Gemstone Reviews [Closed for Catch up]

Review #42-Monster Minds

Title:Monster Minds

Author: HappilySinister

Rating: M

# of chapters: 4

# of chapters I read: 3

Summary/Blurb:

I was nine years old when my father sent me to prison.

I didn't go because I was a criminal, a murderer, or a monster; I went because he told me to. He said it was time I see what was really bad in this world -- who was really bad in this world. He told me that it would be ok, that he wouldn't let anybody hurt me...

***

Emily is obsessed with criminals, the insane and the guilty. There are questions she can't answer herself... Questions only a criminal could answer.

The state prison has become safe haven for Emily, a place where she is heard and a place where she is valued.

But, being the seventeen year old daughter of the Correction officer, Dane Silverman, is both a blessing and burden in disguise. Emily has unlimited access to the prisoners, so when a body is found and people start going missing it is up to Emily to put her questions to some use.

Sociopath Vans Waltz is the only one ready for her questions as he seemingly watches her every move. With his sarcastic humour and his endless charm it doesn't take long for Emily to question who is guilty and who is telling her the truth.

Review:

Cover:

I like the simplicity of the cover, but after reading the blurb, I don't feel like it has anything to do with it (or even the title, for that matter). I think you had a different one before this, but I'm not sure—I could be confusing myself with someone else.

Anyway, with Monster Minds, I think you need to give me a cover that represents this. I'm assuming that the monstrous aspect relates to psychopathy, or some other mental illness in which the afflicted behaves violently and recklessly, as we then see in the blurb with the 'secret killer'. But a girl with a long white dress doesn't really tell me anything—she looks like a bride of some sort, and the color white indicates purity (even though Emily, after delving into the world of criminals, is anything but pure.)

Bottom-line: get yourself a cover that represents insanity as I feel like it would work better with your story (as well as being much more visually appealing. I've seen tons of stories with a lone girl on the cover). 

Blurb:

Your opening line, meaning the excerpt from the story, immediately drew me in because of how intriguing it is. The first line made me think that the kid may have committed a murder, or some other heinous crime, since, you know, kids are not immune to stuff like that. So then the parent called the cops on the kid and sent him to prison.

But the next line "I didn't go because I was a criminal, a murderer, or a monster [...]" disproves this theory, as well as raising a new question. Why did the person's father ask them to go to prison? So now I'm thinking that this is Emily we're talking about, and it all makes sense later as we read on to the actual blurb, which is very well-written and has this eerie feel about it.

Maybe it's because I'm obsessed with crime documentaries, especially murderers, serial killers, and the like, but I really feel like I want to read on, especially with the last part where you introduce the sociopath. I like how he's given less "air-time" than Emily in the blurb—it works with the fact that he's a lurker, and kind of watches things unfold before him. I wonder whether he's behind the murders, but we'll see.