Sea Change book review

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Sea Change by Sylvia Hehir
Published by Stone Cold Fox Press on June 24, 2019
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads

Sea Change is a cracking YA thriller that sees 16-year-old Alex struggling to look after his grieving mother and pay the bills. So he made some bad decisions in the Summer not least of which was getting involved with Chuck, an unpredictable stranger who says he's on the run.

Chuck was exciting, challenging Alex to take ever-increasing risks. But Chuck wasn't supposed to turn up dead next to Alex's fishing boat. Were Chuck's paranoid stories about men hunting him actually true? And is Alex facing even greater danger?

Sea Change was a book I received from Netgalley. I was excited to read something with a little more of an edge to it and maybe with a little bit of a bite. When I read the description about a body and teenagers and risks and dares I knew it would be right up the street of what I was looking for. I have to be honest and say that I thought the execution of it all could have been better done but the concept was well thought out but there was just something missing when it all came together. I think there was so much filler content that was never really developed and that showed when we got to the end.

I think the way this story kicks off was a little underdeveloped, Sea Change focuses on Alex and his story, especially his home life and lack of support from parental figures. I think this aspect of the story was brushed over, and almost placed there in order for other things in the book to happen. I understand the trope of neglectful parents, it runs rampant in YA literature but this felt a little empty to me, there wasn’t enough of a back story for me to understand why and what was going on. I don’t really enjoy it when mental illness is used to move a plot along when it’s so underdeveloped and unexplored.

I also think there was a lot introduced very quickly and not an awful lot was looked at. By the end of Sea Change I still had no clue who Chuck was or why he was friends with Alex or even how they had become friends. I think a lot of it was brushed over in order to make time for the more exciting parts to happen but I felt they fell flat because there was no buildup, nothing to really pull you into the story. I was really disappointed because I love a good thriller especially when the buildup leaves you questioning everything you know. I was already questioning everything because I had no idea what was going on or why.

I wanted to love the characters but we just didn’t learn enough about them or their relationships with one another to actually render any feelings. I desperately wanted to have them be the redeeming factor in Sea Change, for them to be the pinnacle of this book and for their flaws to carry the book. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, they seemed to be two dimensional with no clear motives or drive. I wanted there to be something in this book to bring it back for me, but unfortunately not.

I wouldn’t recommend Sea Change I’m sorry to say. I was expecting something completely different and the payoff was just poor within this book. It was an easy read but I’m not sure that makes up for the lack of development throughout.

Have you ever read a book that you just didn’t know what the heck was going on? Let me know in the comments!