ARC Review: Blackbird by N. D. Gomes

I received this book from Netgalley in an e-book form, in exchange for an honest review.

Of course, the beautiful cover was what originally drew me in on this book, the gold against the black was striking and immediately caught my eye.

But as I've recently started to branch out in my book genres, I thought I would request this book, as it looked so intriguing, and I've always been interested in mystery shows, so why not try the mystery book genre. I generally stick to YA though, so this book definitely ticked the box for both a YA book, as well as being something different than usual.

This book is out November 16th!

Anyways, here it is:

Olivia disappeared the night the blackbird died.

It was New Years Eve the night that dead blackbirds descended, hours before fifteen year old Alex McCarthy’s sister Olivia went missing from a party.

Committed to finding out what happened to her sister, within the previously safe walls of their subarctic Orkney village, Alex knows that dishevelled, sometimes intoxicated Detective Inspector Birkens is her best shot.

Yet as they uncover the secrets behind Olivia’s last night, Alex starts to find things she may be better off never knowing…

So, this book has been on my TBR list for quite a while, in the list of slowly piling up Netgalley acceptances, and my lovely twitter followers decided in a poll that this should be my next read, as it is out in November.

This book definitely didn't disappoint as a mystery book. It had me guessing throughout as to just what happened to Olivia, and I definitely didn't expect to find out what we did, it was a great reveal near to the end of the book.

But when watching, or now reading I guess, a mystery, isn't it just great when it keeps you guessing, and it turns out all of your guesses are wrong? This especially pleases me, as usually I am quite good at guessing what will happen in movies or books, but with this one I didn't get anywhere near guessing what happened to Olivia.

The book is narrated by fifteen year old Alex, and describes the time she spends trying to figure out what happened to her sister, after she goes missing. As well as that though, throughout the story you see just what it is like for a family who loses someone, as we see Alex and her parents struggling to deal with everyday life after Olivia is reported missing, and suspected to be murdered.

All I can really say is that this book is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, and you definitely connect with Alex as a character when you read the book. I loved how it showed that different people grieve in different ways, as it shows you little windows into other peoples grief over Olivia's disappearance as well as Alex's, such as her parents', her friends, and her ex boyfriends.

This is definitely an interesting read, and I don't think I've done it justice when describing how emotional it is, but it has really made me want to read some other mystery books in the future, so I would definitely recommend it.

I give this book: 4 cats.

Blackbird is out November 16th, are you planning on reading it? Comment below!