What this book may have lacked in characterisation I felt it made up for in other areas. It was fast paced and kept up the suspense and mystery without it feeling too frustrating. The end was quite surprising but I was glad because I didn't want it to be too predictable. It was left on a sort of cliffhanger but not the one I thought it would be at the beginning when I realised this was the first of a trilogy.

The setting and plot were a pretty unique take on dystopia. I found myself getting angry at points when I was reading about how the media controls what people see and think because so much of it rang true of our society today. I found the use of screenplay type chapters throughout the book to describe the ongoing TV show very interesting. I've never read a book using this style before and I think it worked really well with the other narratives going on. However it was a little confusing at times as the narrative is told from several people's perspectives and tells it from a second-person viewpoint during some chapters. I think it might have been easier to read had it been told from the perspective of one person solely in either the first or third person.

The fact that hallucinations and distress are portrayed throughout this book I felt helped make it seem more realistic and helped me to connect with the main character a lot more.

All in all, I'd recommend this book. ( )

If I wasn’t so aware of how books are often mostly ruined by being made into films, I would definitely want this as a film. I also feel like the film could have a different audience to the book. It could be a lot darker.

At the start of the book, we are put at the crime scene, and it’s good that the book delves in deep right from the start. The whole of the book is filled with emotion – that felt by the characters, as well as the emotions the reader will feel. Mostly anger and disappointment, but you need to be angry.

The criminal system in this book is horrible, so horrible I can’t even bring myself to actually call it a justice system, because I feel there is often no justice. If it was slightly different, I might be praising it. I’ve also been slightly unsure of my of my view on the death penalty. On one hand, I believe it is fair in some cases, individuals shouldn’t get off lightly with killing someone else, but how can you teach someone killing others is wrong by killing them? I feel the whole thing is contradictory.

I felt some areas of the book were a bit predictable, for example, the person who Martha is friends with (their identity is unknown at the start, we just know there’s someone), but there were also plot twists I wasn’t expecting and they were so. good.

I love the fact that the book was written to make you feel angry. At the injustice, the unfairness, the death. There are small, happy parts, but that is not the point in the book. All I can say is I hope it is never like this in the future. ( )

Excellent concept and delivery. In the not too distant future, murderers are voted in or out for execution in a show called "Death is Justice" in 7 days. ( Each day the person is guilty on the viewer vote line, the closer they are to Cell 7 - the one where you are executed.
Jackson Paige - a huge celebrity (think : Ellen or Oprah but male) has been shot dead. Martha who is 16 has confessed to the crime but there is something behind her confession. This is the story of trial by media and what happens when you take away the courts and "innocent until proven guilty" mantra. It is a love story and also a great satire on the current thirst for reality TV and more and more shocking events to captivate television viewers.
Has mature themes obviously ( death, torture, rape and prostitution) and also strong language in the F word but I think mature Year 8s could handle it. ( )