Don’t Scream by Wendy Corsi Staub.

Okay, let’s start with the good ... once the action actually begins, the plot gets interesting. Once the murders begin, I didn’t hate this book as much as I did until that point.

The plot: as their thirtieth birthdays approach, four former sorority sisters start to get messages from a person who seems to be their old friend, Rachel. The young woman who fell to her death in their company one night, and they left to die. Each woman is in danger. It should be exciting. But it just ... isn’t.

Yes, the plot is okay, but the writing is far from it. This is my first experience of Wendy Corsi Staub, and it is most definitely my last. Here are a few of the problems I had with this text: Firstly, the hook is weak. The first half of the book is purely the author telling (not showing) us the main characters. Information that could have been written in a few chapters. Narrator intrusion. Oh my gosh, so much! The story is told from many, many points of view, and even they have the narrator interacting with them and giving sarcastic insides. It’s way too complex. And unnecessary. The number of adjectives and adverbs used is beyond belief. There is little employment of stronger verbs rather than weak verbs plus adverbs. For example, we have a, “drenching downpour.” Seriously. Is there any other kind? Also, one of the characters has a “carefully non-combatant expression.” Aargh! There were many times I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room and never return to this book. But, I was reading I as part of the Rising Stars book club, so I persevered. And, in the end, I’m glad I did. I enjoyed the more active parts. I enjoyed the excitement when there was some.

Not a lot.

The writer’s style. I think this must be an early book of hers (at least, I hope it is) because it comes across as amateurish.

Rejoice that I’m done with it.

Angry. A lot of the writer’s bad habits made me so angry!

Never again.

The author’s style is dreadful. The plot is only so-so.

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Created Aug 07, 2019 at 9:51am • Submit your own review...