What Lies Within - James Morris

Goodreads summary:

“You’re going to die”

Shelley Marano is an ordinary, unexceptional high school senior…until the day she receives a cryptic text message, and her world tilts sideways. Now she’s in real danger, although she doesn’t know who would want her dead, or why. As she starts to unravel the mystery, the truth about who she really is proves to be more frightening than she ever imagined. With the lives of her and her friends hanging in the balance, one thing is certain:

Nothing will ever be the same.

Packed with suspense, What Lies Within is a page-turning, plot-driven rollercoaster ride that fans of Stephen King, James Patterson and Rick Yancey will be sure to enjoy.


My review:

3.5/5

First of all, I need to say that I have excuses to make to the author, James Morris, because I received this book ages ago and I promised that I would read and review really quickly, which I didn't do (I had to say it, I feel really bad about it).

I truly should have picked this book up earlier, because it made me realize that I could truly enjoy thrillers. I'm kind of scared of everything, so I usually pick up the least scary novels I can find, which excludes thrillers, obviously. When I started reading this, I got so lost in the story that I even forgot to feel scared. It's also not the scariest thriller, which I think helped me.

I really liked Shelley, the main character. She was easy to relate to and she became more and more interesting as the story progressed. I also liked her best friend, Winston, even though I wasn't sure if I liked their friendship as much as I liked them separately.

As for the plot, I won't even mention it, because it's something that I wasn't expecting at all and that no one would expect, in my opinion, so I'd rather not spoil anyone. I was pleasantly surprised, even though I believe the book could have had more elements and been longer.

I recommend this novel to anyone, because it made me question myself a lot and I opened up to this genre.