Bones meets Fringe in a big, dark, scary, brilliantly-plotted urban thriller that will leave you guessing until the very end.
Nearly Boswell knows how to keep secrets. Living in a DC trailer park, she knows better than to share anything that would make her a target with her classmates. Like her mother’s job as an exotic dancer, her obsession with the personal ads, and especially the emotions she can taste when she brushes against someone’s skin. But when a serial killer goes on a killing spree and starts attacking students, leaving cryptic ads in the newspaper that only Nearly can decipher, she confides in the one person she shouldn’t trust: the new guy at school—a reformed bad boy working undercover for the police, doing surveillance. . . on her.
Nearly might be the one person who can put all the clues together, and if she doesn’t figure it all out soon—she’ll be next.
ABOUT ELLE
 Jaime’s Thoughts
Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I feel like this is the year of the suspense book for me… over the last few months I’ve read a handful, and would put Nearly Gone right at the top with the best of them.
Nearly Boswell hasn’t had the easiest of lives. Her mom’s profession, her life in the trailer park and her obsession with personal ads make her an easy target. She has to focus to keep her eyes on the goal – that being a scholarship that will get her out of this place. But a strange ad in the personals catches her attention and suddenly there is a serial killer targeting students that are all linked to her. Only Nearly can break the code and figure out who is trying to set her up… or so she thinks. Nearly finds herself drawn to Reece Whelen who is the epitome of bad boy. But he’s got a story that she doesn’t fully know and he’s holding all his secrets close.
Let me just tell you what I didn’t care for right off the bat and get it out of the way. I struggled with the paranormal aspect to this story. Nearly has the ability to sense what other people are feeling when she touches their skin. While interesting and an intriguing idea, I don’t think this was fleshed out enough to actually have the correct impact on the story. I guess part of me wonders why it is even a part of this story to begin with. I didn’t understand why she had to have this ability and in my opinion it really didn’t have that big of an impact on the story to even include.
I also struggled a bit with Nearly as a character. She’s intelligent and knows her shit… she’s had to practically raise herself. Yet she repeatedly does some of the stupidest stuff she ever could in this story. Our serial killer baits her and tries to set her up more than once and she practically falls for it each time and she only has Reece there to save her ass. I wanted her book smarts to somewhat match her street smarts, and since she didn’t exactly grow up in a sheltered environment I kind of expected more from her.
On the other hand, what did I like… I really enjoyed the suspense to the story. Cosimano does a good job of never letting on who the big bad is. The end was cleverly done and really well plotted out – it was a surprise when everything was finally revealed.
I liked the secondary characters we’re introduced to… Ahn and Jeremy are nicely done, though If only on a superficial level. There is something of a love triangle/square type thing going on here that is obvious from the get go, and at times it was frustrating to read simply because I felt like Nearly kept giving Jeremy some mixed signals.
Reece, on the other hand, we get to know quite well… eventually. He’s been tasked with the police department to keep an eye on Nearly – she’s become a main suspect and the police department practically owns him so he does just that. If you’re looking for a real bad boy… look no further. Fresh out of juvie and an attitude that doesn’t end… he has the tattoos and the motorcycle but he wants to help Nearly and when he finds she’s in more trouble than he could have imagined, he will do anything to keep her safe even if it lands him in the trouble he’s been trying to avoid.
Overall, I completely enjoyed the story. Is it perfect? No… but I found myself intrigued by the story and the mystery and that works for me! Definitely pick this one up if you’re looking for something with some major suspense and thrills as well as some YA romance! I think you’ll enjoy it too!
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