Sawyer Dodd's boyfriend has just been killed in a drunk-driving accident, with him being the drinker. She gets sympathy all around from her dad and stepmom to her friends at school. Little do they know, part of her isn't mourning: part of her is relieved that Kevin can't abuse her anymore. Her bittersweet relief comes to a halt when she finds a note in her locker attached to an article about the accident that simply says: You're welcome. What if Kevin's accident wasn't an accident after all?

TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY was suspenseful and addicting. I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. Sawyer is introduced with trying to reconcile her feelings about her boyfriend's death, and as if that isn't enough, she seems to have a stalker.

I love how the author, Hannah Jayne, manages to get the emotional depth behind what Sawyer is going through to begin with while at the same building up a murderous plot that is bigger than anything Sawyer could guess. Sawyer is so caught up in all the vague evidence as to who might be behind the murder, that she actually second guesses herself a few times as the potential person. I enjoy seeing a main character in a murder mystery plot like this who isn't above questioning her own actions. For so long in the book, I never felt sure if I could trust her as a narrator or not, but I never saw the true killer coming.

In the midst of all this high drama and suspense, Jayne makes room for a touch of romance. Cooper, the new guy at school, was charming and precious. When I first saw Sawyer and him having their first meaningful conversation, the connection between them was great. He is mysterious and questionable, but you still see that he knows what it's like to lose someone, and he can intimately relate to Sawyer in that way, though the cases are very different. Being a book romantic myself, I thought those romantic breaks between the heavy suspense were appropriate and well played.

Though the story line kept me on my toes, it did get a tad predictable in parts of it in a classic-scary-moment way. Whenever Sawyer was alone at her house or alone in general, I could easily tell something scary was about to happen, sort of in the way you want to yell at the person in scary movies who is about to open the closet hiding a monster. Did knowing that keep me from grabbing my nearby stuffed animal? Certainly not, but it did seem a little obvious at times.

After sleeping with the light on after reading this, I did like it. The story line isn't exaggerated like suspenseful novels so often can be. Sawyer was a real and relatable character with a strong backbone much needed for dealing with a killer. It was also a nice length, and I was able to get through it in a night (though I would recommend reading it in the day). If you love suspenseful, but not horror-filled, murder mysteries, give TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY a shot.

Book Summary

Sawyer Dodd is a star athlete, a straight-A student, and the envy of every other girl who wants to date Kevin Anderson. When Kevin dies in a tragic car crash, Sawyer is stunned. Then she opens her locker to find a note:

You're welcome.

Someone saw what he did to her. Someone knows that Sawyer and Kevin weren't the perfect couple they seemed to be. And that someone—a killer—is now shadowing Sawyer's every move