The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings
(The Murder Complex, #1)
Release Date: June 10, 2014
Publisher: Greenwillow Books; 398 pages
Rating:

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

This was probably one of my most anticipated books to be released in June, I've been looking forward to it since before the cover was revealed. Sometimes, though, being so hyped and excited about a book can make the disappointment hurt that much more. I know, that sentence is probably scaring you but it's not as bad as you think. I'm on the fence with whether I actually liked or not. I don't know if I'm going to be coming off that fence, either, at least, until I read the next book or something.

Here's my issue, I think: I couldn't connect to any of the characters. If I can't connect to the characters, I don't feel for them, I don't root for them, I just don't care. Characters, for me, are the biggest thing for me and when you have characters that I just shrug off, it's not going to end well. Now, if we ignore the fact that I couldn't connect to any of the characters, I really did enjoy the story and the world that Lindsay Cummings has created. I only wish there was more violence. I know, I sound crazy, don't I? I got more violence and blood toward the end of the book and I thrived in it but I wanted more throughout. Sure, we read about a lot of dead bodies being discarded but we didn't talk about them actually dying and that's what I was expecting. When the description says 'action-packed, blood-soaked and chilling...' you're expecting a ton of blood. You don't get it. Or at least, I don't think you do.

I will also say that I listened to the audiobook for this for about three quarters of the book and I really enjoyed doing that. It was my first time listening to a full length audiobook (I previously only listened to a novella). The reason I really wanted to listen to this? My friend, Josh Hurley, is the voice of Zephyr so I really wanted to support him (he did a phenomenal job, I'd say). I'm trying to start listening to audiobooks more so I'm glad I started with this because I think both of these voices made me enjoy the book even more. I would recommend it, if you're in to audiobooks.

I know this review seems pretty negative but I can assure, three star rating isn't bad but like I said, when you go in to a book with such high expectations, you are crushed when they don't meet it. Maybe I sound a bit harsher than I would've had I not really been hoping this would blow my mind. Am I going to read the next book? Absolutely. The ending was abrupt and I'm curious to see where it goes and see if maybe I can connect with the characters a bit more.

Thank you so much to HarperCollins for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. (I did find out that there were a handful of chapters that must've been deleted from the ARC to the final because it took me awhile to figure out where I stopped in the ARC to where to start on the audiobook)