Unnatural Deeds

Murder, Mayhem, A Good Girl turned bad because of a charming, enigmatic boy? How COULD I say no? In a Few Words (and not a million?): Unnatural Deeds was a lot of things, just not all that it promised it would be. Victoria Zell is new at St. Ann’s School. She doesn’t talk to anyone, sits in the corner of her class and has an agoraphobic boyfriend/ neighbour who she’s been dating forever. Zachary Zimmerman, ‘Z’, is Victoria’s polar opposite. He’s popular, always the centre of attention and the more you talk to him, the less you know about him. So, it’s a huge surprise to invisible Victoria wants popular boy Z to want to be friends with her, and the last thing she ever expected when she starts falling for him. Slowly, and obsessively. While the storyline itself was quite unique, and the WHAT HAPPENED and WHO DID WHAT element was always present and encouraging you to read more, there were a lot of things just off about the book: 1. Victoria Zell: I understand that the point of this book was to make her a social outcast and completely gullible to Z’s charms, but this girl DID NOT TRY AT ALL – to make friends, or even acquaintances, to be a part of the town, the school – NOTHING. She didn’t even use her phone or have social media! It wouldn’t have bothered me at all – because there are different kinds of people, but when Z became friends with her SHE CARED ABOUT ALL THESE THINGS – her looks, what the popular girls thought of her – EVERYTHING. Like I said, off. 2. Zachary ‘Z’ Zimmerman: I’ve had my fair share of popular, enigmatic guys that are friends with EVERYBODY. I GET IT. I’ve had two best friends that would fit Z’s description in the social calendar, but I felt NOTHING with this boy. I didn’t see his charm, I didn’t see that SPECIAL SOMETHING that made him oh-so-shiny. He just looked good. Period. I didn’t like him and I didn’t trust him, and ALL THE SPARKLY GREATNESS that Victoria described about him just made it worse. 3. The Ending: While I knew to expect a big shocker of an ending, and IT REALLY WAS, like you COULD NOT SEE THAT COMING, it just WAS NOT EXPLAINED ENOUGH. After a big question mark of a book, and a twist, there was BARELY ANY EXPLANATION. I would have loved SOMETHING, thank you. Sigh. 4. The Interviews: There were a lot of interviews that were placed between the chapters with characters by the police supposed to give you extra, third hand information about what was going on without revealing anything, these were short, were of no help and I’ve just seen this done better like in Eileen Cook’s With Malice, and I didn’t like it very much. All in all, a book worth a one-time read if young adult mystery and obsession is what you’re into. I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters, but definite points to the story for not being predictable for the most part. 3 stars.