Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday

Publisher: Harper Teen

Publish Date: October 11, 2011

Paperback, 320 pages 
Fiction, Young Adult, Mystery
 ISBN: 978-0062003317

My Review:
My thoughts:  I liked this book.  I liked the mystery.  I liked spunky heroine Hartley and I felt sorry for her as she became ostracized at times while trying to figure out the mystery of whether her boyfriend, who cheated on her, killed the girl he cheated on her with.  Sam and Hartley are funny together, and I loved the addition of the bad boy Chase.  Every good YA story with a good girl being upset by her good boy (supposedly) boyfriend needs a bad boy in it.  But somehow while cliched the book doesn't feel cliched at all.  The cliches that are there are on purpose.

The book speeds by and even I was still guessing at the end.  I liked the main characters, loved the plot.  I liked the different secondary characters Ms. Halliday employed in the book.  Some I didn't really like but I like how they were used to show the different social structures of high school and how brutal it can be.  I also like that the book never took itself too seriously, there was always plenty of sarcasm of humor to go around. Deadly Cool was a great book and I am looking forward to the second installment in this series Social Suicide coming in 2012 which will pick up where this one leaves off with Hartley.

My Rating: 4.25/5.0


About the Book:

First I find out that my boyfriend is cheating on me. Then he’s pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And now he’s depending on me to clear his name. Seriously?

As much as I wouldn’t mind watching him squirm, I know that he’s innocent. So I’m brushing off my previously untapped detective skills and getting down to business. But I keep tripping over dead bodies and I’m still no closer to figuring out who did it. And what’s worse: all signs seem to point to me as the killer’s next victim.

I really need to pick a better boyfriend next time.


About the Author (from her website): 
Gemma had a hard time figuring out what she wanted to be when she grew up. She worked as a film and television actress, a teddy bear importer, a department store administrator, a preschool teacher, a temporary tattoo artist, and a 900 number psychic, before finally selling her first book, Spying in High Heels, in 2005 and deciding to be a writer.

Since then, Gemma has written several mystery novels and been the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Reader's Choice award and three RITA nominations.

Gemma now makes her home in the San Francisco Bay area where she is hard at work on her next book.

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FTC Information: I received this book through Teen Book Scene for an honest review.