Book Review: Social Suicide by Gemma Halliday

Social Suicide
Deadly Cool #2
Author: Gemma Halliday
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: April 24th 2012
Review Source: Harper Teen
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) Twittercide [twit-er-sahyd]: the killing of one human being by another while the victim is in the act of tweeting.

Call me crazy, but I figured writing for the Herbert Hoover High Homepage would be a pretty sweet gig. Pad the resume for college applications, get a first look at the gossip column, spend some time ogling the paper’s brooding bad-boy editor, Chase Erikson. But on my first big story, things went... a little south. What should have been a normal interview with Sydney Sanders turned into me discovering the Homecoming Queen-hopeful dead in her pool. Electrocuted while Tweeting. Now, in addition to developing a reputation as HHH’s resident body finder, I’m stuck trying to prove that Sydney’s death wasn’t suicide.

I’m starting to long for the days when my biggest worry was whether the cafeteria was serving pizza sticks or Tuesday Tacos...

So it’s not very often that I read two mysteries in a row. With one still fresh on my mind, I had to switch gears a bit and move over to a more witty main character, named Hartley Featherstone in Social Suicide By Gemma Halliday. This is the 2nd installment in the Deadly Cool Novel series. Here Hartley is yet again faced with a mystery to solve. In this novel, Hartley finds it hard to believe that prom queen nominee, Sydney Sanders, has committed suicide. All because she was caught cheating on a major test. Hartley’s role as a reporter for the school’s newspaper, leads her on an interesting quest to find the truth. During their search for answers, her cute sidekick and the newspaper’s head editor, Chase, is there for Hartley throughout the search. So many unanswered questions are left for them to solve. How did Sidney die and how did she get the coveted answers to Mr. Tipkin’s tests? Along the way to finding answers, many are harmed emotionally and physically, but Hartley doesn’t stop until the mystery is solved.

Gemma Halliday writes a story that is truly centered around today’s world of teenagers. She incorporates everyday teenage student lingo throughout the novel. The book is an extremely quick and entertaining read. There are many places throughout the book that I found somewhat predictable. I anticipated several of the events coming. The character and setting descriptions are not very detailed, however I still think it’s an easy read for teenagers that enjoy a quick pager turner.