Book Review: The Circle of Silence

This book sounded so good which I picked it out, but I don't know how much more of it I can read. I have pushed myself to get through chapter 7, largely because this is a review copy and I feel like I owe them at least that much. I mean, this is about a secret society in a NYC high school! -- this should be a really intriguing topic -- but so far it hasn't delivered.

Most of the action is seen through the eyes of a whiny school-news producer, Val. We see her eating dinner, fighting with her sister, sitting in class editing her stories, fighting with her classmates... really I promise there isn't much more to the story than that so far. Definitely not what I would've expected from a book about a mysterious secret society. I haven't decided if I care enough to finish this book yet, but it seems to me that if it can't grab my attention by chapter 7, it's probably never going to.

Truly, this book is painful to read. That's all there is to it. The storyline is slow and plodding. The characters are uninteresting. Nothing much has been done to establish time and place, other than a brief mention of a couple shops in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood where this story supposedly takes place. I think my time will be better served shelving this book and moving on to the next one on my list.

I give this 1 out of 5 stars.

*****
Full Disclosure: This was a review copy given to me by Net Galley. I was not compensated other than receiving the free book. All opinions are my own.