Moments of Gleeful Grace–Book Reviews: Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas It's Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives. But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations.
As Anna sets out to find her friend's killer; she discovers hard truths about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.As she awaits the judge's decree, it becomes clear that everyone around her thinks she is not just guilty, but dangerous. When the truth comes out, it is more shocking than one could ever imagine...

Dangerous Girls has a great reputation, but I never got excited enough to read it. I WAS WRONG. There, I said it. It’s one of my favorite books of the year. The thrilling plot and unexpected turns had me in the book’s clutch all the way to the end.

Premise

The book opens with the death of Elise, and the plot is divided between past and present, with flashbacks to the time before Elise’s death. It’s one of those whodunit books with a murder charge hanging over the protagonist’s head. Who killed Elise?

Character

The book is narrated by Anna, a girl vacationing with a bunch of rich friends on a tropical island during spring break. Anna is accused of her best friend Elise’s murder and imprisoned. She is a sweet, unobtrusive girl who was bullied in school at the beginning until she met Elise in the girl's bathroom, after which the two became fast friends. Through her relationship with Elise, Anna gradually discovered more to her personality; we also get to see how many layers she has through snippets and details. I was surprised at how she stopped one of her friend’s stress-induced hyperventilation with a slap after Elise’s death. However, I was slightly disappointed by how...devoted Anna was to her boyfriend Tate. A relationship is awesome and all that, but I hate it when a character abandon friends and family for her One True Love. Apparently Elise thought the same *spoiler*. speaking of Elise...

Elise is passionate, vibrant, and full of life. Elise is the girl Anna secretly wants to be. She isn’t afraid of anything, and her reckless fire naturally draws Anna to her. In fact, they may be obsessed with each other, and that’s a main point in the book.

“Do you love me?"
"You know I do."
"How much?"
"Miles and Miles." 
"Deeper than the oceans?" 
"Yup. More than the wind."
"Higher than Everest?"
"I don't know, that's pretty high... Ow!" (laughter)
"Admit it. You love me more than anyone."  
"Maybe."

"What about you - how much do you love me?”
"Enough."
"Hey!"
"You didn't ask, 'Enough for what?'"
"Fine, then. Enough for what?"
"For anything."
"That's better.”

Tate is the Golden Boy (the phrase may even have been used in the book? I’m sure you can already picture him in your mind.) who luuurves Anna but abandons her when she’s in jail. Didn’t like him. The rest of the friends are not that memorable, and I didn’t like how they turn away from her as soon as she’s locked up. Only one friend came to say goodbye to her. They all have the money to walk free except Anna, so that’s...yeah.

All the accusers I hate. I really dislike a book where the protagonist is accused of murder and everyone believes he/she did it. The main prosecutor is infuriating, insinuating all sorts of things against Anna, and there’s also a reporter who interviews Anna and is adamant she’s a homicidal psycho. (!!!) The whole time I wanted to scream “she didn’t do it! Anna is innocent!”

“Any one of us could be made to look a monster, with selective readings of our history.”

There’s only 1 person who truly believes Anna is innocent, and that’s not even her father. It’s a completely unrelated young man who works at the Aruba embassy who helped Anna big time on the case. He’s willing to believe in her and help her because he has a sister who was wrongly accused of drug possession and sentenced to jail for a long time. Since he wasn’t able to help his sister before, he will do anything to save this girl from jail. At last, some compassion for our poor protagonist.

Setting

The book is set in Aruba, a tiny island in the Caribbeans. It perfectly encompasses the abandon of spring break!!! and the suffocating confinement of being stranded in a foreign country with a murder charge.

Writing

Haas has a lovely writing style that flows smoothly and inconspicuously with the plot. I love Anna's confused, tortured narration!

Pacing

As I’ve said before, the book is divided into flashbacks + backstory and the present. Usually it’s confusing, and I tend to enjoy reading part of the tale (usually the present) more than the other. However, this book does it perfectly, winding us tighter and tighter into its web of suspense and mystery. The jump back and forth gives the book a tighter pacing; the past tells you how the characters got to the present and hints at the truth, while the present holds you tight with more things happening. Because there are important events and plot twists in both times, you would miss big clues if you skip a part.