Review: Wicked Games by Sean Olin

Wicked Games by Sean Olin
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: June 10th, 2014

Wicked Games is the first book in a sexy thriller series where passion, lies, and revenge collide-perfect for fans of Simone Elkeles and Sara Shepard.

To all the locals in the small beach town of Dream Point, Carter and Lilah seem like the perfect It Couple-but their relationship is about to brutally unravel before everyone's eyes.

Carter has always been a good guy, and while Lilah has a troubled past, she's been a loyal girlfriend for the last four years. When smart, sexy Jules enters the picture at a senior-year bash, Carter succumbs to temptation. And when Lilah catches wind of his betrayal, she decides that Jules needs to pay.

By the end of the summer, the line between right and wrong will be blurred beyond recognition. Blood will be shed. Nothing in Dream Point will ever be the same.

This juicy summer read will keep readers turning pages until the shocking, nail-biting finale. 

My Thoughts:
I am all for psychological thrillers.  I for some reason just love all the craziness and tend to gravitate to these types of books.  Unfortunately Wicked Games was a step in the wrong direction for me.

This book was just a mess from the get go.  You see in the prologue Lilah and Carters relationship start off sweet and fun, but by the time they are seniors things have changed and Lilah is not the same girl she once was.  I wasn't quite sure what to think honestly.  Lilah was such a pain and I felt for Carter.  He was there for her even when she was being mean and downright nasty to him.  Then I saw why she was this way...well I read that she was on medication for a problem but that was about as far as the explanation went.  So I said well she needs help and this is where this story is going to take me, but I was wrong.  There is cheating, stalking, violence, and a little fatal attraction thrown in.  Usually this is my type of crazy but not this time.

I think if the author would have shown us when and how Lilah came to be this way I might have felt more for her.  Don't get me wrong she definitely had a few screws loose, but there was a mental reason behind her actions that was never really explained.  Yes we get a few short paragraphs detailing the event that led up to her medication, but for me that's not enough.  Show me conversations between her parents, her therapist, her doctor something.  I can't just buy into the fact that this girl is this troubled for no reason.

Well when she finds out what Carter did she really flies off the handle and things get worse for the other party involved. Again I find myself mad at the parents of both sides.  If my daughter went through what Jules went through I would not just get a restraining order.  I would press as many charges as I could to make sure this person went somewhere away from my child.  Both parents just kinda go okay you feel sorta bad you say you won't do anything else so we well just let it all go with a restraining order.  HELLO does that ever work??

The cheating...where do I even begin.  This is the only part of the story where I felt sad for Lilah.  She didn't deserve to be cheated on by Carter.  Yes she was a mess, yes she needed major help and yes she didn't need to be with Carter.  Carter needed to man up and tell her in nicer way that they needed to break up. He knew she was unstable and after four years together she deserved more than what he gave her.  I get that he couldn't do it anymore, but he should have talked to her parents and been honest with his feelings.  Someone in Lilah's condition would have needed support and Carter should have been a little more understanding of that.  He should never have cheated and left that for Lilah to deal with on her own.  After he cheated and justified it to himself I just wanted to puke.  This is the kind of character that I loath the most.

The part that bothered me the most though was the ending.  After all the craziness I didn't care whether Carter ended up with a HEA because well he cheated and I just can't let that go no matter the reason, but I didn't expect what happened.  It kinda felt like what goes around comes around and the sequel is going to mimic this book and I don't buy it.  I know mental illness stems from something but really would lighting strike twice in the same general area??  It all just felt too off and left me going seriously that's how you are going to end this??

So no I was not a fan of this book.  I thought it was a mess that really needed cleaning up.  I don't even know if I think editing would help.  There were just too many plot holes and the characters were not likable at all.

1 snowflake