Hi everyone and thanks for stopping by to check out my review as part of the Ultimate Sacrifice blog tour. I received a copy of this book from the lovely people over at Xpresso Blog Tours and my god I'm so glad I did. So, without further ado lets jump straight in!
Ultimate Sacrifice by S. E. Green
Published 3rd October 2017 by Oftomes
Genre - Horror/Young Adult
Star Rating - ****.5
Goodreads Challenge - 67/50
I received this book from Xpresso Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis
Vickie has always lived a quiet, ordinary life in an equally quiet and
ordinary small town. Yet one fateful night a child turns up dead in the
woods behind her house in a ritualistic slaughter. Vickie and her family
are suddenly thrown into a national spotlight. But as the investigation
unfolds, she begins to realize her family isn’t so ordinary after all.
Evil is inching closer to those she holds dear and Vickie isn’t sure who
she can ultimately trust.
My Thoughts
I loved this book, it was so fast paced and full of enough sinister and creepy themes to keep you up at night! This is the story of Vickie whose twin brother Travis finds a child dead in the woods and the crime scene points to a ritualistic killing. The whole family come under investigation as they try to discover just what happened in the woods that day and Vickie is determined to so some investigating of her own. During this investigation Vickie happens upon some disturbing revelations about her family and she relalises things aren't always as they seem. This book is pitched as a Horror and this isn't something I usually read, I'm a bit of a wimp. However, after reading the synopsis and hearing that this book involves cults, a thriller mystery and a little bit of paranormal stuff thrown in I was so ready to read it and I'm so very glad I did.
The chapters in this book are quite short and if you've followed any of my other reviews you will know this is something I really enjoy in these types of stories. They kept me engaged throughout and always wanting more and the authors fast paced writing style really drew me in. I could not put this book down and I ended up finishing it in a day which is something I haven't done in a long time. The ending was a complete surprise to me. I couldn't work out what direction the plot was going to take and this kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to know what happened next.
So this all sounds great and it really had the set up to be a 5 star read for me and I really wanted to give it that as I loved it so much but I couldn't help but notice one or two flaws. There wasn't as much character development as I would of liked and I think this was due to how fast paced the story was. I understand that to slow down in order to give the characters depth you may have lost momentum with the story however, I would of liked a little bit more character exploration. This story also focused quite heavily on the family and you saw those dynamics change several times over the course of the novel which was great as it gave us an insight into how the family was affected by the course of events however, some things were resolved just a bit to quick for me. I won't detail them here due to spoilers but several big secrets were revealed that would have a major affect on people in the family and these seemed to be all but forgotten a couple of chapters later. I also would of liked a bit more of the paranormal aspect. As I mentioned earlier this is marketed as a horror and, although I did find it creepy, mysterious and in some parts down right sinister to me it wasn't scary. To me this read more as a thriller than a horror and I would of liked a bit more of the paranormal aspect in order to make it so.
That being said there was just something about this book that drew me in completely. I found myself ignoring all of my adult duties in order to pick this up and devour it and to me that's the sign of a great story. I've given this book a 4.5* overall as a compromise between my absolute love for the story and my recognition of the flaws that are there. I would definitely recommend this as a must for all thriller lovers and to anyone looking for a super creepy Halloween read.
The chapters in this book are quite short and if you've followed any of my other reviews you will know this is something I really enjoy in these types of stories. They kept me engaged throughout and always wanting more and the authors fast paced writing style really drew me in. I could not put this book down and I ended up finishing it in a day which is something I haven't done in a long time. The ending was a complete surprise to me. I couldn't work out what direction the plot was going to take and this kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to know what happened next.
So this all sounds great and it really had the set up to be a 5 star read for me and I really wanted to give it that as I loved it so much but I couldn't help but notice one or two flaws. There wasn't as much character development as I would of liked and I think this was due to how fast paced the story was. I understand that to slow down in order to give the characters depth you may have lost momentum with the story however, I would of liked a little bit more character exploration. This story also focused quite heavily on the family and you saw those dynamics change several times over the course of the novel which was great as it gave us an insight into how the family was affected by the course of events however, some things were resolved just a bit to quick for me. I won't detail them here due to spoilers but several big secrets were revealed that would have a major affect on people in the family and these seemed to be all but forgotten a couple of chapters later. I also would of liked a bit more of the paranormal aspect. As I mentioned earlier this is marketed as a horror and, although I did find it creepy, mysterious and in some parts down right sinister to me it wasn't scary. To me this read more as a thriller than a horror and I would of liked a bit more of the paranormal aspect in order to make it so.
That being said there was just something about this book that drew me in completely. I found myself ignoring all of my adult duties in order to pick this up and devour it and to me that's the sign of a great story. I've given this book a 4.5* overall as a compromise between my absolute love for the story and my recognition of the flaws that are there. I would definitely recommend this as a must for all thriller lovers and to anyone looking for a super creepy Halloween read.
Overall rating (4.5*)
Author Bio
S. E. Green (aka Shannon Greenland) is the award winning author of
the thriller, KILLER INSTINCT, the spy series, THE SPECIALISTS, and the
romances, THE SUMMER MY LIFE BEGAN and SHADOW OF A GIRL. She lives off
the coast of Florida with her very grouchy dog. ULTIMATE SACRIFICE is
her debut YA horror, due out October 2017.
So thanks again for stopping by to check out my review of Ultimate Sacrifice by S. E. Green. If you'd like to check out the rest of the stops on the tour check out the tour schedule here.
This book looks awesome! I've had it on my TBR for a bit now, glad you enjoyed!
ReplyDeleteThere was just something about it that completely gripped me. I would definitely recommend reading it sooner rather than later.
DeleteI have avoided YA books to date but this seems like a mash up of lots of things I enjoy reading about.
ReplyDeleteLOL - who want to adult when there is a good book to read?
ReplyDeleteSome great YA books out there, and this sounds like one of them.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really great book!
ReplyDeleteSaw this book around and sounds really good... already have many on my TBR, but what will hurt to add one more? lol
ReplyDeletecreepy and fast paced? Woot! sounds like a great read!
ReplyDeleteAwesome review! Sounds like a perfect busy October read!
ReplyDelete