Saturday, July 25, 2009

Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon

I read about Dismantled on someone's blog, and as I had read and enjoyed Ms. McMahon's previous novel, I decided to give this one a try. I should have stuck with what the reviewer said, because I didn't really enjoy the book that much. I give it a C.

Inside cover:
Henry, Tess, Winnie and Suz banded together in college to form a group they called the Compassionate Dismantlers. Following the first rule of their manifesto- "To understand the nature of a thing it must be taken apart"- these daring misfits spend the summer after graduation in a remote cabin in the Vermont woods committing acts of meaningful vandalism and plotting elaborate, often dangerous, pranks. But everything changes when one particularly twisted experiment ends in Suz's death and the others decide to cover it up.
Nearly a decade later, Henry and Tess are living just an hour's drive from the old cabin. Each is desperate to move on from the summer of the Dismantlers, but their guilt isn't ready to let them go. When a victim of their past pranks commits suicide- apparently triggered by a mysterious Dismantler style postcard- it sets off a chain of eerie events that threatens to engulf Henry, Tess, and their inquisitive nine-year-old daughter, Emma. Is there someone who wants to reveal their secrets? Is it possible that Suz did not really die- or has somehow found a way back to seek revenge?

I really didn't like any of the characters, so I think that was part of the problem with the story. I didn't care about any of them, except maybe for Emma, and thought that they were all very selfish. There were also paranormal aspects, which we all know is not exactly my cup of tea, so that lowered my rating a bit as well. There was quite a twist at the end of the story which redeemed part of it, but part of the time I was reading I kept asking myself why I was even reading it. I probably should have just moved on but didn't.

Well hate to make this short, but I have a wedding to go to. I really don't want to go, but am sucking it up. Have a great night everyone and Happy Reading!

4 comments:

Staci said...

I will now take this book off of my list!! Thanks for the honest thoughts on this one!!

Kristie said...

Staci, sometimes I hate giving negative feedback, but I like honesty. I don't want to be cruel and didn't hate the book, I just didn't love it and really could have done without it.

Literary Feline said...

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy this one, Kristie. It's hard when none of the characters grab you. Or something, anything about them.

I hope you have a good time at the wedding despite your not really wanting to go. :-) Have a great week!

Kristie said...

Thanks Wendy! It was all right, just on my hubbys side and his family is interesting... to say the least. Plus, I was still recovering from a migraine. Hope you have an enjoyable week as well.