Premeditated by Josin L. McQuein

Premeditated by Josin L. McQuein
Release Date: October 8, 2013
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Borrowed
Star Rating: ★★★★
Rating: Enjoyable

A week ago, Dinah’s cousin Claire cut her wrists.

Five days ago, Dinah found Claire’s diary and discovered why.

Three days ago, Dinah stopped crying and came up with a plan.

Two days ago, she ditched her piercings and bleached the black dye from her hair.

Yesterday, knee socks and uniform plaid became a predator’s camouflage.

Today, she’ll find the boy who broke Claire.

By tomorrow, he’ll wish he were dead.

Killing someone’s easier than you think.

---

I love a good revenge story, and I adore thrillers, so I knew that Premeditated would be a book for me. Add to that the fact that I loved McQuein's debut, Arclight, and, well, we have a winner. After finishing this book and sitting on it for a while, I still feel pretty much the same about it. It's a great revenge story, packed with many different themes and topics, and without an overbearing romance.

Premeditated is a really fast read. I read it in just over a day because I couldn't put it down. I needed to know what would happen with Claire, what DID happen with Claire, and how Dinah was going to go about her revenge.

I enjoyed McQuein touching upon darker subjects like revenge, harassment, bullying... all those kinds of things. I think it's great that she managed to incorporate all these different things into this thrilling novel, without detracting from the plot by making it sound preachy, or making it drag. She balances it out very nicely.

The plot twist itself - yes, there is a plot twist, every thriller has to have one - was easy to figure out. I wasn't even a third of the way through the book when I started to suspect something was up, and I had figured out the outcome very early on. Despite the twist being obvious, I loved it. I enjoyed putting together all the small clues that McQuein threw in throughout the book, and it made for a really fun read.

Despite the major twist being predictable, something occurred that I totally wasn't expecting. At all. I can't say what it is, obviously, but it shocked me, and I had to put the book down for a bit because I wasn't prepared for it.

I really liked Dinah as well, and how much she cared about Claire. I love a good platonic relationship between girls, or between family members, and their story was fantastic. Dinah loved Claire so much that she was willing to do anything to get back at the guy who had hurt her. On top of Dinah and Claire's relationship, the bonds between the other family members are really well done. I loved reading about Dinah and her aunt and uncle, and the dynamic between them all was fantastic. I also loved reading about Dinah and her mum, even though that wasn't the most positive or happy relationship between the two of them.

Premeditated is, on the surface, as dark story about revenge, but as you read on you begin to realise that it's about something so much deeper. Love, family, and friendship all play a vital role in the story and in Dinah's life, and I thought it was a great read. I've added Josin L. McQuein to my autobuy list, because I think she has some serious talent and I love the stories that she weaves.