Scream Queens Review

Scream Queens is about a serial killer named the Red Devil targeting students in Wallace University, especially those in the sorority Kappa Kappa Tau. However, in the end it turns out that there were 2 or more Red Devil killers hunting the university. Throughout the whole series anyone could have turned out to be one of the killers, but there were lots of clues to help you try to figure out who the killers could be. I managed to guess that Boone was one of the killers when in episode 2 he faked his own death. However, I never guessed that Hester would turn out to be one of the killers. I always thought the killer would turn out to be one of the main Chanels, either Chanel 3 or 5. I got that totally wrong in the end. I also did not guess who the father of the babies in the bathtub was. However, I did guess that Gigi was the boss who was in charge of the Red Devil killers and she was also the Hag of Shady Lane who looked after the babies in the bathtub.

There were quite a lot of gruesome death scenes featured throughout this series. For example, one of the twins being killed with a staple gun, or Deaf Taylor Swift having her head decapitated by a lawnmower. It was kept interesting though as you never knew who the killers were going to go after next or why they were targeting these people in particular. However, it was easy to guess that Boone killed Earl Grey because Boone fancied Zayday and Earl was her boyfriend. The episode where Dean Munsch killed her ex-husband and framed his girlfriend was not my favourite episode. I found that episode kind of irrelevant in my opinion as it had nothing to actually do with the Red Devil killers or who they could be.

The characters throughout this series were great as they each had their own different quirks and characteristics. There was different things for each character which meant that they could have been the killer. For example, Chanel 3 (Billie Lourd) is completely vain and doesn't really care about anything. In the last episode when the Chanel's were arrested she was more interested in the good looking policemen than what was actually happening. She also didn't care when they were told they were being sent to the asylum as she looked happy about it and loved people pointing cameras at her when they were lead away. The police officers were completely useless throughout the whole series which added to the comedy element of the show. They couldn't find any clues for any of the murders and they never found the actual killers.

Grace was a great character as she just wanted to find out who the killers were and why people in Kappa Kappa Tau were being targeted. Chanel 5 annoyed me a lot of the time as she was always moaning or crying or just being hysterical. Chad was a bit annoying at times aswell, but I've been told that he is a fan favourite with viewer's of the show. I thought Pete would be one of the good guys, but it turns out he wasn't. I really liked Chanel Oberlin as even though she bossed everyone around, she still just wanted her friends to be safe and she was brave and feisty aswell. Some of the script added to the comedy element of the show aswell as some of the lines were really stupid and not believable.

The episode where the killer was revealed was quite a good episode. Hester paying the parents so they would basically disown their children was quite a smart move by someone so deranged and psychotic. The only thing that annoyed me was the way Chanel 3 acted when they were lead away by police, when they were in court and when they were lead away to the asylum. It was great to find out what Hester's life was like before she started at the university, why she did what she did and why she chose her particular victims. However, we did find out that she never actually killed the many victims except Pete. We also find out why she decided to leave Grace and Zayday alive. For one thing Grace is her half sister and Zayday was always really nice to her unlike the Chanel's. I also liked how the episode ended on a cliffhanger with the Red Devil standing over Chanel in the asylum with a knife. Chanel could have been hallucinating that event or the Red Devil (Hester) just wanted to scare Chanel, I doubt she was murdered in the asylum.

People will love this series because it is a mixture of comedy, horror and a thriller. It has the horror element with who is the killer, the death scenes and the scare factor. The comedy comes from some of the script, some of the death scenes and the failure of the police department. Definitely watch this if you love films like the Scream films or the Scary Movie films. Details have been released that Season 2 is going ahead and it will be set in the asylum where the Chanel's are currently being held. Cast who have signed up for Season 2 include so far everyone except Oliver Hudson who plays Wes Gardner. The crew have announced that the cast will be playing the same characters as they did in Season 1, unlike American Horror Story where cast plays different characters each season. Will be great to see if Season 2 is anything like the first season when it is released onto TV screens later this year or early next year hopefully.

And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Published- 3rd December 2015
Publisher- Harper Collins UK
Pages- 250 pages (paperback)

Why have these 10 individuals been invited to Soldier Island? Who is the mysterious U.N.Owen? Who is killing off the 10 individuals one by one? What is the significance of the 10 little soldiers nursery rhyme contained within every room of the house on Soldier Island?

And Then There Were None is a great thriller read as you have no idea who the killer could be or why he is committing this terrible crime. You spend a lot of the novel guessing who the killer could be. However, when you believe you have identified the murdered that person then themselves gets murdered. If you read it very carefully then you can find some clues as to who the murderer might be. It was easy to imagine what was happening in the novel as I recently watched the TV show And Then There Were None featuring a top quality cast.

I used the cast from the TV show to imagine what was happening to each of the characters within the novel. For example, I pictured Aidan Turner when imagining what was happening to Phillip Lombard and Anna Maxwell Martin when I was reading about Mrs Rogers. This helped me to follow the plot more smoothly as I could imagine the place and the characters perfectly. 

Phillip Lombard was one of my favourite characters as he was always calm even when everybody around him was dying and he tried to keep other people safe aswell not just himself. Vera Claythorne was quite an annoying characters at times because she became hysterical for no reason at all and she would complain and whine a lot of the time. Justice Wargrave was also kind of annoying as he didn't stop talking and tried to order everybody about for most of the novel. 

The death scenes were followed perfectly according to the nursery room contained within each room. For example, one character was killed whilst they were chopping up sticks and another was killed by a big bear. As you know they would have noticed a big bear on the island, but this was not a real bear of course but something much different. However, not all of the deaths were murders, or were they all murders? 

The language was easy to read which made the novel easy to follow. It was also quite a quick read as some of the chapters were quite short. The chapters were also broken down so within 1 chapter you could have either 6 or 7 different parts. The title is a line from the nursery rhyme which comes at the end of the rhyme. The line comes after the last person on the island has been killed.

Overall, I give this novel 5/5 stars. It was a great thrilling read. It was easy to follow and had you guessing the identity of the murderer throughout the whole novel. You should also give the TV show a watch aswell if you liked this novel. A definite must reads for fans of Agatha Christie or just thrillers in general. Everyone will love Agatha Christies most popular and best selling thrilling novel.

                               Rating 5/5

     

A Walk Among The Tombstones

A Walk Among The Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Published- 26th August 2014
Publisher- Hard Case Crime
Pages- 416 pages (paperback)

A Walk Among The Tombstones is about Kenan Khoury whose wife has been kidnapped, ransomed and returned to him dead. His brother Peter hires Matt Schudder, a private investigator, to find out who did this horrific crime, why and how can they be stopped. It has recently been released as a movie starring Liam Neeson as Matt Schudder and Dan Stevens as Kenan Khoury. However, the ending of the book is totally different from the ending of the film.

This isn't one of my favourite books but it was still a really good novel. I love crime novels such as this one. The action started right away in the first chapter with Kenan's wife being kidnapped and returned to him at the end of chapter one. Kenan was a likeable character in a way because all he wanted to do was find out who killed his wife. He's a drug dealer but was that a reason why his wife was killed?

Matt was a great private investigator as he would use all his resources and do everything he could to bring the killers to justice. However, I didn't really enjoy the AA meetings parts as that kinda dragged on after reading it a couple of times throughout the novel. Peter really annoyed me most of the novel because he tended to talk a lot about the AA meetings and then hardly ever going to them. He tended to moan quite a lot aswell. However, he did really care about his brother Kenan. 

I have yet to see the film, but I am sure it is a good film. It contains a brilliant actor in Liam Neeson. People in the UK might know Dan Stevens from Downton Abbey. 

Overall, this was a good novel even if some parts did bore me at some points and drag on repeatedly. I gave this novel 4 out of 5 stars. Give this a read if you have seen the film and loved that or if you just love crime/thriller novels.

                       Rating 4/5

   

The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Published- 31st October 2008/1st September 2009/24th August 2010
Publisher- Scholastic Press
Pages- 374 (Hardcover)/391 (Hardcover)/390 (Hardcover)

This was a brilliant trilogy of novels. The whole series contains lots of action, fights, deaths and even a bit of love. I cannot choose one book as my favourite as I loved the whole series. So for me there is no stand out book as they are all as good as each other.

The Hunger Games sets off the series well. To explain what The Hunger Games are is a tournament where the tributes (2 from each district 1-12) fight to the death and only 1 person comes out alive. As you can imagine tributes die in lots of horrific and disturbing ways throughout the games. However, as you know 2 tributes come out of the Hunger Games.

Catching Fire continues the story really well and starts Katniss's journey as the Mockingjay. The Mockingjay is a symbol for the rebels (the people who turn against the Capitol), for example it is their symbol of hope and freedom. This novel contains another Hunger Games called The Quarter Quell (75th Hunger Games) where previous tribute winners are chosen to go into the arena. So as District 12 has only had 3 tribute winners Katniss and Peeta have to go back into the arena to fight to survive.

Mockingjay is the last novel and the action continues once again. This novel contains loads of deaths, but no Hunger Games event this time. This time Katniss is fighting to get to the Capitol so she can set everyone from each of the districts free. However, as missions always go there are lots of deaths along the way and some deaths you will not predict. The deaths in this novel are really upsetting at some points. In my opinion the series has a really sad ending which involves the 3 main characters Katniss, Gale and Peeta.

Throughout this series I have different favourite characters. Of course I love Katniss as she is a strong female lead who just wants freedom for the people of Panem. In the Hunger Games I really liked Rue's character. She was a loveable 12 year old girl and it was really sad when she was killed in the games. From Catching Fire & Mockingjay I really liked Finnick. At first you thought he was going to be a brute liked Cato, but he was nothing like that as he protected Katniss & Peeta in the Quarter Quell. He also sacrificed himself so Katniss could get away in Mockingjay. Throughout the series I also really liked Gale. He would do anything for Katniss cos he loved her. He was brave and selfless and only wanted Katniss to survive as she was his best friend & the love of his life. However, you will have to read the books to find out if they end up together.

Overall, this was a fantastic series of novels and definitely one of my favourite series of novels along with Twilight. For each book I gave them 5/5 stars. So the overall rating for this series is 15/15 stars. A definite must read for any book lovers. Plus in my opinion there aren't that many differences between The Hunger Games book and movie. So it doesn't really matter if you read the book first or watch the movie first. Get reading this series book lovers!!!!!!

                     Rating 5/5 for each book
    

Deadly Cool

Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday

SOLICITED ARC REVIEW

Published- 11th October 2011
Publisher- HarperTeen
Pages- 303 pages (Paperback)

Summary- Hartley has just found out her boyfriend Josh has cheated on her with the Chastity Virgin Queen Courteney. However, when Hartley goes to confront Josh at his house she finds Courteney's dead body. This leads her into a world of murder, intrigue and mystery. Everyone believes Josh is the killer, but did he really do it? Who is the real killer? It's up to Hartley to find out the answers.

Hartley was a good main female character because she was determined to find out the truth about who actually killed Courteney. This lead her on a long and dangerous adventure with the help of her best friend Sam and Chase (the gothic bad boy). Hartley can be described as courageous, brave, smart and reliable. However, she does spill details of her investigation to the police and tv crews really easily when she hasn't really found out any new information yet.

Chase and Sam were also good characters because they made the perfect team with Hartley. They were all determined to find out who the killer was. Chase was described as the bad gothic boy who you didn't know if he was good or bad/killer or innocent suspect in Hartley's investigation. Hartley and Chase made the ultimate investigating team in my opinion because they both used their knowledge and the evidence they had to crack the murder case. Courteney wasn't a popular person so there were lots of suspects in her murder.

Throughout the whole of this novel you were kept guessing as to who the killer could be. When you thought you had guessed the killer another piece of action would happen or another piece of evidence would be found. So the whole way through you kept changing your mind as to who the killer actually was, even coming up with your own bizarre storylines as to what could have happened (but didn't). This novel contained mystery, intrigue, action, murder and kept you guessing throughout the whole novel as you could never guess who the killer actually was. Overall, I give this novel 5/5 stars as I really enjoyed it and would definitely read it again (even though I now know who did it). This was a fast paced novel and readers will definitely enjoy it so get reading Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday.

                          Rating 5/5
    

The Book of Blood and Shadow

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

SOLICITED ARC REVIEW

Published- 10th April 2012
Publisher- Random House Children's Books
Pages- 434 pages (E-book ARC Version)

The novel is based on the main female character Nora Kane. She is a shy girl with 2 best friends called Adriane and Chris. Adriane and Chris are a couple and Nora becomes a couple with Max (Chris's room mate). However, their worlds are changed when Chris is murdered, Adriane is left in a mental institution (she was at the murder scene when her boyfriend was murdered) and Nora goes in search of answers from the book, also to find out who murdered Chris. The murder was blamed on Max, but did he really do it? The book leads Nora in search of a device called the Lumen Dei, but what is this ancient device and what does it do?

This novel is broken down into 4 different parts each with their own different amount of chapters. It took me a while to read as I was really busy and didn't have much time to read. However, the novel did contain action, mystery, some parts romance and murder. Some of this novel was written in Czech as the main characters had to travel to Prague to find answers to the mystery. Other parts of the novel were letters written by Elizabeth Weston (one of the main people the mysterious book is about). The mystery contained throughout this whole novel didn't start until the characters got to Prague.

Nora was a good female character because she started off a shy person, but soon found her voice and became a couragious female character. She fought for what is right and wanted to find the answers about the book she was so desparately seeking. Eli was a good main character because you didn't know exactly who he was. Was he a good guy or a bad guy. He was also the guy with all the combat fighting moves. Luckily for Nora he was always there when she needed protecting from their main enemy. Max was the guy you were supposed to like and think he was being framed for Chris's murder, but what is the truth behind Max's story. Adriane was supposed to be the nice best friend, but also a bit of a mean person sometimes. However, was she always telling Nora the truth about what was going on her life after her time in the mental institution?

Overall, this was a good novel, but it was slow in some parts. It was hard at times to read some of it as it was written in Czech, but I gave it a go. Luckily the parts in Czech had English translations written after them. It helps teach you a new language in some parts of this novel. Overall, I give this novels 3/5 stars. This novel hasn't yet been released, but once it is I think that people should read this novel if they like mystery novels and novels which contain murder/who done it.

            Rating 3/5