Customer Reviews

Sketchy (The Bea Catcher Chronicles)

Sketchy. Ok so I don't like the name. It sounds like a name that's been made up when they couldn't think of anything else. It also sounds a bit shady `so and so is a bit sketchy'. But the art work on the proposed cover was good and the synopsis looks good too....

Sketchy is about Bea, a 17 year old (I think- I can't remember her age being mentioned, but I presumed she was about 17) ex-addict, who has been kicked out of her last private school for being a druggie, gone to rehab and is now being thrown into a state school to complete her education. She's clean, she's sober and everything is a little weird. Bea's an artist, from a family of artists, and since she got clean she's discovered a spooky talent, she draws what is foremost in someone's mind, if you're thinking of a banana, she'll draw a banana but only if that's what you REALLY want, if you want a big mac, but are settling for a banana, she'll draw the big mac (can you tell I'm on a diet here.....). Bea's not sure what to make of it, so she does what every good teenager should do, and ignores it.

The new school isn't as bad as she was expecting, she's found an old friend, Chris from art camp and they soon become inseparable. But then Bea hears about a girl in the `it crowd', Willa, how she was raped and beaten and left for dead a few weeks before, Bea ends up drawing the one thing she doesn't want to draw, Willa's rapist. But Willa has a secret to hide and won't let Bea share the picture with the police, so it's up to Bea to find him, to prove he's guilty and to do it all sober.

Sketchy was NOT what I was expecting. It's DARK, and I mean DARK. Drugs, sex, drink, murder, rape - it's all there, and it's not hidden away, its right there smacking you in the face. The book is all the better for it, the story's good, Bea's talent could have been pretty damn corny, but its handled well and her reaction to it is good too, she's not suddenly trying to save the world wearing a cape because she's got some talent with a pen, she's normal. There are a fair few twists and although the reader guesses who the killer/rapist is before Bea does, it doesn't ruin the suspense at all.

I loved Bea and her struggle to stay sober, it was a realistic account of what it's like (or it's how I'd imagine it - it's how I feel about missing chocolate), and her parents are fantastic, I'm sure there is more to her dad and why he gave up drawing, and I'm guessing that will come in the later books, but what I loved was that they were normal, they shouted, they worried, they checked up on her. They were a proper family, which you rarely see in YA fiction.

I know some will have an issue with the book because of its adult content, but it's not glamourizing the use of drugs, its painting the true, horrible picture of them, and I praise Samm's for taking that task on.

There really weren't many negatives, Chris annoyed me a bit - not even the gay thing which was a little forced, but more his annoying need to say Bea in nearly every sentence, we know who he's talking to, he doesn't need to address her every single time! Then there were the pictures. WHY oh WHY did we put the pictures in, it ruined the magic and is the single reason it's a four star not a five. I know what a bee looks like, I also know what a small child looks like, and hands too, I do not need them drawn for me. As for drawing the killer, it ruined my imagined picture of him, I'd say take the pictures out and leave it up to your reader to create the world, not illustrate it for them.

eGalley kindly provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Edit: Since writing this review I've been informed that the hardcover does not contain the sketches - so there we go, nothing wrong it at all really now! :D

I'm gunna come clean about two things before I get on with the rest of the review. Firstly, I bought this as part of Amazon's �1 books thing, where you can get one ebook from a selection of about thirty for �1, and this was the one I chose because it looked the least bad out of the bunch (that is, I didn't expect it to be amazing), and secondly, by the time I read it, I had totally forgotten the blurb and was not expecting the subject of this book to be what it was!

I find it pretty hard to pin down exactly what I enjoyed about this book in a sense, so I'll just make a quick, easy to read list instead of waffling on for five paragraphs:

+ A main character that has an obvious weakness (that is, she was a drug addict, and is constantly fighting that addiction), which was really interesting. It actually made her character much more likable to me, because she didn't come off as a Mary Sue, which many teen (sorry, 'young adult') books stumble into.

+ A main character who was specified to be non-white. It might seem dumb, but most books never say much about people's ethnicity, and so people just assume a character to be white. (For example, as far as I can see, Hermione from Harry Potter is never stated to be white. In fact, a lot of people have some interesting casting ideas for a non-white Hermione!) And it's not just said once, and then left alone. Throughout the book, she comments on her hair, which she claims is a result of her mum and her dad's different origins.

+ THE TOTAL LACK OF VICTIM BLAMING. I'm sorry that was in capitals but that is honestly something that I wasn't expecting. I sort of expect teen books to slut shame and such, so I kinda figured it'd be the same with this book, and no spoilers but the main character tells one rape victim essentially, "It doesn't matter what you did, you shouldn't have expected, and did not deserve, to be raped" and continues to say it, despite all that happens, which is really nice to see in a book for teens.

+ Sort of tagged onto that, the fact that the main character persevered when everyone else gave up, and it felt like there was a solid reason behind it (i.e. not just to move the story along).

+ The ending doesn't quite come out of nowhere. There are little bits that lead up to it, where you go back and you're just like 'ahhhh I didn't see that'. I just like that.

+ The story didn't shy away from the fact that it explored some kinda dark themes.

So now for a couple of things I didn't like so much:

- At some points (mainly near the beginning), the story felt very much like a typical high school YA novel (y'know, where the main character's like 'ugh, popular people' and such), which I didn't like so much. But I suppose in some sense that was supposed to juxtapose the darkness of other parts.

- This is just personal opinion, but the very very end felt kinda abrupt, and I felt like it pushed towards something but also tried to leave it open. I won't say what it was exactly, but I choose to believe the main character remained strong, despite the fact that I'm not sure the ending portrayed it that way.

Things I was neutral about/enjoyed but wouldn't put in the reasons to read:

~ There was sort of an ambiguousness as to why the main character was able to see the things she saw. It was implied that it was a genetic thing of sorts (which I found really interesting actually!), but otherwise it was just a thing that she could do.

~ There were some interesting lines in the story. One that I really liked was something along the lines of "Maybe it was you that was screaming."

Finally, I'd just like to say that I read this book in one go. I didn't want to put it down; I had to find out who the killer/rapist was! I'm really glad I bought this book, and that's something I haven't said about a YA novel in quite some time. I would definitely recommend (although also warn people that this book may not be for the faint-hearted!)

I clearly downloaded this book in error. I saw the star ratings, did not read them and was disappointed. The book will possibly appeal to readers who are in their early teens, who will relate to the story, but is not for adult reading. It's like watching a movie that after 10 minutes you decide it's not worth watching, but you continue, after half an hour you promise to switch off and when it gets to the end, you wonder what on earth possessed you to stay switched on to the end.

I'm not the typical YA book reader - but downloaded this as the description sounded interesting. I am so glad that I did. The content is heavy (rape, murder, drugs etc) but woven beautifully in this tale of an ex-drug addict with an unusual ability to see images and thoughts. Well worth a read.