Review: What If?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 4, 2014
Sometime in the future there is a new means of reducing the costs of lengthy trials and prison sentences for accused murders while determining the prisoner's true guilt or innocence; ship them off to the compass room for thirty days.  The compass room is a scientifically monitored environment that ultimately gages the reactions and neurologic responses to various simulated scenarios and the prisoner will ultimately be proven to be guilty of murder and executed or innocent of the crimes that have been alleged and pardoned.  The outside world ferments with the controversy over the viability of the sentencing outcome for individuals and the crimes, which the media has already determined them to be guilty of.  The primary protagonist is a young woman, Evalyn Ibarra, who has been accused of an unspeakable murder spree, the facts of the events are essentially unknown throughout the majority of the book, but are little by little ultimately revealed with the story told from her point of view.  The writing was very well executed with wonderful world building and intriguing characters.  I became emotionally invested with the story and characters, which kept me glued to my reader eager to know the outcome of the tale.  This book is hard to categorize in a specific genre, but is full of conspiracies, mysteries, in a pre-futuristic society and while the compass room has similarities to Survivor without the option of being voted off the island and the guilty party's outcome being a bit grimmer, it was a very entertaining read and I look forward to reading what happens next.  The ending was satisfying, but does leave opening for book two without being a complete cliffhanger.  Definitely a recommended read for those interested in something a little bit different in the what if ?  I received this book via NetGalley.