Book Review: Choker by Elizabeth Woods

Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria.

Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in.

But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger? - Visit Choker's Goodreads page

My Review:

The plot in this book picks up pretty quickly. It has to, as this book has little over 200 pages. The story follows Cara through her day-to-day life, and especially focuses on her relationship with her friend Zoe, who has moved into Cara’s bedroom with her. This relationship develops throughout the book, and is really the main focus, and it shows Cara starting to realise that maybe Zoe isn’t such a great friend after all. However, she’s her best friend and she can’t just make her leave. 

The murder mystery part of the plot kept me very intrigued. I was enjoying reading about it, and guessing who the murderer could be. It will definitely keep you interested, even if you're a hardcore CSI addict like myself. 

I felt so sorry for Cara when she was being bullied. I really liked her character, and when she grew more confident with herself I was literally cheering for her. 

I won’t say much about Zoe, because the whole mystery that surrounds her in the beginning is amazing and yet terrifying. 

I really loved Cara’s love interest, Ethan. I thought he was really sweet, even though he was the boyfriend of one of the bullies who started calling Cara “Choker”. I wish we had seen more of him. 

The book is super creepy at times. I read it just before going to sleep, and I admit I had shivers running down my spine.

Now to my favourite part - the ending! If you were starting to get a little bored of this book, then I do urge you to keep reading, just for the amazing ending! I’m not going to say too much about it, but I will say you learn who the killer is, and it may come to a shock to a lot of you. There were a few hints thrown in throughout the books, and if you picked up on those then you may well have figured it out (I did) but you have to keep reading to see if your theory was correct, right? And even if you did guess correctly, learning about why the killer did it is especially interesting and captivating!

Let me tell you, this story is one that will stay with you for a long time!

Rating: 5/5

Published on January 4, 2011 by Simon & Schuster

Edition: Hardcover; 233 pages