When Wendy Geller's body is found in Central Park after the night of a rager, newspaper headlines scream,"Death in the Park: Party Girl Found Strangled." But shy Rain, once Wendy's best friend, knows there was more to Wendy than just "party girl." As she struggles to separate the friend she knew from the tangle of gossip and headlines, Rain becomes determined to discover the truth about the murder.
Publication Date: April 24, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary
Source: Thanks so much to Southern Book Bloggers for letting me be a part of this Tour :)
Review:
When I started this book I had an idea in mind as to what I was expecting. The synopsis actually makes the plot of the story extremely clear, but I guess I thought it would involve more of the struggle to figure out what kind of person her now-deceased friend was. I thought that would be the sole focus and completely forgot about Rain trying to find out who killed her friend. It turned out to be a good murder mystery that took me by surprise :)
I really liked Rain in the book. She is very self-conscious due to a speech problem caused by a cleft palate. Through therapy over the years she talks normally when we meet her in the story, but she shows glimpses of the painful years growing up and being made fun of. I think we can all relate to that! (And if you can't relate to being made fun of...then I hate you. Joking, of course ;) I had a harder time liking her friend Wendy (the one that was found dead in the park after a party). As the story started showing some more of the things Wendy did, I had a harder time liking her. She seemed selfish and petty and downright stupid sometimes.
I've said before that I'm no whiz at figuring out 'who dunnit' in mystery novels, but I did pick up on the killer's identity rather early on in this one. That doesn't make me like it any less, but it did make me want to tell my book 'You lose!!! Ah ha ha ha haaa'. . . . . Ok, I'm way off track here. My point is that it doesn't take a genius or a detective to figure this one out, but the book is still enjoyable and keeps you reading to find out how everything will play out.
The Girl in the Park has some shining, poignant moments that pop up during Rain's quest to find out who her friend really was and, more importantly, who killed her. This was a fast, hard-to-put-down book for me, but still not exactly what I had expected.
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