Review: Deadly Little Games (Touch Series#3) by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Title: Deadly Little Games (Touch#3)

Author: Laurie Faria Stolarz

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Paranormal

Publisher: Hyperion

Synopsis/Summary: High school juniors Camelia and Ben have discovered a powerful bond: They both possess the power of psychometry, the ability to see the future through touch. For Ben, the gift is a frightening liability. When he senses a strong threat or betrayal, he risks losing control. Camelia's gift is more mysterious. When she works with clay, her hands sculpt messages her mind doesn't yet comprehend.

Before either one has a chance to fully grasp their abilities, a new danger surfaces, but this time, Camelia is not the target. Adam, a familiar face from Ben's past, is drawn into a puzzle he can't solve...and his life is on the line. As the clues pile up, Camelia must decide whether to help him and risk losing Ben or do nothing and suffer the consequences. But in these games, who can be trusted?

Find the book on: Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

      Okay, so this time the book is another stalker story with Adam as the stalkee. This series is basically all stalker stories, and since this time there was no major flash-back moments, I don't have anything to complain about. The story is still in the same format, but the stalker notes have improved, adding in more variations, not just "You're dead" and repeat and repeat. While these notes don't seem tailored to especially one subject, like the A notes from PLL (I can't help but think of it whenever the word "stalker" comes up), they are better.

     I also like the crossword puzzles clues a lot. However, I couldn't really get all of the answers right away...Does this means I am stupid? Anyway, LOVE it. It's a refreshing way to send threats and it's cryptic too. It helps add to the spook factor of the story (though there is actually not much spook in the book).

    However, there is one thing that dragged the book: the romance, again. I seriously hate Camelia and Ben's relationship, I can't stress that enough. And this time they went through more drama and it basically ended with another break between them. I feel that this couple can't ever settle down, it has been THREE books already, and they still haven't worked out all the trust issues!? I think that's a major sign that their relationship is not healthy (no, not that meaning), and I still think they should break up. Well , anyway, I am pretty sure they'd break up and then get together again, that's the basic cycle of their relationship. *sigh*

     Since Adam is a big deal in this book, we got to know some of his friends. There's Piper, Tray, Melissa and Janet. However, most of his friends didn't have much dialogue, so I don't really know much about them except some of their hobbies. Well, the book is short, so you can only have so many sentences about new characters, I understand.

 

      I think characters is actually a very big problem for this series. Since each book is very short (less than 300 pages), we never really got to hear the inner struggles of any characters. I have never really connected with Camelia and this time I think she irritated me even more. She was persistent on helping Adam, and that caused her to say things, not exactly harsh, but more bossy. And I HATED it. As little as I know about Camelia, I still know that she was not someone who would be bossy, she's nicknamed Chameleon for a reason, and I am sure it's not just because of her name. So what she did was a little out of character.

     There's really no characters that I can connect to and that's a major problem in this series, Adam has definitely grown on me with his wit, and he talks a lot, like me, so I actually like him, can't connect to him though. Why wouldn't he call the police when received stalker notes? *another sigh*

Conclusion:

     Deadly Little Games is a fast-paced book, a good follow-up on the first two of the series. It was definitely better than the previous two, as the plot is not so similar to other famous YA books, also the plot twist, as usual, is a surprising one, it's a good trait to carry on. However, this book doesn't really strike me as a must read, it's good for passing time so if you have time for a quick read, you can consider it, but I am sure there are other better fast-paced books. All in all, I would give this a three star as it's very average.

Rating: three stars!

So, have you guys seen any good stalker books lately? I would love to know ;)