Victoria Zell doesn't fit in. She doesn't have a lot of friends, but she's okay with that, because she's got her boyfriend Andrew. He's homeschooled, but he's the only thing that makes her stupid Catholic school bearable. That is, until Z comes along. He's captivating and confident and fun. Everything Victoria isn't, He makes her want to do things that she could never bring herself to do before, and suddenly Victoria feels like a completely different person than she was before he came along.
Cover
I'll admit, the first thing that drew me to this book was the cover. It's absolutely beautiful.
Characters
I didn't really like the characters in Unnatural Deeds but in it's defense, I don't really think the author intended for the characters to be likable, and even though I didn't like them, they did make me feel for their situations, which is good.
Mystery
Unnatural Deeds is written sort of backwards. We start at the ending and Victoria recounts the story from the beginning. The mystery I'm talking about opens as soon as you start the book. At the beginning of each chapter, there are little snippets of things like police and coroner reports, as well as interviews from characters you read about. As you read, you are left wondering who these pieces of information are about, and what caused them to happen. It's all very suspicious. An example would be:
Duchess-Police are investigating an apparent homicide after a body was found in a wooded area early Tuesday morning. Authorities have not yet released the name of the victim or the person(s) they are questioning in connection with the investigation.
-Central Maine Express Times
I loved reading these. Obviously, you can guess who's involved, but I think this is a very creative way of communicating a mystery.
Ending
The ending really surprised me, just like I was hoping it would. There were times where I wasn't that into the book, but the ending redeemed the book for me.
Conclusion
I struggled with this book at the beginning, which you would know if you're my friend on Goodreads, but I started enjoying it more once I hit about halfway. Despite the slow start for me, I would read this book again. I would recommend this book to fans of The Lonely by Ainsile Hogarth, and fans of The Memory Game by Sharon Sant. I would be cautious if giving this book to a younger reader as there is some sexual content.
