Mystery and Thrills Abound: The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight
What: The Outliers (The Outliers #1) by Kimberly McCreight
Who: HarperCollins Australia
When: May 3rd 2016
How: A copy of this novel was provided by Harper Collins Australia for review.
Imagine if you could see inside the minds of everyone around you – your best friend, your boyfriend, your enemies…?
Imagine how valuable you’d be…
Imagine how much danger you’d be in…
Imagine being an Outlier.Wylie hasn’t heard from her best friend, Cassie, since their fight. That doesn’t matter when she gets a text from her, asking for help. But as Cassie’s messages become increasingly strange, Wylie has a growing sense that something is REALLY wrong. What isn’t Cassie telling her? And could finding her be just the beginning?
From the first line of The Outliers, I knew that I was going to enjoy it. There was just that feeling you get sometimes when you open a book and you know that you and the story are just going to mesh really well. And I wasn’t wrong. Come the end of The Outliers, I was pretty in love with it, and I cannot WAIT for the second book in the series, especially with the pain of that cliffhanger ending.
The Outliers had a kind of teen thriller movie feel to it. The main character, Wylie, receives cryptic texts from her best friend (who has been missing for the entire day) to come and get her, and to not tell anyone. Now, I know people might be all: this is super ridiculous – why wouldn’t you phone the police? But if we’re talking teen thriller feels here, everything is kind of ridiculous, and the police are always incompetent and shitty, anyway.
From then on, there is not a dull moment in The Outliers. It was one of those books that I just had to keep reading to find out exactly what had happened to Cassie (Wylie’s best friend), and what on earth was going on.
There are a few red herrings thrown into The Outliers, and I really enjoyed that. When the first one came along, I was a bit let down, because I thought that there had been so much awesome lead up to a kind of average reveal. But when I found out that it wasn’t true, it was back to questions and creepiness and all things glorious that you find in mystery/thriller novels.
One of the aspects that I really liked about this book was the fact that there was no romance in Wylie’s life. Which I think is 100% fitting to her current situation, which is pretty wrought with emotional stress and fear and mourning the loss of her mother. Now, I think it is quite obvious that there will be a romantic thing going on between Wylie and Jasper, and I am totally on board for this. Hate to love is one of my favourite tropes, as well as people bonding over horrible experiences (not a sadist, I promise). So I really look forward to what I hope will be the gradual exploration and formation of a romance between these two.
Even though the events of The Outliers made it so addictive, so did the writing. It was simple and yet evocative, and I adored the fact that it was written in first person, present tense (my fave). I think that is the best way to write a mystery/thriller, because it means that everything is happening in the moment, and no one knows what the outcome will be – you or the main character.
There isn’t much more I can say about The Outliers except that I really and truly did enjoy it, and I cannot wait to read the second one and find out what happens!
© 2016, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.
trigger warning: suicide, suicidal ideation, anxiety, agoraphobia, abduction, hostage situation, attempted murder, murder, physical assault, fatphobia, and death of parent via car crash in this novel
Sounds like an exciting read! I’m glad there was no romance, at least in the first book. It sounds like it would have just gotten in the way.
-lauren
It definitely was! I was addicted the entire time. I was glad that the possible romance wasn’t in this book, too, because it was perfect without it!
‘Hate to Love’ is one of my favourites too! So if that’s where the series is heading, count me in! This sounds really great and I totally get what you’re saying about first pages/chapters. You just KNOW, right? I love the cover for this one too, serious, it is PRETTY!!
There’s just something super addictive about that trope, haha! YAY. I’m so glad that you’re keen to read this one, Annette! I hope you like it :D
Oh, yes, and the little orange embers are shiny on the physical cover!
This sounds intenseeeeeee. And I have a feeling that now I’ve read DG, you’re totally going to try and get me to skirt my terror of creepy reads and read all these murder mystery novels now. You are, aren’t you? *hides 5eva* I live vicariously through your reviews, I think.
Yay for liking this one so much, though! And it has a sequel, which is… a little unexpected, but also great that you’re so keen for that! With crime and mystery novels, I feel like they’re mostly standalone and if they’re not it can not be a great thing, because then it’s cliffhangery and I’m not the biggest fan of that after Twin Peaks, but it sounds like it’s an excellent thing here and I’m very happy to hear that!
After talking about Miles from Made you Up, I was amused to see you say you’re a fan of the love-hate romance trope. I kinda am, too, because there’s something very realistic about it (am I a hapless romantic? does this trope seem familiar because it’d probably happen to me? likely yesssss to all) even if you wouldn’t necessarily want it to happen to you. I mean, for the love-hate romances, how do they get past the hate? When they’re in a relationship, does that ever come back up or is it just a sweet little rememberance of their past, like “remember when we loathed each other? OH GOOD TIMES!” because that could be both quite funny and potentially disasterous for a relationship. But still. Tis a trope that I feel like builds up character relationships in one of the best ways, and ensures (for the most part) that there’s no insta love or the pace is too fast.
I’m really happy you loved this one! I attest that the cover is rather captivating. Lovely review, Chiara. xx