Review: Great mystery -- Horrible personality shifts
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 22, 2013
I love the first three books in this series -- but the fourth one has left me cold.Don't get me wrong, I like the central mystery. I figured out who was doing it pretty early (and even why, but I digress) but it was still fun to go on the journey.My problem stems from the central romance.I understand why Zack was such a tool in the last book. He was back on drugs. He was struggling with his own inability to solve his problems. He felt guilty for what he was doing but, like all drug addicts, he didn't want to take responsibility for himself.At the end of that book, we were left believing Zack was going to get his life together. Instead, Zack has turned mean and cold. Since Sadie is the only reason he wasn't destitute in the first place, you would think he would be a little more grateful. His treatment of Sadie doesn't fit what we've learned about the character in the past, though. It seems out of character.Still, Zack's character shift isn't the worst part of the book. That honor belongs to Sadie suddenly being the most pathetic person in the world. In the last book, when she realized something was going wrong with Zack, she remained strong and didn't walk around begging him to stay and love her.In this book, he's treating her like absolute crap and she's begging him to stay and then texting him that she misses him and then watching her phone for days to see if he'll text back. How did that happen? Sadie was a strong character who could stand on her own two feet -- and now she's wandering around making her whole life about a man who is treating her like dirt.SPOILER ALERTI know some people think Owen gets her pregnant, but I don't think that is the case for the next book. Sadie was having fainting spells in this book -- long before she had sex with Owen -- for a reason. If she's pregnant, I think it's obviously Zack's kid -- but there will be paternity confusion at some point.END OF SPOILERI like Sadie. I like Zack. I like them together. However, both of these characters seemed to have huge personality shifts in this book. I don't know if it was because there was so much time between books or not -- but I barely recognized either of these characters.The good thing is, the mystery made up for the relationship shortcomings. Still, I want the real Sadie and Zack back in the next book. If they're not, I guess I'll have to find another series -- because I find nothing to like about this version of one of my favorite couples.