Review: With Malice by Eileen Cook

Author: Eileen Cook
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Number of Pages: 320
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Synopsis:

"It was the perfect trip…until it wasn’t.
Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital room, leg in a cast, stitches in her face and a big blank canvas where the last six weeks should be. She discovers she was involved in a fatal car accident while on a school trip in Italy. A trip she doesn’t even remember taking. She was jetted home by her affluent father in order to receive quality care. Care that includes a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident…wasn’t an accident.
As the accident makes national headlines, Jill finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. It doesn’t help that the media is portraying her as a sociopath who killed her bubbly best friend, Simone, in a jealous rage. With the evidence mounting against her, there’s only one thing Jill knows for sure: She would never hurt Simone. But what really happened? Questioning who she can trust and what she’s capable of, Jill desperately tries to piece together the events of the past six weeks before she loses her thin hold on her once-perfect life."

This book is one of the most perplexing I've ever read, I'm not sure whether to hate it because of my morals or love it because it made me question my morals.

I genuinely am struggling to write this review. I'm not sure whether to bash the book because it is just so morally...wrong, or maybe it's right. I DON'T KNOW. This book is really making me question everything I know about right and wrong. It really isn't black and white. 

I've gone back and forth between rating this book 4 out of 5 stars, 2 stars, 3 stars and I'm really conflicted. I don't think a book has torn me up this much. I even contemplated not writing a review on this book, but I realized that I had to because others should know about this. Books are supposed to make you question life and what we believe in. Eileen Cook really accomplished that.

“It doesn’t matter what’s true — what matters is what people believe.”

This book started out slow, it wasn't as gripping as it should have been. I went into this book blind, not knowing anything, and I didn't expect it to be this whole rollercoaster. This beginning didn't really hold my interest but as the book progressed I had a hard time keeping my hands off the book.

The characters are such realistic people--even the assholes. Oh my god, I could've punched the father in this book. I wasn't even pissed with Evan because he's the lawyer but the Dad... 

To be honest, by the end I hated everyone but the main character, her doctor, and Anna. I'm not sure if that was intentional but I'm going to guess that it was.

I begging you all to read this book so you can go through the anguish that I did at the end of this book, and so that all of you can understand how confused I am by the world now.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars!

*A copy of this book was provided for an honest review.