Review: The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

The Murder Complex

Author: Lindsay Cummings
Series: The Murder Complex #1
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: YA Dystopian/Science Fiction
Format: ebook
Release Date: June 10, 2014
Source: egalley received from publisher via Edelweiss
Rating: 4 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.*** 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

My Review:

You guys, if there is one debut you should read this year, make it this one. I loved this book. It was intense. It was brutal. It was fast-paced. It had great characters. In short, this book almost has it all. In a book world full of dystopians, Lindsay Cummings has managed to make her story stand out, breathing fresh air into the genre.

This book isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s bloody, gory, and truly brutal. If you cringe at murder and blood and guts and just violence in general, you might want to stay away. If on the other hand, you like that stuff, then this is the book for you. The author does not hold back and shows a world that’s dark and quite terrifying. A world where the murder rate is higher than the birth rate. A world where you have to carry a knife on the street and train every day in order to survive. Me in this world? I would die in two seconds flat.

Our main character on the other hand, is a survivor, a total badass. I loved Meadow. She was fierce and resilient, but she also felt like a normal teenage girl. I loved how much she cared about her younger sister and her older brother. The family relationship was really important here and I loved that, although I wasn’t the biggest fan of her father. But he cared about her in his own way.

The other main character, Zephyr, was quite interesting. He was a hard nut to crack, but I loved the soft, sympathetic sides we saw to him. Zephyr feels everything and that is what makes him so strong. I loved his relationship with his friend Talan and just really enjoyed watching him work out what was going on.

My one and only complaint is the romance. I thought it was a bit quick and it felt a little insta-lovey to me. But aside from that, this book kicked ass. Literally. A blistering pace full of shocking twists and turns, you won’t be able to put it down. Just read it. Happy reading all!

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you like it as much as I did? How did you feel about the romance?