Premeditated by Josin L. McQueinPublished by: Delacorte Books for Young Readers on October 8, 2013
Genre: Contemporary, Thriller
Pages: 336
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Rating: ★★★★½
A week ago, Dinah's cousin Claire cut her wrists.
Five days ago, Dinah found Claire's diary and discovered why.
Three days ago, Dinah stopped crying and came up with a plan.
Two days ago, she ditched her piercings and bleached the black dye from her hair.
Yesterday, knee socks and uniform plaid became a predator's camouflage.
Today, she'll find the boy who broke Claire.
By tomorrow, he'll wish he were dead.
Premeditated was everything I hoped it would be! Dinah goes “under cover” at a fancy prep school to find the boy who caused Clare to slit her wrists. She carefully observes the students to find the culprit, his friends, the ones he cares about.. so she can bring him down.
What does he want? Find it and take it. What’s his dream? Find out and crush it. Who does he love? Find out and make them hate him.
There were so many parts of this book that I adored. I loved Dinah as a character. She’s smart, funny, and imperfect. But the characters who really stood out for me were her Uncle Paul and her father. They were AMAZING parents and I loved some of their lines.
Dinah? What’s going on in— Oh, you’re smothering Brucey. There’s superglue under the sink if you break something.
Uncle Paul
But truly, all the characters in this book were brilliant in different ways. I loved to absolutely loathe Dinah’s horrendous mother. I loved to cheer with pride when Dinah’s dad finally started standing up to her mother. I felt guilty and unsure when I started falling for the culprit..
Dinah and her friends start small and then build their way up to make the culprit’s life a living hell. They didn’t want some big, quick reveal. They wanted to slowly rip his life apart from the inside so that he was just as tortured as poor Claire. But even as this is happening, we don’t know all the details surrounding Claire until much later. Exactly what happened with her is slowly unraveled over the course of the book.
The one thing that was a bit of a disappointment was how predictable the ending was. I figured it out no later than 50% (it might have been a bit earlier—I don’t remember exactly). Although that didn’t leave me bored with the rest of the book, it was starting to get a tiny bit frustrating when I knew exactly what would happen but Dinah STILL hadn’t figured it out. I think that if I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen so early on, this book would have gotten that extra half star. An epic twist at the end would have really put the cherry on top of a great book, but it didn’t feel like a twist to me when I saw it coming.
Premeditated is so strong and so powerful. It’s about revenge, self discovery, family problems, predators, coping with loss, and so much more. We really see Dinah grow and develop as a character. And the end… THE END! Well, it’s not quite the end but it’s a moment before the end.. it had me drowning in tears and refusing to believe that it actually happened. I kept wanting some sort of sci-fi miracle because it was just too sad! 🙁
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a strong contemporary book about friendship, family, and revenge. There’s a lot more to it than just a revenge story, so go into it expecting a bit more. But that’s one of the things that makes it so great! If only the ending was a bit less predictable… 😛
The Verdict
Adding it to my shelves now!
Woohoo! 😀
For some reason a predictable ending does not bother me that much. This one sounds pretty awesome.
Yeah it didn’t bother me either! It’s an awesome book!
Wow this book seems to cover everything, keeping an eye out for this next time I go to the library. Hmm, but the author concerns me- I DNFed Arclight.
Lovely review, Ashley! <33
I actually never even read Arclight because I didn’t think the synopsis sounded appealing to me. My impression though (without having red Arclight, so I don’t know how right I am) is that they’re two very different books!
I’m a little hesitant to read Premeditated because I didn’t really enjoy McQuein’s other book, Arclight. But your review totally makes me want to read it! Great review! 🙂
I didn’t read Arclight because the synopsis didn’t appeal to me at all! I think the two books are pretty different though.
Ooh this is definitely right up my alley! I love how all the characters sound very real and three dimensional. I also really like when family is a big part of a book. Even when the parents are not always.. loveable >.< Too bad about it being predictable though this is an issue I've had with almost all the mysteries I've been reading this year so I guess I'm kind of used to it now? Great review, doll! I've had my eye on this one already so I'm glad it's one to keep looking forward to! 🙂
Just be reading the synopsis I decided to add it to my TBR shelf. My god that sounds amazing. And your review is awesome!
I really want to read this one! I just added it to my TBR the other day. I loved her other book Arclight. This one just hits home for me with the way she is trying to defend her cousin. I have two sisters and I am very protective of them both. Glad you liked it! Can’t wait to read it!
Shame about the predictability but so pleased to see you enjoyed it. Definitely adding this to my tbr pile.
A great review Ashley! 🙂
Can’t wait to read this one! Glad you loved it 🙂
Ok so I’m sold!
I haven’t even seen this book before, but I want it now:)) Sounds fantastic!
And I know whwt you mean about a too predicable twist, it can ruin the book a little for you. Just like what happened to me in The Brokenhearted!
I’m totally sold based on your review. Too bad it’s predictable, but if it has all the feels anyway, it’s a liveable flaw.
Yay!! I’m glad you enjoyed this one, even with the predictable ending. 🙂
Oooh this looks so good! I hadn’t heard of it, but I’m definitely adding it to my TBR now!
I’m so glad you loved this one! I’d been really looking forward to it…it sounds interesting and I love the cover! Hopefully I’ll enjoy it as much as you did 🙂