Kara Terzis

Frayed by Kara Terzis is a suspense-laden young adult contemporary mystery.

Ava Hale is struggling to cope in the aftermath of her sister Kesley's murder. When Kesley's best friend (and sometime juvenile delinquent) Rafe Lawrence returns to town, Ava works up the courage to ask him if he had anything to do with Kesley's death. Although still uncertain about his guilt or innocence, Ava ignores her doubts and they team up to solve her sister's murder.

Ava is a sweet girl who is a bit of a loner who was orphaned at a young age. With very few memories of her biological family, she feels even more lost after Kesley's death. She is in a comfortable relationship with her longtime boyfriend Jackson but she doubts his loyalties when she stumbles across disturbing information about him. After an upsetting argument with her best friend Lia, Ava finds herself spending more time with Rafe but she continues to suspect he is not being completely honest with her.

Initially, neither Rafe nor Ava have any idea who would have wanted to kill Kesley. She was well-liked by everyone and she never got into any trouble. So Ava is beyond shocked when she begins uncovering some rather unsavory and shocking information about her sister. At first disbelieving these stunning claims, Ava soon has proof that Kesley was not as squeaky clean as she, and everyone else, believes. Ava's suspect list is a mile long and she is dismayed to learn that Jackson and Lia might have a motive for killing Kesley.

Frayed is a riveting young adult mystery with an intriguing storyline. Although Ava and Rafe are likable, the entire cast of characters is a little underdeveloped. Kara Terzis brilliantly conceals the killer's identity right up until the novel's shocking conclusion.
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We start off with the letter to Kesley being written by her younger sister Ava. The story jumps right into Ava's life as she is waiting on her best friend to drive her to school. Lia tells Ava that Rafe is back in town and wants to meet with her. This is apparently a huge deal because he was friends with Ava and Kesley before Kesley's murder, and hasn't been seen since before she died. So, of course, the girls think he might have had something to do with it.

There are parts throughout the story where Ava goes back to writing Kesley's letter, but they do not detract from the story, it all flows together nicely.

Ava of course talks to Rafe against her best friend's advice. But she starts to learn some new things about her sister and everyone around her. Ava finds out her boyfriend cheated on her with her sister, and then after forgiving him; she catches him and her best friend together.

Of course after that Ava gravitates more towards Rafe, even though her foster mother objects. But We soon find out that Rafe isn't the one we need to worry about. There is still a killer on the loose.

Ava is your average shy girl, only talks to a select few people at school. She is upset that her sister's murder isn't solved and starts to suspect people around her, Rafe, her now ex-best friend, at first even the girls of the local troublemaker gang K.A.R.M.A.

Ava soon finds out that Kesley was not only part of K.A.R.M.A but that she brought all the girls together. This is when things get interesting in the story, and just so I don't ruin it all... Know that I never saw the ending coming, I had my suspicions of who the killer was throughout the book, but I never would have even thought to suspect the one who actually killed Kesley.… (más)

Oh dear oh dear. About 20 pages into this book I : -

a) guessed who the murderer was and
b) worked out that a young girl wrote this book after winning a competition.

I battled through it but did not finish - I skipped to the end and saw that my guess was correct and that the writing didn't get any better!
Not sure who the editors of this were - they need a kick up the pants as it soooooooooo needed tightening up and for the author to ditch her descriptions of what was happening and her poor character development.
Meh.… (más)