Title: The Murder Complex 

Author: Lindsay Cummings

Publishers: Greenwillow Books

Release Date: June 10th 2014

Page Count: 398

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

I liked this book but the biggest problem I had with it was the writing. This is Lindsay's first novel and you could tell that she was new at writing because things sometimes seemed cliché and confusing but the story was enticing and the plot was very rich. I gave this book 3.5/5 stars.

Warning this review is FULL of spoilers.

So to start off this book I have to talk more about the writing. You could tell that this was an author's first novel because there were some recognisable problems that I saw.

I did not like how with Zephyr it was kind of instalove for him but not for Meadow. I understand that he felt connected to her because of the Murder Complex but he seemed way too eager to be with her, like he wanted to forget everything to be with her and that seemed like something an author with a not very developed relationship would put into a book.

I honestly didn't really like Zephyr's character at all. I did not hate him but I didn't think he was a very strong character and seemed to show his weakness at the most unhelpful times. I did not like how his character would give up so easily, especially when he attempted suicide. When finding out that he was part of The Murder Complex, I thought Zephyr made all of the wrong decisions.

I think that Meadow, on the other hand, was a very good character. Although she didn't have much of a personality, she was strong and made clever choices. She is much like the other popular main female protagonists in YA books. 

When we find out about Meadows mother being alive and being the creator of the Murder Complex, I was excited because now the plot which seemed to be going south, suddenly had so much more potential. Only some of that potential carried through but that was not because of Meadows mother. I was disappointed by Meadows mother because we were built up to believe that she was amazing but she wasn't. I know that was how she was meant to be portrayed but I didn't think she was a very realistic character.

She didn't seem to care about anyone else (including her daughter). She only cared about her creation and I think that killed the potential that she carried and also made her an unbelievable character.

Although I still think all of this, the cliffhanger at the end of the book does make me want to continue with the series when the other books come out, but my rating is still staying at a 3.5/5.

Happy Reading!

Lily x

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