The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

Genre:  YA Dystopian

The Murder Complex Series, Book 1

Lindsay Cummings' website

Expected publication date:  June 10, 2014

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Description (taken from Lindsay Cummings' website):

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision. The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or is it part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family? This is a dark and compelling debut novel that will appeal to fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow and Zephyr live in a world where the government has complete control.  They feed you, give you a job, and keep you healthy.  In return, you will submit to them and follow the rules.  Did I mention questions and free thinking isn't really allowed?  Oh and, for every job that gives food rations, there's twenty people wanting that job.  Guess the last one standing gets the job...

Meadow is a girl looking for a job to support her family.  Her brother warns her that the stakes are high and not everyone will get a job.  But somehow, Meadow manages it and begins to get rations for her family.  This also makes it possible for her to meet some interesting people including Zephyr.  Zephyr has been a ward of the state since he was a young kid.  With no family to support him, he's got no one and has one of the worst jobs of all: to rid the streets of the corpses.  But he also has a terrifying secret that needs to be told.  When the sun goes down and the world is plunged into darkness, no one is safe outside.  And everyone is fair game for death.

So...  Every little piece about this book sounds fantastic.  Sounds like an excellent plot, right?  But throw them all together, and you've got utter chaos.  This book is told from Zephyr and Meadow's points of view, and we get introduced to their life.  But with all of the little twists and turns, little questions begin to arise.  And when no answers really appear, it just doesn't seem believable anymore.  Now that I've said that, I must admit that the thrilling ride (err, read) was fun and engrossing.  Despite my issues with the plot pieces, it does have a good twist to blow your mind.  I read this book all in one sitting.  It just left a funny aftertaste.

A young adult dystopian book for all you readers out there.  If you're ready for a chase that will have you questioning things from start to end, this one's for you.  Just try not to think too hard once you finish it.

Thanks goes to Around the World ARC Tours for providing me a review copy.