Review: The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was not what I expected in such a good way. This is dark and twisty, but so good. It is violent, and not for the faint of heart or for the squeamish. It was the perfect Halloween time read. There are 89 chapters to this book, or atleast there are in the audio book. Don't let that deter you, some of the chapters are very short. The book keeps going at such a good pace and I found myself wanting to listen to just one more chapter to find out what happens next.  The two narrators were excellent.

The Murder Complex follows our two main characters Meadow and Zephyr. They are connected but they don't know it in the beginning. They come to find each other later after an accident and make and unlikely coupling. Their relationship is kind of underwhelming for the most part.

Meadow is strong and will do whatever it takes to survive and keep her family safe, even if it means killing. She has been trained well to survive in The Shallows by her father and feels no remorse for her survival. Meadow has a deep need to keep her little sister Perry safe, and feels almost a sense of duty to protect and obey her father and brother Koi.

Zephyr is a ward, an orphan, who spends his days cleaning up The Shallows with his best friend Talon. The two of them clean up the streets after the nightly murders take place or whatever odd jobs the Initiative solders aka Leeches find for them to do each day. Zephyr sometimes wakes up in a fog feeling terrible after having gone on his own murder rampage, feeling overwhelming guilt about what he's done. He mourns the lives he's been forced to take, but can't remember why he's done it.

We finally find out what the Murder Complex is about half way through the book. We learn why it was created and who created it. I won't spoil it. This is where we kind of get into the normal recipe of dystopia, bad thing happens, new government takes over to keep the populace in check, and resistance swoops in to overthrown the government. Enter Meadow and Zephr to lead the resistance to glory...read book two to find out what happens next. I'm anxious to see what happens in the next book.

The actors who played the alternating perspectives in the audiobook were fantastic. They both had a wonderful ability to make unique voices for all of the characters in the story. I normally don't like dual perspective books, but it especially well in this audio presentation.  The audiobook was very well done. I'm not really one for all the violence that is inherent in this book, but it is so different from what I normally read. I really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to the next one, The Death Code.

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