REVIEW: Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck

Title: Three Quarters Dead

Author: Richard Peck

Published: October 28, 2010

Publisher: Penguin Group

Synopsis:
This description taken from Goodreads

Kerry is chosen by the coolest clique in school and so she thinks life has finally begun. But then it seems all over when her three friends are killed in a shocking car accident. Or are they? Only weeks after the accident, Kerry receives a text from on the girls: We're all three here at my aunt's in the city. Take the 3:50 train. B there. 

Exhilarating, terrifying suspense is crossed with a thought-provoking examination of peer pressure in Richard Peck's return to his contemporary teen-and ghost-story roots. This is a master authors gift to the Gossip Girl/Twilight generation: his own smart, stylish, and fun take on the paranormal. 

This description was taken from the back of the book.

When Kerry starts tenth grade at a new school she's a loner at best, until the three coolest girls in school sweep her away in their glamorous and gossipy group. Kerry scrambles to keep up with the drama of her new friends and suddenly feels as if her life has finally begun. She would do anything to be included. But how far will she go when a gruesome car crash has them reaching out to her from beyond the grave?


Review:

Three Quarters Dead was a really quick read, I finished it in one day. 

Kerry has started her first year in high school as a sophomore, and she is basically an outcast. She sits everyday at lunch by herself and listens to the three coolest girls in the school talk trying to learn how to be cool from them. One day the lead girl of the group asks her to join them and she gets caught up in their drama. She blindly follows what they tell her whether or not she likes it for the simple fact that she is willing to do anything to fit in. 

Tanya, Natalie, and Mackenzie are the most popular girls in the school and for some reason they take Kerry under their wings, or so it seems. It later becomes evident that they are just using her and setting her up to take the fall. One day as they are getting ready to go dress shopping for prom dresses the three girls are in a horrible car crash killing them all instantly. Kerry goes back to being invisible and can't get over the loss of the girls. She is in grief counseling until one day she receives a text from beyond the grave telling her to meet the girls in the city. Then all kinds of weird happens and they are still mean and using Kerry after they have died.

Tanya is a senior and the ''leader'' of the group and she is constantly telling Kerry to keep up. You can tell really quickly that she is the driving force behind everything that the girls do. Kerry starts to notice that it almost seems like whenever she is around Tanya time stops but she tries to brush off the feeling. She starts telling Kerry to be considerate and think of others but all I kept thinking was ''well what about you?''. You can tell immediately that this is one of those girls that are spoiled so badly that they'll never amount to much without the help (by help I mean taking it from someone who earned it) of someone else. 

Natalie is also a senior and she almost comes off as second in command when it comes to the clique. She is pretty quiet and really doesn't do or say anything to make me dislike her other than the fact that she follows everything that Tanya says or does. The way that she is described as looking, she is the beautiful one in the group even though everyone immediately notices Tanya. 

Mackenzie is a junior and the newest one in the group other than Kerry. She comes off as kind of weird because she is always looking around like she is ''looking over her shoulder''. You come to find out that she is quite the little pic pocket when she steals a house key and Kerry's money.

Spence is a senior and has been labeled ''the hottest guy'' in school. He is on the school newspaper, one of the smartest kids in school, and very gentlemanly. You would think that him and Tanya would be together but she keeps saying that she is going to give him time and he really doesn't seem to like her that much. 

I was surprised to find out that Richard Peck is only two years older than my grandmother. You can tell he has done his homework on a few subjects like Twitter, Facebook and the makeup and clothing fads of teenage girls. While my grandmother is pretty cool when it comes to clothing she has no idea what Twitter and Facebook really are, and I felt it was neat that Peck took the time to research what high school girls do and how they act. He had the ''mean girl'' thing down pretty well.  

This story, for me, felt kind of unfinished, I had a lot of unanswered questions and felt like Richard Peck left out a few key things. I see where he was going with this but feel like he missed the mark just a little. I would have loved to see if things happened between Kerry and Spence because it is obvious that he is interested in her somewhat. I think it would have been nice to see more about how Tanya has the ability to ''stop'' time and the ability to get what she wants.

I do recommend that if you are looking for a really quick read that you give Three Quarters Dead a try and form your own opinion about it. You may find something that catches your attention. 


(c) 2015 Andrea Hatfield All Rights Reserved