21 Dares by JC Gatlin **

21 Dares by JC Gatlin opens when Abbie Reed was three and a half years old, and someone broke into her house and slit her twelve-year-old sister’s throat with a box cutter. Abbie never recovered.

Now fifteen years later, she is in college, in therapy, and isolated. She is being stalked by an incompetent stalker who is always obvious in the same coat and hat.

Her acquaintances throw her a surprise party and challenge her to 21 dares. Corpses pile up, but the plot never adds up. It was available as a free Kindle book as an introduction to the series. Try it, you might like it.

My concerns: The unbelievable plot resolution was overshadowed by Abbie herself. Abbie was a character who consistently made bad decisions. She seemed to consider a positive choice, but each time accepted pressure from anyone and everyone to make the wrong choice. She accepted every dare, no matter the source, and no matter the consequences.

When the murderer is revealed, that character’s motivation turns out to be as unconvincing as Abbie’s.