| Title | : | A Line in the Dark |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 073522742X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780735227422 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 |
| Publication | : | First published October 17, 2017 |
As Angie drags Jess further into Margot's circle, Jess finds more than her friend's growing crush. Secrets lie just beneath the carefree surface of this world, and when they come out, Jess knows Angie won't be able to handle the consequences. When the inevitable darkness finally descends, Angie will need her best friend.
A Line in the Dark Reviews
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I really feel like this book was poorly marketed. If you're anything like me, you were drawn in by that gorgeous and sinister cover, and a title that seems to promise something dark and creepy - but the book's content is very different. There were some things I liked, but overall it lacked the darkness and thrills required for a mystery/thriller.
Let's start with what I did like. I quickly realized that
A Line in the Dark was not the book I was expecting; that it read more like a quiet contemporary about art and having an unrequited crush on your best friend. But I didn't mind this. Shattered expectations can be a good thing.
Jess wasn't entirely likeable, but she was a complex and sympathetic character. The relationship between Jess and Angie is told really well. The former always having felt like the weird, overweight, and less attractive sidekick to her beautiful best friend. I think her pain when Angie starts dating Margot is palpable and real, making me think this book might have made a better contemporary about the dynamics between them (yes, I am advocating a love triangle! pigs might fly yet).
I also like how Jess expresses her darkest emotions through comic book art, portraying a queer love triangle that obviously contains parallels to her real life. The art aspect was interesting and complemented the story without overtaking it (I, personally, am not a fan of plots where art is the main focus).
As I said, not what I was expecting, but not bad either. Then, around halfway through, the mystery/thriller angle is introduced. Suddenly, the book doesn't seem like it is about Jess's inner struggle, her complex relationship with Angie, queer romance OR art. It is about whodunnit, and it is just not that thrilling.
There's a strange POV shift at this point from Jess's first person narrative to an omniscient third person perspective. Lo changes everything you thought you were reading and I thought the shift was awkward and unneeded.
A Line in the Dark went from being a quiet, thoughtful contemporary to being a mediocre thriller with a rushed (and fairly predictable) ending.
The whole second half of the book feels messy - from the move away from the things we had come to care about to the decision to tag the twist on in one single short chapter, making it not only predictable but anticlimactic as well.
A confusing read full of highs and lows.
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This was weird. And not in a good way.
I know this is marketing itself as dark, creepy, and atmospheric, but I'm going to be totally honest: it's not. There is embarrassingly little atmosphere. The tone is uninteresting, but occasionally inconsistent. And truly, this book just doesn’t go dark enough.
The only creepy thing about this book is something I'm pretty sure wasn't meant to be creepy - Jess' crush on Angie. I had a crush on my girl best friend once. It was deep. It was intense. It was not this obsessive. Guys, this crush is.... bad. I would actually be scared to have Jess as a friend. She unabashedly staring up Angie's crotch - twice. And honestly, yikes, that’s not okay. If the author weren’t a lesbian herself I’d call it the predatory lesbian trope, because that is totally how it feels.
And unfortunately, I feel like Jess’ lowkey creepy crush on Angie is the only part of the book that actually gets fleshed out. Margot feels like a one-note villain. Angie feels like a blank slate pretty girl. Jess feels like a blank slate less pretty girl. Ryan feels like another one-note villain and a homophobe to boot. None feel compelling. The whole book feels as if it’s itended to be an exploration of intense sapphic girl friendship and the line between friends and lovers, but it just doesn’t go there. And the minimal exploration there is feels bogged down by the sheer creep factor of Jess’ crush.
The other thing is that the mystery isn’t that compelling. This is the kind of mystery that needs to be driven by characters, and these characters failed me. Worse, the mystery doesn’t pop up until the second half, by which time I was already inwardly marking this down as a three at most. Oddly, the book is very clearly divided in half by a very messy switch from first to third person in the middle of the book, which honestly just made the book feel weirder.
The ending could’ve brought this to a three, but it honestly failed for me. SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!! Perhaps I would’ve liked the ending if it had been explored in full in terms of how it effects these characters, but it honestly just kind of… happens.
I will say that I’m sort of glad there are beginning to be more books with this much diversity so I feel like we can sort out the good from the bad? Maybe we'll get a whole string of YA-ish sapphic Asian girl thrillers next year. I fucking wish. But I’m super disappointed this fell into the bad category for me. I will say that the writing is solid, but there’s just not much else. I’m sorry, guys, but this was a total disappointment.
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1.5 stars
SEE MY VIDEO REVIEW HERE!
Unfortunately this had everything I wanted but nothing was executed to my satisfaction. The two halves of the book did not come together (first person in the 1st half and 3rd person + texts and transcripts in the 2nd half). There was an excess use of the modifiers "really" and "super", which adds superfluous bulk to the writing and shows that the word choice wasn't strong enough and needs to improve. There were also times where one thing would be explained multiple times. -
I really wanted to like this book :(
Pros:
-There's great diversity
-Asian main character
-queer girls
Cons:
-The first half of this book was so boring I almost quit many times
-I didn't like any of the characters so I just didn't care what happened to them
-there was a shift from first person to third in the second half that felt strange. it almost made this seem like two different books
-the thriller aspect wasn't at all thrilling and the conclusion was just annoying
I'm really sad I didn't like this book because Malinda Lo has written one of my all time favorite books but this one was overall a disappointment -
A Line in the Dark is a book that came highly recommended to me, and since I was already eyeballing it in the store, I felt like this would be perfect for a November read.
I was right, because I truly enjoyed this book.
The book follows a teenage girl named Jess, who is extremely passionate about drawing. Jess has a best friend named Angie and the two have been thick as thieves for a really long time, until Jess notices a girl approach Angie at the Creamery where she works and it kind of puts a wedge between them.
Margot is gorgeous and has her eye out on Angie, which makes Jess extremely uncomfortable and jealous because of her own feelings towards her best friend that she is unable to express or too scared to. The two start dating and Angie and Jess end up in a fight because Angie notices that Jess doesn't seem to like Margot but at the same time Angie isn't aware of Jess' feelings towards her.
Jess attends an art program at the school that Margot goes to (a boarding school for the wealthy) and that causes her to stumble onto some deep secrets that Margot and her best friend Ryan are hiding.
Well, this secret leads to Ryan's death after a Christmas party and these kids end up being investigated because they are the last to see Ryan alive.
This book is done in two parts. The beginning throws you into what happened, but the first part is before the incident and the second part is the investigation following the incident. I thought this book was really well done, I really enjoyed the writing, the characters, the plot was interesting. It had diversity, but it also had a plot.
This is not a book that is meant to be spooky, and I know some people felt that way when they saw the cover. This is actually a contemporary young adult with a mystery and a twist. It's about a girl, who is trying to sort of find herself as well as try to deal with the fact that the girl she is in love with, she cannot have.
This book, I am warning now, does not come with a happy ending. It is not a romance, even if it features a romance.
It also reads as an older Young Adult, it is sex positive, but no there are no explicit sex scenes in it. It does have drinking and some cursing.
I did have a hard time putting this down, I was completely invested in the plot line and the characters and I really wanted to know what happened. The ending threw a real curve ball and it was, I did not expect that but it explained some things.
The only issue I think I have is that, the beginning was not how the rest of the book completely unfolded and I felt that the killer should probably have been more affected maybe by what happened? But all in all, I really enjoyed this, it was an interesting read and I always appreciate a book with diversity and a good, engrossing plot line.
This review was originally posted on Night Owl Book Cafe -
CW:
2.5 Stars
It’s not a psychological thriller.
It's not a dark mystery.
It’s scarier.
It’s a …..*screams in terror*... love triangle.
It just felt like a book about an obsessed creepy stalker girl yearning after her Disney princess best friend who fell for the misunderstood snarky rich girl. Wait. It didn’t feel like that. It WAS that. After looking at the chilling cover I was expecting so much more. The thing that I need to confess is that I could not stop listening to it today. After processing this I’ve realised I was completely drawn into the ‘whodunnit’ aspect of it and I really enjoyed the police interview scenes. There were definitely a few possibilities of who committed the crime and I wasn’t disappointed with the direction the author took. So what Readers really need to do is ignore the cover. Imagine it has a moody looking girl staring at a pretty girl who is looking at a beautiful girl who is staring at the moody girl with a smirk on her face. That I think would be a more appropriate cover by which people could set their expectations to. A weird read for me because it was an unputdownable average book. Odd right? Props for diversity too. -
To be honest, I was expecting this to be better, as I LOVED her last SF dulolgy, especially the first book Adaptation; those books were exciting and page-turning and had great alien conspiracies and bisexual romance. Unfortunately in A Line in the Dark there were quite a few things that didn't work for me: very awkward POV switch two thirds of the way through, flat characters, and just a general not great grip on the thriller genre conventions. The twist ending fell flat for me, partially because I didn't really care about the characters. It feels a bit like a novelist trying out a new genre that they're not really comfortable in or familiar with!
It felt like a break of the mystery/thriller contract between the author and reader; you can't just have a first person narrator omit a crucial scene but share everything else so that the reader doesn't have that information and then say, aha, look at what you didn't know! That's not how you structure a mystery and not how you do an unreliable narrator. I could tell what the book was trying to do (a kind of teen audience version of the best of Megan Abbott), and it certainly had potential, but it didn't deliver for me. At least it had POC lesbian characters? I don't know, maybe teen readers less picky about character and mystery plots will enjoy this just fine cause it's 'dark.' -
3.5 stars
I'm a sucker for a psychological thriller and the synopsis coupled with that gorgeous cover sold me.
I liked Jess well enough. She's loyal and smart and just a bit stalker-ish to keep me guessing on what she was up to. I felt like Angie, Margot, and Ryan were never really fleshed out. I'm not sure if it was on purpose, but it was quite effective in making me not trust anyone.
Plot wise it was more of a quiet anticipation than a thriller. It was slow moving, but I was interested the entire time. I would have liked more at the ending, especially after everything was revealed. It was a shock and then it was over. The only other thing is that it randomly shifts from first to third person and that felt clunky and took me out of the rhythm of the story.
Overall, it was a quick read with enough of a creepy factor to keep me engaged.
**Huge thanks to Dutton Books for providing the arc free of charge** -
Let’s get something straight, this is not an f/f romance. There’s no “happy” ending about it. A Line in the Dark is a mystery thriller that fuses relevant themes in the plot. It isn’t dark or twisted per my standard. The plot is straightforward, it’s predictable. However, it’s engaging which what matters the most. I finished it in one gulp. It’s fast paced. You’ll like and distrust the characters at the same time.
The story follows Jess Wong, who’s in love with her best friend Angie Redmond. They’re your standard YA BFFs; the twist is both are queer. The dynamic of their friendship started to change when Angie met Margot Adams, who’s the IT girl from a nearby boarding school.
A Line in the Dark is about two best friends who started to have a warped relationship with each other. It’s unhealthy dynamic while it’s not explicitly challenged, although there’s acknowledgement cues in the text. It wasn’t brushed under the rug for the sake of queer female friendship. I like that three of the main characters are queer. The book didn’t used any labels, though I love that all of their parents are supportive – in their own ways, especially Jess’s parents. That’s very nice to read. There’s also the Chinese-American diaspora supporting details. In addition, there’s a contrast between going to a public school vs. private boarding school, and how classism affects socialization between teens. The heroine struggled with fitting in, not because she’s queerpoc but because of other extra baggage. She’s not traditionally beautiful, she’s into art, and her parents wanted her to be feminine and studious in AsAm standard. She’s awkward, and not like her best friend who can freely mingle with everyone. Her family is not rich, and her best friend already has someone else. That simply made an impact on me. The story follows a Chinese-American queer teen, and her identity is relevant to the plot, but it’s not the plot.
My only complaint is that I wish the ending is more detailed.
Overall: the main themes of this book are jealousy, murder, and loyalty. A Line in the Dark is a great standalone novel. I’ll be recommending it. -
Full review to come!
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4.75 stars
A Line in the Dark is the first contemporary mystery I've ever loved.
It's a story about unhealthy friendships and relationships between three teenage girls, all three of them queer.
The narrator is Jess Wong. She's Chinese-American, she has always loved art, and she's in love with her best friend Angie. This crush is unrequited, and that becomes even more clear when popular, beautiful Margot starts flirting with Angie. But Margot and her rich friends are not good news - under the money and the pretty faces there are many secrets.
Not the ideal situation, but guess what - it gets worse.
I really liked Jess. She struggles to fit in, and she's not flawless. I love reading about contemporary characters who are flawed and somewhat unreliable narrators. They feel real to me.
All the side characters were memorable. Characters like Margot are fascinating and a bit scary, and Angie surprised me too. Everyone stood out to me.
Mystery/Thriller books with queer characters are not common, and A Line in the Dark is a mystery in which there are more than two lesbians, and none of them dies.
It's noteworthy that I never had to force myself to read this. I was never bored. And that rarely happens to me with contemporary books.
Half of this book is told in first person, the other half in third person present, and surprisingly, this didn't bother me. Maybe because I knew it was coming, maybe because I was really invested in the story, I don't know. But I think this PoV shift made sense.
However, I don't think the execution of the mystery aspect was perfect. The ending was unsatisfying, and it should have been longer. You shouldn't sacrifice the ending just because you want to shock the reader - that felt messy. -
1.5 stars
I bought this book on a whim because I needed something quick to read.
This book is not a thriller. Just like The Birthday Girl by Melissa de la Cruz, A Line in the Dark is not a thriller. If anything, I would say it's a contemporary book with a pinch of mystery. A very, very, small pinch. I don't know whose idea it was to market this as a thriller, but they are sorely mistaken if they thought anything in this book was remotely close to a thriller. And lots of readers will be in for a disappointment.
A Line in the Dark is about Jess who has a crush on her friend Angie who is starting to have feelings for a girl named Margot and Jess is not happy about it for several reasons. Some secrets pop up as well as some lies which leads to something no one was expecting.
This read more of a jealous romance story than a thriller or mystery? Does that mean there is no mystery? No, there is. A poorly done one at that. There was no atmosphere of a domestic thriller or a compelling mystery. It also doesn't help that the mystery is pushed to the back in favor of character drama.
Speaking of character, Jess is an asshole and a creepy stalker. She is so mean to everyone around her and her obsession with Angie is creepy. I wouldn't call it a crush so much as it was an obsession. There's a difference. I had to read several paragraphs where she describes Angie in a very creepy, and inappropriate way.
"It's satisfying to know that she's thinking of me, concerned about me. I want her to worry about me."
"In the next panel I draw a close-up on Angie's face. I take my time with her eyes, her nose, her mouth. I don't need a photo reference; I've been drawing her since we first met in art class in sixth grade."
Again, creepy. She's an asshole and a creepy stalker. Those are her only two character traits. Nothing else. The story shows us she likes to draw comics but that's it. It just shows us. She doesn't explain why she loves drawing comics, she just does. And when she is drawing comics, it's written in a way that lacks any enthusiasm.
The writing style is an even bigger issue I have. The first half of the book is told from Jess' POV in first person then in the second half, it completely ditches that and instead, we're reading in third person. That completely took me out of the story. Why the change? It would've been better had it stuck with Jess' POV. Another issue with the writing is how some sentences are structured.
"She unlocks the driver's side and leans across to unlock the passenger door for me. I climb in."
There are lots of sentences like those and it bothered me because it could've been written in a much better way.
My biggest, most absolute issue with the story is the ending. I was going to rate it 2-stars but the ending completely ruined everything, dropping it to a 1.5-star rating.
The only good thing I have to say is the pacing. I blew threw this in a day so I gotta give props for that.
There really isn't much else to say. A Line in the Dark is not a thriller nor is it compelling. It's just a story about a jealous, creepy, rude character that takes up most of the story while the mystery is nothing more than an afterthought. It's not a book I would recommend. -
YES. GIMME MORE COMMERCIAL QUEER LADY GENRE YA FICTION.
I looooooooved this. Delightfully flirts those lines between obsession, love, and friendship. An unreliable narrator? *thinky face emoji* Oh my, yes.
Perfect for fans of Kara Thomas or, if I have to say it, E. Lockhart. -
Oof. I can't say that was fun. It was quick read, and captivating, but even before it got into the mystery, it was painful to read. That toxic friendship and jealousy gets to me. No one is particularly likable, and there's no real moment of catharsis after that strangled, uncomfortable feeling that permeates the whole book. It's well done, but it wasn't exactly enjoyable for me (which is why I'm not rating it.)
-
UPDATE: It's been a few hours since I finished this book and 1) I've bumped up the rating because I've given it more thought, and 2) I cannot stop thinking about it.
I take back what I said about the ending being a missed opportunity regarding the character development. Thinking about it more carefully and reflecting on the events that led up to the ending, I'm now more inclined to say that Lo's storytelling was fantastic. Without giving away what happens, the second half of the novel weaves such a complex and fascinating account of what we do for those we love - and the middle ground we find because of it. I was too hung up on what actually happens and didn't give enough thought to everything that leads up to it - the possible manipulation, the lies, the truths, the cat and mouse game played by the characters in the book. I think the ending is something that requires more reflection and engagement than what is on the surface. I was wrong before (as below); A Line in the Dark is more than I thought it was.
Trigger/content warnings:
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A Line in the Dark is a good book with complex and morally grey characters, and a tense story, but it left me wanting.
- I enjoyed reading this very much. I enjoyed the direction of the story (contrary to what others thought), the narrative (especially from Jess's perspective), and the ambiguous nature of the plot which kept me guessing. Indeed, I was compelled and curious.
- It explores sexuality, friendship, revenge, and how we, especially teenage girls, are defined and perceived.
- The first part of the story is from Jess's perspective (thus first person), whilst the second part is in third person - although the transition felt disjointed, it worked for the purpose of how the story eventually unfolds.
- However, I've rated this book 2.5 because I was left wanting by the end. The first part of the book is character-driven, and how Lo explores her characters and their desires and motivations was fascinating. So when the second part of the book shifts in focus to a more whodunit surrounding a tragic and mysterious event, I felt that the lack of character development was jarring - and it left me wishing there was more, particularly since the *event* had such an impact on the characters. It felt like a missed opportunity. -
3.5 rounded up
This book suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. The cover (which is what first drew me to the book) portrays a super creepy, goth feel but that's not really what the book is. The book itself is almost like 2 books. The first part is great. It's a first person narration through Jess. Jess is a high school girl trying to figure her life out. There is a lot here about identity and the intense friendships girls develop at this age. Then someone dies and it becomes a mystery/thriller. When that happens the narration switches to a third person omniscient narrator and loses some of the intensity. The reveal of the actually mystery itself feels rushed and is a bit predictable. All that being said, I still really liked this and tore through it wanting to know for sure how it all ended up. -
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2.5/5 Stars
Jess has been in love with her best friend Angie for as long as she can remember. Angie doesn't know the way Jess feels about her and when she begins to fall for a private school girl named Margot, everything begins to change.
I don't know why this book was marketed as a dark psychological thriller... It's more of an obsession/stalker story, which I am usually a big fan of... but in this case it didn't work. Jess is honestly just super creepy and obsessive over her friendship with Angie. The only thing I felt mildly interesting in this book was the chapters about Jess' art and the parallels you could draw from her real life. The book is split into two parts, the first is the backstory, leading up to part 2 where the investigation begins and the "mystery" is to be solved. There is a shift from first person to third person that just doesn't really work. I was also not the biggest fan of the "twist" ending, it fell extremely short for me and left me thinking "that's it?"
Overall, it was a super quick read, so that was nice, but it wasn't anything amazing. -
I don’t read much realistic young adult fiction. It’s just not my jam. I already lived through high school once and taught it for another four years, so when it comes to teen angst, I’ve graduated twice. But I love YA fiction that brings another element along with it, like a historical bent or a bizarre fantasy world or a dystopian nightmare scenario. A Line in the Dark is a delightful combo: a YA thriller. And it’s super thrilling because it’s a known and universally accepted fact that there is nothing scarier than a teenage girl.
Jess and Angie have been best friends forever, but there’s always been unacknowledged tension between them because Jess’s feelings are more intense than Angie’s. When Angie starts dating a girl from the fancy private school across town, the tension grows into something bigger and more deadly. And that’s probably all you need to know about the plot, because I don’t want to take away from the slow burn and eventual catastrophic explosion of this book. Teenage girls, a love triangle, complicated feelings, backstabbing, and manipulation. What could be better?
I was nervous about this book because I’d seen some mixed reviews, but I took the risk and bought the hardcover anyway. I am delighted that I was totally vindicated! And now I have that beautiful, sinister cover to adorn my bookshelf and my Instagram feed. I don’t think it’s a spoiler content-wise to say that there’s a big structural shift mid-book, and that’s what some readers have taken issue with. For me, though, that perspective change is what elevates A Line in the Dark above all the predictably structured novels you can find on YA shelves today, and I say props to Malinda Lo for trying something new.
Highly recommended for fans of dark mysteries and authors like
Megan Abbott.
More book recommendations by me at
www.readingwithhippos.com -
I liked this! A phycological thriller with queer girls + Chinese main character + drama + secrets = perfection. But I just didn't like it as much as I thought I would.
Here's why:
- There's a shift between first and third person POV halfway through, and it felt awkward. I liked the first person much more.
- I wanted more from the ending? It wasn't what I was expecting, but it just shocked me and then it was over. Maybe that's the point of a thriller (I don't read many, obviously), but I wasn't a fan.
- It wasn't as *thrilling* as I expected / wanted.
Other than that, I obviously still recommend this one! Add it to your TBRs and prepare for its release in October. -
*3.5 stars*
I have thoughts about A Line in the Dark: partly that the mystery was slightly lackluster (you could see whodunit early), but mostly that Malinda Lo's writing and the unrequited love between Jess and Angie were the best parts of this book. If it had just focused on their "relationship," and expanded from there, it would have been a better read, for me at least. There wasn't enough build-up for me to invest in who was killed or why. -
Super quick and super queer - two things I like a lot. I thought the ending was a little rushed and I wanted more from it and of it, but overall definitely a positive recommendation.
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this asian sapphic thriller be like?? hell yes??? but then actually NO :(
this book: *ends with a supposedly super shocking plot twist*
me: okay AND???????????
i think the main issue with this book was the fact that the ending needed more development.
as in, i wanted to have /catharsis/ and read about more of the aftermath, but in the book the "aftermath" was placed before the actual "revealed incident," and the thing is that i read this as an AUDIOBOOK so i can't go back and relisten to the book to fully comprehend the aftermath because i'm lazy!!!
rep: chinese & lesbian mc, lesbian side characters (angie & margot)
trigger/content warnings: -
This book is a classic the things we do for love type book. I read it in one day and it's a super quick easy read. I enjoyed it but I would not consider it to be a favorite. I enjoyed the characters but didn't love them enough to completely be invested in them. By the time the book was over I just kind of went... oh... okay then. I was impressed because it did have a better ending than I thought it was going to and the book kept me guessing throughout it which was great but overall when I think about this book all I think is I liked it but I didn't love it and it certainly wasn't the worst book I have read this year so far!
Longer review coming soon! :) -
This was the perfect way to start off 2018. I really liked the characters. My grade ten self and Jess were basically identical, except I can't draw for shit. Angie was kind of a selfish bitch. Letting Jess pine over her very obviously while constantly talking about Margot was a dick move. I wasn't entirely expecting the ending, which was a good surprise.
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3.5/5
Pros:
-Loved the diversity! Queer girls+Chinese main character.
-Super quick read was intrigued with the story!
Cons:
-Ending was a bit rushed
-POV shift
-Wasn't as "thrilling" as I was hoping it would be -
*A huge thanks to Penguin Random House for providing me an eARC. This,by any means, did not affect nor influence my review."
3.5 stars
Twisting, dark and disturbing, A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo is a diverse read that explores the depths of friendship, identifying and accepting one’s sexuality, love obsession and murder.
What I liked:
• Dark atmosphere and eerie vibe from the very beginning.
• We were welcomed by an intriguing prologue but the story started 14 weeks ahead of the time when the prologue occurred. It took us back from the very beginning of it all. We followed every step the characters took till they reached that scene on the prologue and it helped a lot on giving us a sense of direction on the story.
• It wasn’t about “goody-goody” type of teenagers. Jess, Angie, Margot and Ryan, all of them have their own secrets and flaws – they carry this certain darkness in their characters – which contributed a lot on making this book felt more dark and mysterious.
• It didn’t focus on f/f romance which was a bit surprising given how the characters and their relationships and feelings toward each other were introduced. In fact, the main character wasn’t involved in any romance at all. It focused more on friendship, loyalty, sexuality and even obsession.
• The narration from Jess’ perspective. This left me not entirely knowing what was happening since I can only see things from her perspective.
• Lo created another world inside this world through Jess’ comics. It kind of gave us a glimpse of what was going on Jess’ mind. Because despite we are following the story through her perspective, Lo managed to make me feel like there were still a lot of things about Jess that I wasn’t seeing.
• The insane ending. I thought I got things figured out. I thought I can already safely rate and draft my review. I thought since I was on the last chapter, I already reached the end of it all. MAN, I WAS SO WRONG. I literally cursed while reading the epilogue.
• After reading this I felt like a huge idiot for underestimating this book. All the thoughts I had, the rating I was so sure of giving, all of those, I began to question. It suddenly left me not knowing what to believe anymore.
Have I mentioned that this also diverse? It has Asian characters and Jess, Angie and Margo are queer as well.
What I didn’t like and actually prevented me from really enjoying this:
• The writing. The writing was not really good but not that bad either. It was just okay.
• It was boring for most of the first part.
• It neither gripping nor intriguing. I started to be really intrigued when a murder case finally came into the picture which was almost halfway through the book already.
• It is a thriller but it is not thrilling at all.
If you are finding a really good YA mystery or thriller book, this is actually not the book I would immediately recommend but if you are just into a dark read with Asian and queer characters that explores friendship and obsession, you might want to check this out. -
GRADE: B
4 STARS
If a tree falls in a forest, and no one hears it fall, did it make a sound? The philosophical conundrum attributed to Charles Berkley makes me ask, “If a novel highlighting mental illness never mentions mental illness, is the book still about mental illness?
A LINE IN THE DARK is marketed like a psychological thriller, but reads more psychological than thriller, though mental illness is never addressed. Jess and her best friend Angie have an enmeshed relationship, mostly from Jess’s side of the friendship. When Angie starts dating Margot, a girl from a nearby boarding school, Jess becomes more possessive and at one point even stalks Angie. Someone goes missing and turns up murdered. The investigation reveals even more about all the girls and their relationships, including those not mentioned in this review.
Jess narrates the first part of the book and the epilogue. The second half of A LINE IN THE DARK contains police interviews and different third person points of view. Also contained in this novel is Jess’s comic book, an allegory for her internal struggles and the plot. I’m not a fan of stories within stories. I think they take away from plot and character development. This was the third or fourth I’ve read in recent months and I haven’t liked any of them.
Jess was a character hard for me to champion. She was selfish, controlling, dishonest and downright mean. Had she been over eighteen, her unhealthy attachment to Angie, poor impulse control and risky behavior could have been diagnosed as Borderline Personality Disorder. Had Malinda Lo chosen to delve into Jess’s psyche rather than gone with the comic angle, A LINE IN THE DARK would have been a five star read. I also wish Jess’s experiences as a first generation Chinese American had been further explored.
I didn’t understand why Angie wanted to continue her friendship with Jess, especially after Jess stalked her.
Plot wise, the murder mystery was less interesting to me than Jess’s psyche and the twisted friendships and romantic relationships in the book.
Despite its flaws, A LINE IN THE DARK was an enjoyable read and is a book I’ll probably reread in the future. -
So this one is interesting.
I went into the novel bored out of my mind. I put the novel away.
Four days later, I continue from where I left off, and I just can't stop reading it.
I can't say entirely what compelled me to put this book on my TBR, because from the summary this is definitely not a book that I would go for. Not to mention, the book doesn't really fill any of the tags that are associated with it.
Namely, psychological thriller. I've read a couple before and those aren't it.
May be contemporary?
But I digress.
The plot itself was really quite short, in hindsight at least. If I was to build a timeline of the major events, there wouldn't be that many. The book really focuses on three main things/events. So, a lot of the story was put towards building the characters, tension and whatnot.
Oddly enough, that reeled me in.
As far as the plot goes, I have much to say to Jess, if I could meet her. I 100% agree with her parents, especially as the story goes on. Too bad it Jess so long to see it that way.
I think part of the reason, I was really drawn to the book was also because of the setting. The town, the park, but especially the dynamic between the characters and the town itself was what really drew me to the novel.
While the summary kinda sucks in that it doesn't really pique my interest, the story is there, and it surely was an interesting novel to read.
The ending was really what sealed the deal. It was clean. There was a good twist (I didn't even see it coming really, and didn't even think there would be one, though to be fair, I was a little annoyed at the supposed ending).
But that doesn't leave me not thinking about it, and quite frankly the book is sitting in my conscience like an ink stain, the book isn't exactly a joyful one. No siree. -
I'm torn. A Line in the Dark on the surface is my bread and butter: a psychological thriller with diverse characters, an unreliable narrator, and a love triangle. Plus, look at that cover! It opens with a bang (literally) but I was left feeling...unsatisfied at the end? I have some somewhat incoherent thoughts:
Jess Wong has had a long-standing crush on her best friend, Angie. And everything was peachy while it was just the two of them, but then Angie meets Margot, a student at the ritzy private school, and Jess' world begins to unravel. Jess finds it difficult to share Angie with Margot, as well as keep a cap on her feelings—which she has long denied. At a party one night, Jess has an altercation with Margot's best friend, Ryan, and after Ryan subsequently goes missing, Jess shoots to the top of the suspect list.
Ok, so. This is definitely personal preference, but I like my thrillers to be a tad more sinister and um...twisted...than A Line in the Dark. In the end, it just felt kind of watered down compared to some of the other thrillers I've read this year and really enjoyed. (i.e. This Darkness Mine and Final Girls). If you enjoy a good mystery but not a graphic one, A Line in the Dark might be a good choice for you. There's also a really cool art-imitating-life aspect with Jess' comic book that reminded me of Eliza and her Monsters.
I am notoriously bad at guessing the twist endings, so my interest was definitely piqued the entire way through...but the ending was rushed. Within the context of the plot, the ending makes sense, I just needed another 5 pages or so of resolution.
I'm stuck between 3 - 3.5 / 5. The ending just kind of brought it down for me.
Thank you Dutton Books for Young Readers for my ARC. A Line in the Dark is available now. -
This book fucking FLOPPED
First of all, it made me feel like liking girls is a dirty, teenage-only thing. And I like girls, and I fucking hate that it made me feel like that. Girls liking their best friend isn't drawing them naked time and time again over the years, isn't boycotting their relationships, isn't jerking off to the thought of being with them instead of their girlfriend, isn't looking under her shorts or cleavage at every chance you get. It's daydreaming about holding hands, and forehead kisses, and tv marathons, and coming out together. Its not strictly sex-related, and I'm so fucking angry that this has to be said.
Second, every single character was just so freaking stupid. If every teenage was as stupid as these, the life expectancy worldwide would be thirteen years, top.
Third of all, whAT THE FUCK WAS THAT CHANGE IN NARRATION. What was she trying to do with the change from first to third person, other than confuse the reader???? That's not how unreliable narrators work. Oh, and the ending. Jesus. Christ. That's not how unreliable narrators work, either. You can't just omit a whole fucking lot of what happened (WHILE NARRATING IN FIRST PERSON AS THE GIRL WHO SAW IT HAPPEN) and then be like oooohhhh I bet you weren't expecting this!!!!! No, of course we fucking weren't, because that wasn't there before and that's just not how mysteries work.
Also we had like maybe a dozen characters which we didn't get to know more than superficially, who weren't suspects nor useful for the story. And like, honestly, why.
I can't believe I put myself through this in less than 24 hours and survived.
Second #sapphicathon read, btw. Really sad it flopped.
