so much better to guys than I do girls most of the time. I'm weird like that. But this main character was written so incredibly well that I felt like I knew him inside and out. Every feeling in this book came across as so genuine.

Jamie is out-of-control scared of his sister, but he also desperately needs information from her, and this basically is what drives the book. He also has a thing about fate and wants to believe it's real, which kind of stems from the circumstances surrounding his mother's death and how his adoptive parents came to want to adopt the 2 siblings. I especially liked all the mystery that the sister brought to the book. Cate was this cryptic enigma of a girl and normally I think that sort of thing would get on my nerves, but in this book it totally worked. The writing is amazing! I've never read a book by this author before, but I love the way she wrote this. The way she describes things, the like, philosophy that goes through the main character's head... it was really brilliant. I wish I could write like that.

The only thing that holds me back from screaming from the rooftops for everyone to read this book is that I had a feeling from the very beginning what was going to be the end result. And I was right. I didn't want to be right. After the "big reveal" happened, I kept waiting for there to be another major twist to tell me I was wrong and that never happened. Also there is no conclusion in this ending. It felt very unsatisfying... creepy, but unsatisfying. And I have a love/hate thing with endings like that. I'll probably like the way this ended a lot better in a few weeks. It's too fresh now and I feel like I need to know MORE!

OVERALL: A book about a boy with psychological problems and his need to find out more about his past in order to overcome them. It's got the whole psychological mystery thing going... and it's a total mindfuck. I recommend this for anyone who is in the mood for spectacular, addictive writing. I just personally wish the ending was more concrete.

My Blog:
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*No spoilers.

This is going to be one of those annoyingly cryptic reviews, because I don't want to give away the "explosive conclusion." *snort

Oh, brother.

I see what you were trying to do there, book. Unfortunately, no dice. What you were trying to do has been done many times before and way better. The entire time I was reading this book, it tried to convince me that it was a mindfuck, but you can't fuck my mind, if my mind isn't fucked. Or something.

I just wasn't buying anything this book was selling.

It had this desperate need to make me feel things that I wasn't feeling. Having a MC iterate how dreadful and/or ominous some things are doesn't actually make those things dreadful or ominous. Feelings of dread need to come from careful show more manipulation via the writing with twists or surprises. Or from the setting. And from other things. The point is that you can't just tell a reader to feel something and expect them to feel it. You need to build up the suspense by making them question everything. You need to convince them and I was thoroughly unconvinced throughout.

What's worse, I guessed a lot of ending right off the bat. So I spent pretty much the whole time waiting for a major disappointment. Granted, I'm extremely intelligent , so that needs to be taken into account, but still. This isn't written well enough to have made the ending as explosive as it claims to be.

The fact that I finished is pretty amazing, because I wanted to drop it numerous times. I pushed through, because I did want to know if I was correct in my predictions. I was, for the most part, but there was a slight twist at the end that I will concede was a nice touch. Unfortunately, by then, I just didn't give a fuck.

I didn't connect with any of the characters, most notably the boring and lifeless MC. I wasn't buying the story, either. I did more eye-rolling than anything else. I was simply exasperated by the end and counting the seconds until it was over. It's frustrating, because there was so much potential in this story, but I just wasn't sold.

I almost feel sorry for this book, because I read it in the wake of mindfuck experts Tana French and Abigail Haas. In that company, this book never stood a chance.

In conclusion, you should definitely read [a:Tana French|138825|Tana French|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1277505771p2/138825.jpg] and [a:Abigail Haas|6551240|Abigail Haas|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1377257031p2/6551240.jpg]. Like, now.





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"Complicit" had enough twists and turns to do anyone's head in. However, I found it only an average read - there are certainly better psychological thrillers dealing with mental illness out there. From the start, I didn't like or trust Jamie. I found his timidness and general behaviour annoying. Now, Cate, his older sister, on the other hand was a far more interesting character and I would have liked to have known her better. I thought the ending was great - it certainly brought the story to an unexpected climax, but the rest was the novel was just okay.

I want to lose myself in this moment.
I want to forget
the empty ache where my mother should be,
my sisters' madness,
my own rotten feelings of guilt,
my complicity.
I want to forget it all.
But even in this most perfect moment of perfect moments,
I can't.

I think so many reviews saying how mind blowing this book was might have jaded me a little. I'd really come up with some crazy elaborate conspiracy theories and was totally ready for a psychological masterpiece. It's not that it's not shocking, at least some of the key end elements, but that it wasn't nearly as drawn out and crazy as I'd thought. And somehow that was a let down

So don't go into this with any notions. Just read it for the story it is. And you should love it :)

Rated 3.5 stars.

This was on my to-read shelf at the library. I didn't realize that it was YA when I borrowed it. The book is nicely written. The characters are interesting, especially the main character and his sister. I wish there were more with the adoptive parents, they seem very one-dimensional and really have an odd way of raising these kids. They seem to care, but there's no warmth to their relationships with the kids.

Because it's geared to teens, I kind of solved the mystery aspect at the start. And I knew what was behind the main character's issues with his hands. But teens will probably be surprised. Crazy ending. I don't recommend this for younger teens, probably best for ages 16 .

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: An almost psychological thriller type read about two siblings who are so much more than they first appear to be.

Opening Sentence: My phone is ringing.

The Review:

My first impression of Complicit was that it wasn’t as good as the other books about mental issues I’ve read of late. This is probably unfair given that I have read some pretty awesome books such as Bone Gap and Alice and the Fly, so it’s unfortunate for Complicit that the bar had already been set so high. Nonetheless, I think a book about mental issues, especially when told in the first person, needs to be fantastic. Since it is an incredibly difficult topic, only the best should attempt it.

At the beginning, it seemed show more like the author was trying too hard to portray Jamie’s mental problems, making them come across unreal. His general timidity and shyness bordered on irritating, especially because he had this passive attitude to life where he tried to keep everyone happy by lying.

“Hear what, Mom?” I ask. I call Angie Mom because that’s what she likes and because it’s so rarely the thought that counts. That’s dishonest on my part, I know, but if I had to pick one quality to define me, it’s this-I can’t stand to hurt other people’s feelings. Not saying what I mean is sometimes the best way I know how to be kind.

However, as the story continued I realised there’s a lot more going on with Jamie than meets the eye. In fact, it became more of a psychological thriller than someone who has a conversion disorder. The chapters became more thrilling, creepier and confusing.

I try smiling back but it’s weird. Sometimes the things Jenny says are so nice they can make me feel sad. Like right now. It’s my own personal paradox I guess-either my brain doesn’t know how to be happy or my heart doesn’t know how to let me.

Cate’s character was excellently developed. I would have liked to see more of her in the book, rather than hearing of her from others, most of which was untrue or partially true, which is usually worse. What I loved most about this book is that no one is who they seem, the suspense and secrets brought the story to life.

Another character I wished we learned more of was Angie because I didn’t quite understand her role in it all. Angie’s own twins died hence why she adopted Jamie and Cate, and although Cate mentioned Angie getting very upset when she spoke of her real mother and hiding her mother’s pictures and memories, I didn’t see Angie making a huge effort in Jamie’s life anyway. Plus, she kind of left Cate to rot in prison, which doesn’t indicate her motherly love…Was she suffering from denial because of the loss of her own children?

This was one of those books that deliberately confused the reader. In some ways that’s good, because it gave the feel of a complete mess, which is what Jamie’s mind is, but on the other hand there were times when it felt a little too forced and unbelievable. The story was really good but as aforesaid it didn’t live up to the high expectations that the recent books on mental illnesses have set.

P.S. The ending was pretty cool (no spoilers)!

Notable Scene:

Oh, oh, oh. I lost it them. I couldn’t help it. I put my head against my knees, curled up like a pill bug, and wept. For this sorrowful scrap of fate I’d been born into. For my mom whom I’d barely known, but who might’ve died in some horrible way I no longer understood.

But most of all, for my sister who was doing God knows what and heading down a similar path of self-destruction.

FTC Advisory: St. Martin’s Griffin/Macmillan provided me with a copy of Complicit. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less