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Wally was adopted from a Russian orphanage as a child and grew up in a wealthy New York City family. At fifteen, her obsessive need to rebel led her to life on the streets.
Now the sixteen-year-old is beautiful and hardened, and she’s just stumbled across the possibility of discovering who she really is. She’ll stop at nothing to find her birth mother before Klesko – her dark-eyed father – finds her. Because Klesko will stop at nothing to reclaim the fortune Wally’s mother stole from him long ago. Even if that means murdering his own blood. But Wally’s had her own killer training, and she’s hungry for justice.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens, this debut thriller introduces our next big series heroine![/box]
Wally, long unsure of who she is and where she comes from, has abandoned the luxury of her adoptive mother’s Upper East Side lifestyle for a life of her own making. Living on the street, squatting in abandoned buildings, Wally and her street crew of other homeless teens spend their days scavenging for valuable items to sell just so they can get a bite to eat and a warm place to sleep. It’s not a glamorous life, or a life with a lot of guarantees and security, but what Wally’s found with her crew of Tevin, Ella & Jake is family, a sense of control and an assurance of where she fits that she wasn’t able to find back on West 84th Street. However, when ghosts from her past begin to surface — clues that hint at the whereabouts of her birth mom and that promise much-needed answers — Wally begins a thrilling and dangerous search into the dark and dangerous secrets of her mother’s past.
On the one hand, Wally is a character that the reader is given a chance to know very well over the course of the novel. She’s an incredibly strong character, not without her weaknesses, but she’s determined not to let her weaknesses conquer her. She’s fiercely independent, skeptical (but not jaded), shrewd, cautious, practical, and principled. She’s extremely loyal to those she cares about, and a natural leader. Yet, while all these qualities of her character make themselves apparent, she’s a person who’s also extremely hard to know. For the most part, Wally largely remains emotionally closed off to the people she cares about most – rarely letting them see her for who she is. Perhaps this is because she feels adrift without knowing her true identity and where she comes from. She places a lot of value in obtaining this knowledge and is a bit blind to the the things she already has. Though she cares about her family and friends, she builds walls to keep them – and in some ways the reader – out. I liked Wally, I was intrigued by Wally, but unfortunately I never really connected with Wally throughout the book.
One last, quick note about Wally’s character: I believe Wally is somewhat misrepresented in the book blurb. Though I believe that Wally could someday become a vigilante-like character – the foundation certainly has been laid for that eventuality – that’s not a role she fills in this particular book. Wally plays more of a detective/defensive type role throughout Dark Eyes, rather than an vigilante/aggressive role.
The mystery of who Wally’s mother is and the questions surrounding what happened to her – if she’s still dead or alive – is the real driving force behind the novel. It is an intricate trail of twists and turns that Richter has created featuring a fascinating cast of characters that are employed brilliantly throughout the story. The attention to detail, the way the various pieces of the puzzle all fit together makes for a compelling, well-crafted mystery that kept me guessing and theorizing the whole way through. It’s a gritty, hard sometimes heartbreaking story and one with very real consequences – a fact which lends credibility and weight to the story. For those readers that enjoy a good mystery, Dark Eyes is a dark, intelligent puzzle, and Wally is an intuitive and resourceful investigator.
Though a largely plot-driven novel, I do wish that there had been more emphasis on relationship development, particularly between Wally & Claire and Wally & her crew. This harks back to the comments I made about Wally’s own development. It is clear that Wally cares for Claire, Jake, Ella and Tevin, but there is a little too much telling vs. showing to establish these relationships, and even far too little of that. A few more foundational scenes to establish relationship/character development of these characters in the context of their relationship with Wally would’ve lent this story better emotional depth and resonance. It is rare that I will say this, but even though the characters and relationships aren’t as strong as I normally prefer, the fact that I love the mystery is enough for me to forgive some of what’s lacking in that department.
Overall, Dark Eyes is a gripping, thrilling and gritty mystery about secrets, identity, obsessions and the boundaries one is willing to cross to find the answers they seek.
** Due to some mature content, I would recommend this to an upper YA audience.
Title: Dark Eyes
Published: March 15th 2012 by Razorbill
Format: Paperback ARC, 383 pages
Website: @Will_H_Richter
Source: ARC via Around the World ARC Tours
Happy Reading!
Thanks so much for the review. I’ve been wondering about this one! I’m glad you talked about Wally’s character being a little misleading in the plot summary. She still sounds intriguing but being a detective is much different than being a vigilante. I thought it was a really insightful thing to mention!
Yeah, I hope they change it in the final version, because if you’re expecting this completely kick-butt, hell-bent on justice type character… this isn’t that story. lol Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!
I’m still on the fence about this one and may get it if it comes to my library. I can’t seem to get past a rich kid with a loving family living on the street by choice….
NC
Truly Bookish
Yeah, I can understand that. But just because someone has a comfortable lifestyle does not mean it’s perfect or fulfilling. Wally may be a little bit of a brat in that regard, and she may come to realize it later in the book 😉 But I think the psychological motivations of her running away from home are a little more complicated than just bratty-ness.
Yeah, I would definitely library it, if you’re on the fence about it. Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting!
tnx 4 reviewing
my 1st of it i’ve read
maybe i’ll read it ^_^
I have seen this one around a bit lately and it looks interesting. Great review, I think this may be one I pick up when it comes out.
I’m glad that you enjoyed this a bit more than I did. I really couldn’t resign myself to Wally’s character or like her. ><
Great review. I definitely looking forward to this book! Just wished the release day would hurry up already. haha.
Wonderful review. Definitively a book I will want to buy. 😀
I don’t have any problem with Wally leaving behind her well-appointed adoptive “upper east side” life (note: later associated with West 84th St (?)) for two reasons: one, it points to the profound motivational power of a young person’s pursuit of what feels true, authentic and defining of themself as an individual, which in turn lays a piece of emotional foundation for the larger plot structure of her search for her mother and understanding of her mother’s demise (all centrail to Wally’s identity), and second, the oddity of her seemingly ungrateful choice to hit the streets, in light of likely having been saved by her adoptive parents, opens room and depth to be filled in and achieved in sequels (in that way, it’s kind of a tantalizing peculiarity). This book sounds like a winner to me! Allen
This looks like a fantastic book, especially if it’s as good as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
This sounds like an interesting read. I’d like to read it and would put it on my wishlist but I love kick butt, tough characters, ’cause I’m an action junkie, and it seems like Wally isn’t there yet but I might just go ahead and give it a try, I like mystery too, and hopefully in the next book (if there will be one that is) she grows into the more kick butt character I was expecting given the book blurb.
Thanks for the review!
Thank you for the review!
I loved the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so this would be my kind of book, too:) I like strong characters and plot-driven stories.
And O.M.G. love that picture/cover?