S. J. Maher

Social Misconduct by S.J. Maher was an intriguing thriller.

Candace Walker is a social media guru/specialist who gets an interesting job. Once she goes to a party and meets some new friends (and cute guys), suddenly she's getting sexually harassed and threatened all of the time. She tries to get help from the company she works for and her lawyer sister, but it seems like it's never ending... until things get worse.

The first half of this book almost had me DNF-ing. It was very social justice warrior, obsessive vegan and crazy Millennial-esque. It reminded me of the people us Millennials make fun of because they are so over the top about their world saving antics. It was kinda cringey for me, but other readers who make fun of said Millennials will probably get a kick out of it. I rolled my eyes a lot at some of the passages, but decided to just keep putting it down and jumping back to it at a later time.

The second half of this book is a super fun, fast paced and has some wild twists and turns. I wouldn't have guessed the ending by any means, it was honestly quite shocking. It seemed to be for the shock factor though, because the ending was just... an ending. It didn't solve any of the problems of the book for me. Sure, it finished some of the plot lines but it kinda made the story worse for me. I didn't feel like anything had really been resolved.

The chapters are very short, so this isn't the kind of book you want to say "just one more chapter" because suddenly you've read six more. Some chapters are only a couple of pages (mine was an ARC copy so it may be a wee bit different than the final version), and they move really fast.

There's also some loosely tossed about suicide comments, which made me cringe even more. This book felt like it was going for the shock factor, but it just didn't hit it right for me. Like, "hey, I want to kill myself" and then "nah, nevermind, I'm cool. I took an Ambien." Like... what? It was so easy and casual and as if it was something everybody says to their neighbours when they walk out of the house. It sat really weird with me. That's a big issue and it was just used as a random comment for this book. Additionally, there's lots of comments about rape. And yes, in a scary situation like this rape and suicide are things that happen but it's just... so casual. So much casual rape and suicide, which is not a sentence I want to type or hear. Ick.

Also, Sandy Hook conspiracy theories.... Double ick.

Overall, this book is 250% not for me. I did not enjoy it due to the problematic factors I listed above. There will be many people who's enjoy it: it's thrilling, full of mystery and there for the shock factor. I would recommend it if you like those kind of things. It simply was just not a good fit for me as a reader.

Two out of five stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.… (plus d'informations)