The Five Most Disappointing YA Suspense/Thrillers Read by the Book Ninja

This post is dedicated to April's edition of the 'Teen Scene' Next Reads newsletter by Auckland Libraries: Thrillers and Suspense. You may have read my introduction to this newsletter:
Ahhh, thrillers and suspense. My most favouritest genre of all. The mystery. The suspense. The need to read into the small hours of the morning just to figure out whodunit. This, ladies and gentleman is my life... It takes me back to my impressionable years as a young child, glued to the television set watching Scooby Doo. I always had my suspicions who the perpetrator of the crime was and, once the repeat episodes were shown, I was always right!

While I am an avid fan of thrillers and suspense novels, and there are heaps of fantastic novels out there, there has been... on occasion... a few novels that have made me feel really cheated and let down. This post is dedicated to those elected few:

1. Mice by Gordon Reece.
Described as 'an electrifying psychological thriller about a mother and daughter pushed to their limits', it was anything but. Yes, the mother and daughter may have been pushed to their limits but the story was tedious and very hard to get into and to continue reading. The moral of the story was an interesting one: Commit murder and you are able overcome your years of persecution.

2. Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck.
Think the Clique with a supernatural twist. Need I say more?

3. The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting.
I can hear the collective gasp of half the teen population in Auckland... The concept of the book is awesome. The book's main character Violet can sense the echoes of the dead, whether it be a colour, sound or taste... and see the imprints of the death on the killers. The plot is great. It is a definite page turner but why-oh-why does the author have to ruin the awesomeness of this book involving a love story? Jay is over-protective and over-the-top. What happened to the concept of the independent woman? And why can't Jay and Violet just remain best friends?

4. Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks.
Again, another book with a fast-paced, action-packed plot, with a great twist... But, *SPOILER ALERT* Raymond was never found *grrrr*. For me, it's the equivalent of ending a story with "and then I woke up". I like my suspense/thrillers to have a nice, tidy ending, where everything is solved, thank you very much.

5. Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin.
Theoretically this book is fantasy as it involves faeries BUT as the main character did not know that she was being duped into friendship for the sole reason of fulfilling an ancient promise to the fairy queen, which involves death... Therefore, this book is also a thriller (because I said so). Needless to say, Werlin decided to capitalise on her previous novel Impossible (which I adored) but, unfortunately, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing and Extraordinary is that.

You have been warned, dear readers...