Review: Torn by Cat Clarke

Title: Torn
Author: Cat Clarke
Publisher: Quercus
Release date: December 22nd 2011
Pages: 378
Genre: YA; mystery
Source: Bought
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Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt. Alice King isn’t expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she’s not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares…
Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there’s Tara – queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down.
Cass decides it’s time to teach Tara a lesson she’ll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever...

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars


I love when a book just completely surprises me! I wasn't expecting much from this book. It had been gathering dust on my TBR-pile for ages, and I'm so glad I finally picked it up - I really enjoyed Torn!

The beginning is a little slow, but once we get to the trip... wow. The plot is so good - horrifying but good. On the cover it says "A secret to horrific to tell, too terrible to keep..." which sounds melodramatic and had me rolling my eyes when I first saw it. I thought the girls would play some kind of prank on Tara and something would go wrong - I thought they'd feel guilty and all of that even though it was an accident, something that wasn't their fault. But the phrase on the cover isn't exaggerating - what Alice, Cass, Polly and Rae do is seriously, seriously messed up. The whole thing is completely horrifying - so horrifying I just had to keep reading.


But even though what they've done is so terrible, I didn't hate Alice or the other girls. Somehow, in a twisted way, Cat Clarke made me feel for them despite everything. Usually, with a story like this one, I'm thinking 'tell the truth - the truth is always the best way to go'. But in Torn, I was just as conflicted as Alice. I had no idea what she should do, how she should get out of this mess. The suspense is just so well-done!

I liked the rest of this book, too. I liked the family set-up - Alice's mom died a while ago, and she's living with just her father. I really liked reading about Alice's relationship with her father - it's refreshing to have an MC who actually gets along with a parent! Even though I hate myself for it, I even liked the romance. Shortly after the trip, Alice starts going out with Tara's brother, Jack. Normally, that kind of thing would have me screaming at the book, totally angry at Alice for being so incredibly stupid. But I couldn't blame her, because Jack is seriously adorable! So even though I didn't want to, I liked the romance, too.


I was a little disappointed by the ending - I want to know what exactly happens! - but I get why the author wanted to end the book this way, so I don't mind too much.


Every stroyline in Torn is pretty good, but the one I loved the most is still the suspense. What happens in this book is so, so terrible, but I loved reading about it. I definitely recommend Torn, if you're in the mood for a mystery that'll have you flipping the pages so fast your eyes can't keep up!

What's one book you've had absolutely no expectations for and ended up loving?