It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up.
When the night began, Nora had two best friends and a boyfriend she adored. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands. Chris was dead. Adriane couldn't speak. And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also-according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone-a murderer.
Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora's determined to follow the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. But Chris's murder is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.
I have to say Robin Wasserman did well with this book. She made you think things were going to happen, then she killed that idea. You were sure it had just been a red herring, but you want to know what? They happened.
What I didn't like about this book was how long it took to get to what you knew was going to happen. Chris dying, Adriane not being able to speak and Max disappearing, I mean on the first page (of the ARC - I have the ARC e-book and the paperback) it says:
"I should probably start with all the blood.
If it bleeds it leads and all that, right? It's all anyone ever wants to know about anyway. What did it look like? What did it feel like? Why was it all over my hands? And the mystery blood, all those unaccounted-for antibodies, those faceless corkscrews of DNA - who left them behind?
But beginning with that night, with the blood means that Chris will never be anything more than a corpse, bleeding all over his mother's travertine marble, Adriane nothing but a dead-eyed head case, rocking back and moaning, her clothes soaked in his blood, her face paper white with that slash of red razored into her cheek. If I started there, Max would be nothing but a void. Null space; vacuum and wind.
Maybe that part would be right."
You know what will happen and that's only the first half of the first page. It takes to page one hundred and twelve in the e-book ARC for this to happen (out of four hundred and forty-nine). It was quite slow paced in that way. Sure some of the information was necessary to the plot, but maybe the author could have cut some of it out? But then you wouldn't get a lot of Chris, who is undoubtedly my favourite character.
From chapters twenty-seven and twenty-eight in part one of the book, Chris made me laugh quite a lot. I'd be so much happier if he hadn't died. Maybe somebody else should have died *glares at a certain book character*... But if that happened the whole plot of the book would be ruined... Such a shame...
As far as female protagonists go, Nora was surprisingly not that bad. She was probably my favourite main character of the year. She didn't complain that much, especially for somebody whose best friend was murdered and boyfriend was blamed. Most characters seem to have all these romantic obsessions with their closest friend of the opposite sex, finally somebody that didn't sit thinking "Oh, I'm so in love with my best friend, but they don't see me in that way," until the last page of the book and then the pair end up going out. That really annoys me. Nora didn't think that way throughout the book about Chris, the only romantic thoughts were about her boyfriend, which is acceptable.
Nora really had lost basically everything by the end of the book. Which is why I'm so glad about Eli. Though he's a lying pig, who I'm not quite sure if he was a bad guy or not, he was a good friend to Nora, exactly what Adriane wasn't.
I liked Adriane's character right up until the end; she was determined, and though vain, she was amusing. Maybe she thought she had reason for what she did, and maybe what she did wasn't nearly as bad as what some other people did, but still, she shouldn't have done it.
The Lumen Dei was confusing. I can't remember what the people were called, but it was in Czech. I think it would have been less confusing maybe if I wasn't so tired while reading it.
For me, the characters made this book. The plot was at times too confusing and I would have much preferred if the book was contemporary rather than fantasy/paranormal/whatever it was. I don't think I've ever said that before.
It was a good murder mystery book with so many twists and turns it was hard not to get dizzy. I loved how Robin Wasserman developed the characters, they are some of the best characters (not matter how much I disliked them, it was because of the way she developed them).
I'd give this book three out of five stars, it's a really strong three though and would be higher if the plot was even slightly more believable.
Favourite book quotes: "Not that my arms are getting tired or anything, but... how much longer is the hugging phase going to last?"
"Chris loved you," I said, and the truth of it was almost a physical pain.
She wouldn't look at me. "No he didn't. And he would have figured it out eventually. So would you? Then where would I have been?"
"Not here."
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