“These Shallow Graves” – Jennifer Donnelly

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer DonnellyThese Shallow Graves
Jennifer Donnelly

Rating: 4/5

Jo Montfort is part of New York’s wealthy upper class, but unlike most girls of the Gilded Age she doesn’t dream of getting married off into another prominent family. She wants to be a journalist and give a voice to those being unfairly oppressed.

Jo’s life gets turned upside down when her father is found dead of an alleged accident. Not believing her father’s death was accidental, she meets Eddie Gallagher, a young reporter who helps her with the murder investigation. The deeper Jo and Eddie dig, the more secrets they unravel and soon find themselves fighting for their lives!

What a great read!  Good plot. Lots of twists. Good atmosphere. The historical detail was perfect, I felt like I was in the time period, but I wasn’t hit over the head with info dumps like some historical fiction novels tend to do.

Despite being almost 500 pages (longer than the average YA novel), the plot moved quickly and nowhere did it feel slow or dragging. In fact, I had to read the last 200 pages in one sitting because of very important plot reasons.

Once I hit a certain point in the story, the killer was predictable, but it didn’t at all take away from the enjoyment of the story. There was so much more to the book than ‘who did it?’ I wanted to be a part of Jo and Eddie’s journey, I wanted to see how they would fare after everything was over.

Jennifer Donnelly is a fantastic story teller with great pacing and characterization. I am delighted to discover she has quite a few novels published, all of which have been added to my to-read list!

These Shallow Graves is released on October 27. You can pick up your own copy (Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo).

I received an advance reading copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

 

 

 

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