Review: The Shattering by Karen Healey

Title: The Shattering

Author: Karen Healey

Genre: YA, mystery thriller, paranormal

Publication date: September 2011

Published by: Little, Brown and Company

Source: Own Hardcover

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Synopsis:

"If you want to find out who murdered your brother, follow me."

Keri, Janna, and Sione have one thing in common: Their older brothers are dead. Each death was ruled a suicide, but there were no notes, no warnings, and no explanations.

So they've worked out a theory: Their brothers were murdered - and weren't the only victims.

As the search for the serial killer goes on, mysterious forces are unearthed and suspicion is cast on the those the three trust most. When secrets shatter around them, can they save the next victim? Or will they become victims themselves?

This supernatural thriller from award-winning author Karen Healey (Guardian of the Dead) teems with suspense, loss, revenge, and magic.

My rating: ★★★★☆
The Shattering was a pretty good read, considering it was only ONE DOLLAR! I found a hardcover of it at the freaking dollar store, can you believe it? Anyway, it had a very interesting premise with the whole mystery of all these older brothers committing suicide, except maybe it was murder? What?! It was just super intriguing! And there was an unexpected supernatural twist which I very much enjoyed, even though the actual ‘why’ behind all the killings wasn’t all that surprising. I did, however, enjoy learning that I was right about the whole thing, a very rare thing for me seeing as how I like being totally and completely surprised. Everything was tied back to the tourist town with some pretty crazy magic and, well, it did not disappoint.

As for the characters, I liked most of them just fine, which is usually the case with standalone novels. I find that I never fully connect with the characters before the story is over. One character I was not the fan of, though, was Janna. They live in this tourist town and she is one of those girls who dates tourist after tourist, not taking any guy seriously. I felt SO bad for Sione; I honestly do not know what he saw in her. Speaking of Sione, I didn’t really care for the guy, sorry. He was kind of a pushover. Janna’s current crush, Takeshi, though, I liked him much more!

I do want to point out one thing, I was pretty much crying by the end when Keri was thinking about her brother. I kept thinking back to my own brothers, and I just cannot imagine what it must be like losing a sibling like that. It’s so awful! But what sent my tears over the edge (quite literally), was the fact that I was listening to music while reading this, and just when I got to that particular heart wrenching part, The Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance came on and I just couldn’t hold them back anymore (A little context for the video below: The singer and the guy with the glasses are siblings in real life so just keep that in mind when the tragedy strikes). That song (and its music video!)... the ending of this book... it made for quite a sobfest.


In the end, I really liked the story itself even though the characters were kind of meh. I actually didn’t really care for the triple POV. I did love the magical touch to it, the mystery and suspense of whether another boy would die before they found out what was going on and stop it. And then that plot twist at the end with all the murdered boys and Keri’s brother... whoa! I did not see it coming! It just made things that much more sad *cue tears* Overall, I really enjoyed The Shattering and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good mystery with a bit of magic laced in.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)