Book Review: Daughter of Deep Silence - Carrie Ryan

Title: Daughter of Deep Silence
Author: Carrie Ryan
Pub Date: May 26th, 2015
Publisher: Dutton BFYR
Page Count: 375

I’m the daughter of murdered parents.
I’m the friend of a dead girl.
I’m the lover of my enemy.
And I will have my revenge.

In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.

Sharp and incisive, Daughter of Deep Silence by bestselling author Carrie Ryan is a deliciously smart revenge thriller that examines perceptions of identity, love, and the lengths to which one girl is willing to go when she thinks she has nothing to lose.

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Heroine Frances Mace dances the line between revenge and obsession in a thrilling book that features the contemporary theme of self discovery. - Nova @ Out of Time

This book was pitched as a revenge thriller and in many ways it really did deliver. I loved reading about Frances, who was hell-bent on revenge. However, at the same time, this book was very much about Frances coming to terms with what happened, which felt like a contemporary to me. It wasn't as thrilling as I expected it to be with its themes of self-discovery but it pleasantly surprised me.

Frances Mace assumes the identity of Libby, her best friend when her friend dies after an attack on the ship they were both on. The only other survivors lied about the sinking of the ship and Frances wants to make them pay. What kind of annoyed me was how Frances was on the ship when she was fourteen and she talks about Grey, the son of the Senator [the only two survivors] like they're in looove. It was hard to take seriously when four years later, she talks about how her feelings resurfaced. I was like... but you were fourteen??

Something I did like was Frances. No, scratch that - I LOVED her character. This book really revolves around her thirst for revenge and by extension, her mental health. I always found her bordering fixation and psychosis because of how much she wanted revenge. She went to dangerous lengths like poisoning someone, only to save them and in the process, look like a hero. There were so many things that were not okay in her actions and I think she knew that also. The conflict of trying to expose the bad guys without becoming one herself was so interesting to read. I'm actually really happy that the author chose to go that way, instead of a serious revenge plot that would've been too detached from the character.

The romance in this book was pretty open ended. Frances did play Grey pretty much the whole time so if he'd just welcomed her back into his arms, that would've been unrealistic. Instead, this book was like a "player game" cliche.
Background info on that cliche: there's this one hot guy in the entire school that every girl can't resist - all but our special snowflake main character. She hates him. Girl and guy make a deal - they'll be in a fake relationship and whoever falls in love first, loses.
This is basically the dynamic in this book, only Grey isn't in on it. While trying to make Grey fall - she falls, herself. I didn't really care for the romance at all. It didn't take over the story but I also found Grey to be more of a stepping stone for Frances' self discovery than a present love interest.

The reveal of what really happened on the ship was a letdown. I wasn't expecting something out of this world but what it was seemed a little too mundane. Ryan played on human greed, which is believable but nothing that would've been very interesting. However, that was a very small part [which is weird because in the beginning - it's what the entire story was centered around.]

I did like this book - despite its faults. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I expected but what I got wasn't bad either. I loved the aspects of revenge and a plot to dig up the past and fix it. I'm probably going to go watch Revenge now because this plot idea definitely agreed with me!

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Carrie Ryan is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Forest of Hands and Teeth series and Infinity Ring: Divide and Conquer. Currently she’s working on a four book middle grade fantasy adventure series co-written with her husband, John Parke Davis, the first book of which, The Map to Everywhere, will be out November 4, 2014. Her next YA is a romantic thriller titled Daughter of Deep Silence which will be out summer 2015.

A former litigator, Carrie now writes full time and lives with her husband, two ornery cats and one gullible dog in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can find her online at www.carrieryan.com or @CarrieRyan.