Colette Iselin is excited to go to Paris on a class trip. She’ll get to soak up the beauty and culture, and maybe even learn something about her family’s French roots.
But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours museums and palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.
Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won’t believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is suddenly in danger . . .
Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings heart-stopping suspense to this story of revenge, betrayal, intrigue — and one killer queen.
One thing you should take from this book choice is that I love campy. I do. SyFy original movies are one of my favorite pasttimes. I can’t wait to see what the theme is this weekend on SyFy. That said, with a title like Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer how can I not pick it up?
This young adult book had it all. It had deaths that were comparable to a SyFy movie. It had Paris tourist traps. It also had a main character that you really shouldn’t care for. Honestly, she isn’t the nicest.
I’ve read Alender before and I knew what I was expecting. It is fast paced, had all the makings of an easy read, and I enjoyed it. I like her take on a ghost story. No, it isn’t scary, but I find her books fun sometimes. This book was fun.
Like I mentioned before, the main character isn’t the nicest. She is shallow, cares too much for her social life, and has time and time again misused the idea of doing right just because. Even there are those qualities, I actually liked her. I could see the potential of a good girl and she wasn’t the usual damsel in distress nerdy heroine. I liked that Colette wasn’t the stereotypical main girl. I disliked her at times, but the book is such a quick read it didn’t matter.
The campiness is beautiful. I would liken this to Fear Street with cotton candy. It has a underlying “moral” with death dispersed throughout. It was fun. I like that Marie Antoinette was a serial killer. I think it makes sense. If I had to deal with what she did, I probably would go off killing who she killed as well.
The mystery isn’t anything special. It’s another part of that cotton candy camp that you shouldn’t expect something grand. It was fairly easy to figure out why Marie Antoinette was killing off people. It was easy to figure out the minor characters’ motivations too. Really, the book is an easy read and you won’t lose sleep.
I did enjoy this book. I know some people haven’t and won’t, but I did. I appreciated the campiness and I knew that this book wasn’t going to be something amazing. It just isn’t. If you can suspend disbelief and handle a shallow character with potential of being good, I think you’d enjoy this book too.
Casia's Corner 