Blood Will Tell is amazing! Women are found stabbed and the DNA of a teenager, Nick, who collects knives, plays violent video games, and draws disturbing images is found on one of the bodies. Immediately, Nick becomes the prime suspect. Will his friends be able to clear his name? Secrets are revealed along the way. April Henry requires the reader to follow the forensic clues and tips throughout the mystery. Excellent YA Read! ( )

This was a compelling read, fast-paced as you might expect from a crime thriller, and filled with reveals and the details of crime scenes and DNA testing to make a believable story. All that said, the thing I struggled with the most was actually the Search and Rescue aspect. I realize the author has done some research here, but it is really plausible that this group of teens would be called up for Search and Rescue three times in the same week? How many people are going missing or getting murdered in this town (maybe the police should investigate)? All that aside, this was overall a decent read and recommended for those interested in crime fiction. ( )

Nifty little who-done-it with teenagers involved in both a murder investigation, charge, and solution. 16-year-old Nick is a member of his local SAR (Search and Rescue) squad as a teen volunteer. As such, he is often one of the first to visit crime scenes and to learn of missing persons. When a murder occurs near his house, he IS literally the first SAR to appear and when his DNA turns up on the victim, he becomes Suspect #1. The SAR theme allows the author to handily relay forensic and investigative techniques to the reader. The characters are not deep but satisfyingly unique; parents are positively portrayed (yay). There are some side themes and red herrings to add meat to the plot; overall the pacing is crisp. The writing is similarly satisfying: a step above pedestrian (in describing a couple, she writes: "she looked at him like she was facing the sun") The third person voice allows for a variety of perspectives, including the killer's. In the end, Nick's friends Alexis and Ruby "solve" the case and exonerate their colleague but it's an interesting ride to get there. This book reflects all you can ask of a good YA murder mystery! ( )

This is the fourth book of Henry's I have read, and I must say, it was a little disappointing. I know it's a work of fiction but I really don't think a 16 year old could figure out a DNA mix-up before the professionals could. It also seemed like the author really wanted to portray the police in a negative light, and also the military, based on something Nick's father, a former soldier said. Here is the quote. "See, what kind of rational human being is going to sign up to go out and kill other human beings?" Really?? Labeling the people irrational who sacrifice their own lives to protect ours? Now, that's irrational. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: I went into this expecting a great mystery that would keep me on my toes, and instead I got a story that I figured out within a couple chapters. The characters were dull, the mystery was non-existent, and I found the whole thing to be a pretty boring read.

Opening Sentence: Freshly spilled blood is wet, shiny, and startingly crimson.

The Review:

Nick, Ruby, and Alexia are all members of the SAR squad in Portland, Oregon. The three are all seniors in high school and they all have their reasons for wanting to be a part of the SAR. Nick is doing it because eventually he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the army. The SAR will give him great training in many skills that he will be able to use in the future. Alexia originally joined because she needed something good to put on scholarship applications, but after rescuing a few people she truly has found joy in helping others. Ruby joined because she wants to eventually become a detective and also because she is awkward and thought it would be a good way to make friends. The three of them have been through a lot together and now they have a good friendship.

They are put on a routine assignment to help gather evidence for a murder that happened just a few blocks away from Nick’s home. As the evidence starts to come in all of it is pointing to Nick as the killer. They found his DNA at the scene, he has an obsession with knives and the victim was stabbed, and he likes to play violent video games like most boys his age. It’s not looking good for Nick and he will have to rely on his friends to try and clear his name. But time is running out and the real killer is getting ready to strike again!

The three main characters in this series are Nick, Ruby, and Alexia. For the most part this story focused mainly on Nick. He was such an awkward person and being inside his head was pretty dull most of the time. He is a very average teenage boy and there wasn’t really anything about him that stuck out as something that would make him interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I like normal characters, but if there isn’t something about them that draws me in I find myself not caring about their story. He tends to complain a lot about his situation in life and that really grated on my nerves. If you aren’t happy with your life, do something about, but Nick just seemed to let things be instead of trying to change his situation. For me personally he was not a character that I connected with at all and honestly I don’t really care to read anymore about him in future books.

Alexia is a sweet girl and she is one of the only reasons I wish I would have read the first book, because I think I might have cared more about her if I had. Her home situation isn’t perfect, but at least she is trying to make her life better by doing things that will possibly land her a scholarship in the future. For the most part you aren’t in her head very much, but what I did see of her I liked fine.

Ruby was by far my favorite character in the entire story. She is a very blunt, ridiculously smart girl that is very awkward socially. I loved that she would just blurt out whatever was on her mind and the way she logically figured things out was very intriguing. The only down side to her personality was that she came across as somewhat cold and a little too calculated, which made it hard to fully connect with her. Even though I really enjoyed her character it wasn’t enough that I would actually want to continue reading this series.

Blood Will Tell was a very interesting read for me and unfortunately not one I really enjoyed. First off this is supposed to be a mystery, but the author tells you who the killer is very quickly, so I didn’t feel like there was anything to figure out, which in some ways made the entire book pointless. I guess the characters have to try to figure out how to clear Nick’s name and really that is pretty much the main focus of the story. So if you are looking for an intense mystery that will keep you guessing, this is not the book for you. The next thing I struggled with was the cast of characters. The book is told from multiple POV’s which was fine; it just made it hard to connect with anyone since you only got a small snippet of their story. I will admit that I have not read the first book in the series, so maybe I would have liked the characters better if I already had a relationship established with them, but I’m not sure it would have made much of a difference. I will say that this sequel stood just fine on its own, there was never a time that I felt lost or confused in any way as to what was going on in the story. I think the biggest disappointment for me was that overall this book was just boring and even though I finished it very quickly, I felt like nothing really happened. Personally, I can’t say I would recommend this book to anyone, but if you are a fan of Henry’s writing give it a try. Hopefully you have a better experience with it then I did.

Notable Scene:

What had he done? What had he done? In the small bathroom, he threw up and kept throwing up unti; all that came out were strings of yellow bile.

He was a monster.

No. What had happened was a mistake. A mistake he would never make again.

That’s what he told himself. Over and over.

FTC Advisory: Henry Holt and Co./Macmillan provided me with a copy of Blood Will Tell. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )