Book Review – Nemesis by Brendan Reichs

Title: Nemesis

Author: Brendan Reichs

Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books

Publication Date: 13^th July 2017

Format: ARC eBook

This book was received from the publisher in return for an honest review

About the book:

He killed me. He killed me not. He killed me.

It’s been happening since Min was eight. Every two years, on her birthday, a strange man finds her and murders her in cold blood. But hours later, she wakes up in a clearing just outside her tiny Idaho hometown—alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the horrifying crime erased.

Across the valley, Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he’s not. Nightmares of murder and death plague him, though he does his best to hide the signs. But when the world around him begins to spiral toward panic and destruction, Noah discovers that people have been lying to him his whole life. Everything changes in an eye blink.

For the planet has a bigger problem. The Anvil, an enormous asteroid threatening all life on Earth, leaves little room for two troubled teens. Yet on her sixteenth birthday, as she cowers in her bedroom, hoping not to die for the fifth time, Min has had enough. She vows to discover what is happening in Fire Lake and uncovers a lifetime of lies: a vast conspiracy involving the sixty-four students of her sophomore class, one that may be even more sinister than the murders.

What I Thought:

Imagine being 8 and being murdered on your birthday, one minute you’re enjoying your birthday party and the next you’re being pushed off a cliff, imagine then finding yourself alive, waking up in a different part of town. Then imagine that happening again on your tenth birthday and every other year after that. For Min that’s her life, every other birthday a man in a black suit finds her, apologises and then kills her.

It was such an interesting introduction to one of the main characters, I couldn’t wait to properly get stuck into the book and find out what was going on. Was she really dying each time? Was it all in her head? And if it was how did she end up in a completely different place when she came to?

There’s a wonderful collection of characters, the book is told primarily from two points of view, Min, who lives with mum in the trailer park, and Noah, the son of a wealthy businessman who lives in one of the biggest houses in town, seemingly two children from very different backgrounds, they find themselves linked together in the mystery. Throughout the story we’re introduced to a number of other characters, from Min and Noah’s classmates, to various adults from the town, Min’s mother, the sheriff and the high school principle for example. There will be characters you love, and characters that you will love to hate, but I won’t tell you which is which! I’ve read so many books recently where characters haven’t been the people that I thought they were, I’ve found myself becoming distrustful of everyone, but I’ll admit I got it wrong with this one!

I wouldn’t want to risk spoiling anybody’s enjoyment of Nemesis by talking a lot about the plot and giving away anything that’s not in the book blurb. I’ll let you all discover Project Nemesis the same way I did, by turning the pages! I loved the split perspective of the novel, discovering things from both Min and Noah’s point of view. I thought the story was well paced, and while some questions were answered I’ve definitely got more of them going into the next book in the series! Every time I thought I knew where this was going something happened and I realised I was way off! I genuinely have no idea where this is going next and I cannot wait to find out!

Would I Recommend?

Absolutely! I had an ARC of Nemesis sitting in my kindle app for months and now I’m kicking myself for not getting to it sooner. I found Nemesis to be a brilliant start to a new series from Brendan. The plot was intriguing and the characters engaging. I really enjoyed the story line being told by both Min and Noah’s perspectives and I can’t wait until Genesis is released!

More in the Project Nemesis series

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As always if you’ve read the book let me know what you thought! If you’ve not read it yet will my review convince you to pick it up?