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The Murder Complex

(The Murder Complex #1)

Lindsay Cummings (Goodreads Author)

3.64 · Rating details · 8,091 ratings · 1,562 reviews

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

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 F ...more

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Kindle Edition, 400 pages

Published June 10th 2014 by Greenwillow Books

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Dec 01, 2013 Emily May rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, coverly-love, 2014, young-adult, dystopia-utopia

That's it. No more YA dystopias for Emily. I think I've said this before so I might be lying again, but I am so ready to get away from this exhausted and overcrowded genre.

Finding some level of originality is a fundamental problem for those authors who decide to jump on the bandwagon and tackle the world of YA dystopian fiction. If you can possibly make a dystopia out of it, then you can bet it's already been written in the past few years since The Hunger Games took centre stage. Every form of ...more

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Dec 21, 2013 Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: boring-main-character, romance, ya, sci-fi, siblings, girly-guy, on-the-run, try-hard, action, dystopian

I had a nagging sense of familiarity while reading this book, and it wasn't until the end that I finally realized what it was. This book reminded me of The Bone Season, and if you know me and my history with that book...it's not a good thing. This was such a disappointment to me, because this had been one of my most eagerly anticipated books for 2014.

It is an overhyped book that underdelivered. It was technically perfect while being completely devoid of emotion, with a convoluted, action-packed I had a nagging sense of familiarity while reading this book, and it wasn't until the end that I finally realized what it was. This book reminded me of The Bone Season, and if you know me and my history with that book...it's not a good thing. This was such a disappointment to me, because this had been one of my most eagerly anticipated books for 2014.

It is an overhyped book that underdelivered. It was technically perfect while being completely devoid of emotion, with a convoluted, action-packed plot that made largely no sense. The world building is chock full of strange terminology (minus the glossary), and the world itself is without much context, without much sense. The characters are forgettable, they are merely generically likeable and utterly lacking in personality. It is heavy on a completely unnecessary romance, with a tremendous amount of insta-love. And most importantly, however action-packed it was, I just found myself completely, utterly bored.

I wanted to DNF this book at 25%. I trudged on. I wanted to DNF at 75%. I forced myself on. And honestly, I could have DNFed this at 95% because this book just bored me to all hell, and I did not give a single fuck about any of the characters. The book was so incredibly long and dull that I did not really care about what happened in the end.

Here are some of my problems with this book

The Overly Complicated Plot: It is never, ever a good thing when halfway through the book, I have to go look back at the summary because I wasn't sure what I was reading. Judge my intelligence how you will, but I found this book to be a tremendous confusion-packed mess. Very, very briefly, it goes something like this: We have Meadow, a girl, who lives on a steamboat with her dad and siblings. We have Zephyr, an orphan boy who lives with flelow orphans, picking up bodies. For some reason, there are a whole lot of bodies to be picked up. There's a lot of people just dying, and it's no big deal at all. Meadow is trying to get a job. She gets it by killing a girl (and the job is never, ever mentioned again). People kill each other. Again, nobody cares. Zephyr acts really tragic, he speaks mysteriously about his "secret." We have no idea what the secret is. He dreams of a "moonlit girl" with silvery blonde hair (who is *gasp* Meadow). They run into each other several times, purely out of coincidence. They fall in love. They go chill on a boardwalk (because what else are you supposed to do when you're not picking up the corpses on the street).

Zephyr whispers sweet nothings into Meadow's ears. He tries to kill her.

Yeah. And then there's all this running away and lots of killing and lots of blood and lots of conspiracies.

And we're not even 33% into the book yet. Forget the killings in the book, I was about to be killed by boredom. I don't even fucking know what a Murder Complex is until around 50% into the book. The summary lies. Big time.

The Romance: I understand teenaged hormones, I understand attraction, and I don't throw the word insta-love around unless I feel strongly that it exists: this book is so utterly, completely packed with insta-love and unnecessary romance.

My breath sort of stops, right there in my lungs.
Standing behind the glass...is the person I swear I’ve waited my entire life to see.

There is a time and place for love, and it is not in a dystopia, and the words "I LOVE YOU" should not be uttered when you've seen the person all of a few hours, when the book is not even 33% finished.

I should be mad. I should be angry and embarrassed.
Instead, all I can think is I might love this girl.

Take Zephyr. The insta-love is strong with him. He dreams of a girl...

The stars are out tonight. But the stars aren’t what I want to see right now.
It’s the moon. The moon that reminds me of the moonlit girl.
My moonlit girl. She’s the cure to my nightmares, the one thing that helps me feel safe when I can’t even trust my own dreams to harbor me.
There aren’t many things I want.
But stars, I want the moonlit girl.

"Moonlit girl." "Silvery-blonde" girl. Moonlit girl. MOONLIT GIRL. It is repeated so many times throughout the book that I was sick of it, and I was sick of Zephyr. For fuck's sakes, you have more things to worry about than a girl who appears in your dreams.

"...maybe there’s a chance she’s been dreaming of me, too."

Meadow is no better, for all her claims of being a tough killer.

He is beautiful. Shaggy brown hair sweeps across his face, and I am shocked at how bad I want to touch it.

She shouldn't be thinking this while she's watching the guy BLEED TO DEATH.

It is the kind of love that I, with my practical mind, hates the most. Zephyr's love for Meadow is that of infatuation, that of predestination, that of fate. I don't believe in fated love. I believe that love should be based on friendship, trust, it should be worked on, it should be earned. Zephyr's instantaneous love for Meadow is so completely impractical, so completely unbelievable, so utterly girlish in terms of a serious, blood-filled novel such as this. This book aims to be Nikita, if so, it should really just leave out the sudden, inexplicable romance that truly plays no role in the plot at all.

The Big Event: This is not a spoiler, just something that happened in the past that led up to this future. Let's say that you are a researcher at a lab. You just discovered a new drug. Do you get it onto the market right away? No. Fuck no. We have a fucking thing called the Food and Drug Administration. It takes 5-30 years to get a drug onto the market. You need fucking drug trials. You need fucking human trials. You need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it is completely safe for human consumption. You don't fucking get approval from the government to pump it through the water system right away for the consumption of some 300-million odd Americans. Americans would never fucking go for that shit. Hell, we have enough complaints about the current water supply being infused with fluoride for the good of our teeth. Fuck that shit. There's a thing called the Drug Approval Process and it doesn't get anywhere as convenient as tings happened in this book. Look it up.

The World Building and Terminology: The Dark Times. The Silent Hour. Nanites. Pins. Leeches. Fluxing this, Chumhead that. The Catalogue Dome. Creds. The Initiative. The Plague. The Pulse. Wards. Placement Tests. My head was spinning. It's not even strange terminogy, but it makes no sense out of context, and there is very little context. You know sometimes in college, you have a brain fart and accidentally wander into a huge lecture hall that's not your own (ok, maybe just me) and you're sitting there sweating buckets, wondering why the fuck nothing makes sense? That's how I felt about this book. I was completely immersed into a well-built world that has very little background.

Ok, so we're in the future, there was an event called a pre-Fall that was never really explained. People are dying. Again, no explanation at all for quite some time. The word Murder Complex isn't even mentioned until we're considerably 25% into the book, and even then, it took a whole lot more book space until we find out what it was, and I was completely lost and all the cares I had for this book had flown out the window by the time I got to this point. There are no food. There is a ruling Initiative. There are tons of orphans. There are gangs. And it's not even 20 years into the future.

WAIT, WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Seriously, the world is well built, but there was so very little explanation for the current society, and the past, and the explanation of the past that I found this version of dystopia to be completely forgettable. There was an absolute lack of historical context that would only bypass the most forgiving of readers.

The Confusion: This book is so action-packed that I had trouble keeping track of where they are, and when they are. I just don't know where things are taking place. Zephyr and Meadow are talking, where are they? Fucked if I know. The setting is poorly built in this matter because I just can't get a clear idea of where things are and what is happening.

The Characters: Are inconsistent, are forgettable, and make choices that make no sense at all. Meadow can't make up her mind who she wants to be. She is supposed to be a killer, and we see that. She kills. I admire that. But then she goes around and falls in love and starts kissing a boy seconds before he tries to kill her. And then she gets mad at him, and then forgives him, and then can't make up her mind whether or not she should kiss him or kill him? Fuck that. Her father trained her to be a killer, and Meadow knows that in order for her to survive, she must be a killer. It makes no sense that she is so utterly wishy-washy in her actions, in her choices.

I honestly had a tough time telling which chapters were Zephyr's and which chapters were Meadow's, towards the end of the first half of the book, because their voices blended together and they felt like a single entity instead of one. I think it's more of the fact that Zephyr's voice felt effeminate, and he is such an utterly pale character that I can't be bothered remembering him.

Other characters in the book are completely nonsensical in their decisions. Take Meadow's take-no-prisoner father. He's been training his children to survive since they were small, understandable, but it doesn't really fucking make sense to tell his kids to do something that almost got them killed NUMEROUS times, in fact, they were seconds away from death as children. There are surely better ways of training your children and not lose them in the attempt. I really can't find any liking for the characters in this book.

Convenient Events: I don't want to say deus ex machina, but there you have it. There are WAY too many convenient coincidences in this book. Accidentally climb onto a yacht only to overhear something important? Accidentally discovering the importance of one's mother? Accidentally discovering MORE SHIT? OH, WE JUST HAPPENED TO FIND A CRATE OF WEAPONS. No. No. No. After the 5th such discovery, I just wanted to scream out in frustration.

Boredom: Ok, this is just entirely subjective, but there we have it. I was bored as fuck, and this book was a tremendously long waste of my time.

Overall: a terrible disappointment. Don't buy the hype.

This book was provided to me as an Advance Reader Copy. Quotes were taken from an uncorrected galley and is subject to change in the final edition. ...more

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Oct 07, 2013 Sasha Alsberg rated it really liked it · review of another edition

SPOILER FREE!
When I first heard the title of The Murder Complex I immediately thought of one thing: Blood. The title stayed true to the book because let me say, The Murder Complex was one gruesome read!

TMC (The Murder Complex) is Lindsay Cummings debut novel and while lots of debut novels can go wrong, this one went right! Like every book, it had its flaws but within those flaws it has potential. When Lindsay contacted me asking if I wanted an ARC of her book a few months ago, I could not turn d SPOILER FREE!
When I first heard the title of The Murder Complex I immediately thought of one thing: Blood. The title stayed true to the book because let me say, The Murder Complex was one gruesome read!

TMC (The Murder Complex) is Lindsay Cummings debut novel and while lots of debut novels can go wrong, this one went right! Like every book, it had its flaws but within those flaws it has potential. When Lindsay contacted me asking if I wanted an ARC of her book a few months ago, I could not turn down the Harper Collins author’s request. It seemed like such a compelling read that even if she never contacted me, I would probably still pick it up in stores once it comes out June 10th.

The plot line for The Murder Complex was such captivating dystopian read. Fans of Legend, Divergent and The Hunger Games are bound to gravitate toward The Murder Complex. TMC takes place in duel point of view between Meadow Woodsen and Zephyr James. Both characters story lines were interesting and very different. While Meadow was trained to survive this corrupt world where the murder rate is higher then the birth rate, Zephyr is an orphan (ward) who keeps his head low and tries not to attract any attention. I liked the alternating POVs, my only criticism with them is that the chapters could only be 3 pages long at certain points and sometimes I would’ve liked to stay in one of their heads a bit longer. But then again, it was nice that the chapters weren’t too long because it made it a faster read with non-stop action.

I don’t recommend this book to those of you who are squeamish about blood because this book is VERY bloody and graphic. Meadow and Zephyr both kill people throughout the course of the novel but while Zephyr feels remorse about his kills, Meadow doesn’t. It makes me think that Meadow is a psychopath. I would’ve liked to seen a bit more emotion come from her, not just toughness even though she does break down at one point in the book. I also would of liked to see some more character development between the two. I felt that the beginning of Zephyr and Meadow’s relationship was a bit forced but it toned down toward the middle of the novel and I liked that a lot. Sometimes in novels a relationship needs to take the backseat in order to really focus at the matter at hand. Except if it’s a romance book, then that’s okay! I do ship these two characters together; they really seem to care about each other and at the end of the day, that’s really all that matters. They balance each other out; Zephyr teaches Meadow how to trust while Meadow teaches Zephyr how to survive.

The whole deal with the Initiation and The Murder Complex was VERY interesting because I did not see half of those plot twists coming, even if some of them could be predictable. I do wish the world was explained a bit more, but then again, that’s part of the whole mystery.

Honestly, I would never want to live in a world like this. THAT’S WHY THIS BOOK IS SO INTERESTING. It makes the unbelievable, believable. If a person gets killed right in front of you in this dystopian world, you barely give it a second glance. But in our world if somebody gets killed right in front of you… You run as fast as your little fangirl/boy feet can take you (then you get help and some therapy)!

The Murder Complex captivates its readers with its fast paced storyline and powerful characters. In certain aspects of the book, there is definitely room for improvement but over all, this book series has so much potential and I can definitely see it going far. Keep up the awesome work Lindsay!

P.S. I cant believe such a nice and lovely woman like Lindsay could write such a mind boggling and bloody book… GO Lindsay!

I give The Murder Complex 4/5 stars. Make sure you pick it up at your local bookstore June 10, 2014!

Fandomsnews.com ...more

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Nov 16, 2017 Grace (BURTSBOOKS) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

The Murder Complex is a YA dystopian novel that follows the points of view of Meadow and Zephyr, in a society where the death rate is higher than the birth rate. I know what you’re thinking, that shit sounds interesting as hell. IT IS interesting as hell, sadly though the writing of this book was almost unbearable and completely ruined any interest I had in the world.

I’ve already wasted soooooo much time torturing myself through reading this book I can’t even imagine actually writing a proper r The Murder Complex is a YA dystopian novel that follows the points of view of Meadow and Zephyr, in a society where the death rate is higher than the birth rate. I know what you’re thinking, that shit sounds interesting as hell. IT IS interesting as hell, sadly though the writing of this book was almost unbearable and completely ruined any interest I had in the world.

I’ve already wasted soooooo much time torturing myself through reading this book I can’t even imagine actually writing a proper review, soooo I’m just gonna make an old fashion pro’s and con’s list and call it a day.

Pro’s
- Interesting concept
- That’s it.

Con’s
- Interesting concept reduced to an overused ya tropey storyline (aka PREDICTABLE)
- Cliché uninspired metaphors everywhere
- Out of nowhere romance
- Plot progression that wasn’t even close to cohesive
- Cringey dialogue --- including made-up slang that took you right out of the story anytime a character used it
- Character consistency was non-existent
- Show, don’t tell wasn’t applied in the slightest
- Word choice was questionable most of the time
- Pointless dual perspective bullshit --- they were barely even distinguishable from each other
- Character’s motivations were unclear --- so many things happened “for some reason” --- yes those exact words were used in a damn NOVEL
- It doesn’t make any sense that a programmed murderer who fears his own violence and ruthlessness would be attracted to someone who is violent and ruthless
- I found myself asking “Where the fuck did this come from?” over and over and over again.

I feel like I could go on but I’m just gonna leave it here. This book was a joke and that fact is the only reason I actually got my way through it. It was so terribly written I actually enjoyed making notes on how terrible it was. Maybe it’s just the editor inside me or whatever but I swear this book could’ve been soooooo much better. The writing just screamed lazy and if it went through about… 5 more rounds of editing, maybe it would’ve been bearable. ...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Lexie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Lindsay has confirmed that there will be no love triangle. I could kiss her.

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Jun 29, 2014 Ash rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“Count to three. Relax your mind. Now survive.”

WOW seriously, just wow. I have no idea why I was so hesitant to start this book. It had me on the edge of my seat, FREAKING OUT every other page. I had NO idea what was going to happen, I felt myself second guessing myself, there were so many twists and turns. I LOVE THIS BOOK

It was so...gritty and violent and insane crazy and the characters? I love Zephyr and Meadow

Of course, the cliffhanger just had to be a huge bitch, so I will definitely b ...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Lindsay Cummings rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Shelves: harper-greenwillow-books, books-i-wrote

Enter to win a signed ARC (advanced reader's copy) of THE MURDER COMPLEX on my blog!!!

http://lindsaycummingsblog.blogspot.c... ...more

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Mar 14, 2016 ambsreads rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: may-continue, annoying-male-leads, not-for-me, young-adult, dystopia

“Murder Is Madness, Stay Safe with the Initiative.”

The Murder Complex was a book I got purely on a whim, and so I could ignore Sasha on snapchat when she constantly mentions the series - and maybe I could understand the hype she keeps trying to create around this particular book. Overall though, this book was a straight up let down.

Though, I did get something I love in a book. Death, torture, gore. Now, that seems a tad weird when you do go through my books since I more so lean towards romance ...more

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May 14, 2016 Sana rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian, young-adult, literal-garbage, boring-af

This book was Divergent and The Hunger Games with just too much killing. It was plain, boring and unsurprising.

And that romance gave me cancer. Please excuse me while I try to recover from this unoriginal shit.

...more

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Oct 13, 2013 Rashika (is tired) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: e-arcs, dystopia, ya, why-did-i-read-it, disappointing, icky-romance, pretty-covers-lie, brainless-characters, read-2014

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

For the first time in a while, I was actually looking forward to a dystopia. I was eager to read this book. The premise was intriguing. It drew me in and when I saw this book on Edelweiss, I knew I had to have it.

Boy, was I in for a MAJOR disappointment. There were HEAPS of problems in this novel and not many redeeming factors in sight. In fact, it turned out to be a very typical dystopia instead of a unique one as it had promised. The only ...more

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Jan 14, 2014 Elesia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

So, The Murder Complex is Lindsay Cummings debut novel and it's had a lot of talk surrounding it, both bad and good. I went into this only having a very very vague idea of what it was about and it was completely different from what I expected, though not in a bad way! The Murder Complex is a pretty dark read, which you can probably gather just from the title. This book is pretty bloody and gory, so be aware of that. It's a pretty dark dystopian but personally I enjoy those best!

This book is told ...more

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Oct 13, 2013 Brianna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 0-physical, read-in-2015

**4.5 stars. I'll add my full review later! ...more

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Apr 11, 2015 Kainat 《HUFFLEPUFF & PROUD》 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: love-hate

4.5 Stars

Commandment One: Honor the Initiative.

Commandment Two: Thou shalt not attempt to cross the perimeter.

Commandment Three: Honor the Silent Hour.

Commandment Four: Thou shalt not harbor useful items from the days before.

I just love, LUV, love this cover!

So i decided to actually read something from my to-read list and this one caught my eye. The cover is just so beautiful, i've never heard anything about it, love going into a story without knowing anything! It's one of those book that are n ...more

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Dec 16, 2013 Ceilidh rated it it was ok

As someone who grew up reading crime novels and obsessing over the Hannibal Lecter series (a hobby that has transcended into my adult life thanks to the TV show), I’m surprisingly comfortable with on-page depictions of violence, more so than I am with it on screen. The kind of darkness young adult novels tend to go for isn’t one so focused on this kind of violence. There are exceptions, such as Barry Lyga’s “I Hunt Killers”, and Lindsay Cummings’s debut hopes to make a similar splash with a high As someone who grew up reading crime novels and obsessing over the Hannibal Lecter series (a hobby that has transcended into my adult life thanks to the TV show), I’m surprisingly comfortable with on-page depictions of violence, more so than I am with it on screen. The kind of darkness young adult novels tend to go for isn’t one so focused on this kind of violence. There are exceptions, such as Barry Lyga’s “I Hunt Killers”, and Lindsay Cummings’s debut hopes to make a similar splash with a high concept story and comparisons to Joe Wright’s teen killer movie “Hanna”.

The central concept is where the issues start. The world of “The Murder Complex” is one where all natural illnesses have been cured thanks to a series of nannites created to counteract a plague. This has had the unfortunate side effect of leaving human beings invulnerable to all illnesses, diseases and the like, meaning the only way one can die is through so-called “unnatural” means, mainly murder. While it isn’t unforeseeable that society would react to this news with a growing epidemic of violence, it is somewhat far-fetched that it would be the only reaction. The role of government is barely touched upon other than the stock dystopian unseen bad guys and the constant anti-science angle became exhausting. It may be a concept as old as science-fiction itself (the moral of “Frankenstein”, after all, is “don’t play God”) but it’s a lazy trope to create instant tension and an antagonist that can easily be blamed. It’s all science’s fault! Even though we as a current society gloss over violence and its consequences as well as the true horrors of war and therefore such attitudes are engrained in our psyche, it’s still all science’s fault.

As the novel progresses, the biggest comparison my mind kept making was that of “Reboot” by Amy Tintera, a YA novel that came with a lot of hype, many comparisons to “Divergent” and a similarly cavalier attitude towards violence (Cummings, to her credit, deals with this somewhat better than Tintera, but it takes longer than one is strictly comfortable with). Both novels also have a similar attitude towards the central romance, and both examples drag the story down significantly. With Meadow and Zephyr, the love they develop comes out of nowhere. He dreams of her but it later turns out he’s programmed to kill her. That is literally the extent of the development of their relationship. While the romance doesn’t derail the plot entirely, its very inclusion is questionable at best. Toss in a few glaring elements that echo “Divergent” so loud that you’d think this was a tribute novel and the central concept becomes less original and interesting with each passing page.

Side note but can we please stop using tattoos as a marker for how edgy and dangerous someone is? Tattoos are no longer counter-cultural, they’re part of the mainstream. My mum has 11 tattoos!

The novel itself makes for a fast paced read, although the interchanging narratives of Meadow and Zephyr are nigh on indistinguishable, and the prose is serviceable for what it hopes to accomplish. However, the violence has to be talked about again. “The Murder Complex” is a novel trying so hard to be dark and edgy and dangerous yet ultimately it feels relatively safe. The novelty of having a novel saturated with violence wears off quickly and one is left with a bad after-taste as the consequences of said violence are barely touched upon until the final 20%.

It is in this final fifth of the novel that the true potential hinted at in the synopsis shines through, but it’s just not enough. Too many questions are left unanswered. Why would the government immediately turn to murder as a means of population control over something like euthanasia? How does one keep the barest semblance of order in such a society when everyone is as ridiculously violent as those in charge? What about new births? How are they controlled, if they even are? Such unanswered questions become distracting to the reader.

The biggest question I was left with was why on earth did the author decide that using very graphic violence for a cheap shock tactic was okay but swearing was not? The characters say “flux” instead of “fuck” and “shit” is swapped for “skitz”. As well as being laughably juvenile, it presents a staggering hypocrisy that reminded me of the South Park movie: horrible violence is okay as long as you don’t use naughty language. I was seriously offended by this ridiculous double standard.

While “The Murder Complex” hints at Cummings’s potential as an action writer, there are too many questions left hanging, too many plot holes gaping wide open and a whole barrel-load of problematic content that tries to be shocking but ends up being distasteful. While the so-called originality of this concept may be amplified continually until release day, the story is ultimately too familiar to keep one’s attention held for long.

2/5.
...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Jasmine rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Edit (9.07.16): God damn it. I've had such a bland year so far. XP

Edit (9.11.12 - Cover Reveal):

description

LOOK! IT FINALLY HAS A COVER. after months of waiting, I finally get a cover. Yippy! And it's looks EPIC. I mean, seriously. It is awesome. I love the fact that they sketched in a face instead of photographed it. It looks like something out of a comic book. And the colour is so bold, so eye-catching. I just - I love. I love. Thank you to whoever made this. Hopefully they won't change the cover for the ...more

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May 09, 2012 Giselle rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014, arc-electronic, age-young-adult, genre-dystopia, requested-for-review, from-edelweiss, 2-star, genre-science-fiction

I don't even know what I just read.. *sighs* good concept, but I feel like the execution could have been handled better

Review TK ...more

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Jun 22, 2013 Neil (or bleed) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Meh.

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Jul 20, 2016 April rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Actually didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. The dark and twisted allure of the storyline is what made this book interesting. ...more

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May 27, 2012 Adam Silvera added it · review of another edition

Shelves: luckily-read-in-2013

Bad. Ass.

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Sep 04, 2018 Anja H. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

*2.5 BLOODY STARS*

“We're all good until we're not strong enough to be anymore.”

Seriously? What the fuck did I just read??
The first half was great, but the second half was just one big mess! The way these characters changed their minds every other minute gave me whiplash!

My first impression of this was good. The setting, the world, it was all very imaginative and worked out really well. However, it all started going downhill from the point where Meadow and Zephyr fell in insta-love. ...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Cherie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is an AMAZING book. If you don't read it, you're flat out crazy. It's gory and dark...but oh so pretty! I LOVE this book. And I can't wait until I get to hold my own copy!! ...more

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Jul 06, 2014 Kat Kennedy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I just really felt like either I didn't see the point to this book, or there was none. ...more

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Jun 12, 2013 Debbie Narh rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: annoying-protagonist, boring-as-hell, 0-5-stars, forced-myself-to-finish-this, male-pov, what-the-hell-did-i-just-read, dystopian, warning-might-hate, adventure, disappointments

Honestly, what is this crap? Because from all the hype, I would have thought this book would be amazing and lively and shit. It's not, not at all despite the non-stop action. I feel like The author thought that adding a shit ton of action and fighting would make up for the story being shitty but it really doesn't and never will.

I got bored after the first chapter because of the writing which is so awkward and choppy as well as the characters which are ALL forgettable and as creative and orig ...more

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Aug 17, 2015 Alice (Married To Books) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2017

This was a Christmas present given to me from my parents along with a huge stack of books which I'm currently featuring over on my Twitter profile at www.Twitter.com/MarriedToBooks3. The first book in a duology and one that has been sitting on my wishlist for months, I'm happy that I did get the chance to read it in 2017 before the New Year. Meadow is a fifteen year old, living in Florida but not the tropical paradise that we all associated it with. Her father is a tough man, teaching her skills ...more

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Feb 14, 2015 Lizzie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I'm so excited to have finally read one of the brilliant Lindsay Cummings's novels!! :)
I didn't really have any expectations going into this book, but it blew me away! The characters were SO fantastic, I really loved Meadow's character, as well as Zephyr! I thought they both worked really well together, and I loved the family aspect as well.
I thought that the world building was done really really well! I really enjoyed the storyline and was surprised many times by all of the plot twists.
I als ...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Alicia Batista (Addicted Readers) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, audiobook, arc-own, can-t-wait-for-the-sequel, arc-paperback, young-adult, bought, dual-pov, arc-read, murder-so-much-muder

Whoa, that was SO MUCH BLOOD!!

description

4 Stars...

THE MURDER COMPLEX was bloodtastic read that I devoured. I was allured by the dark essence and the fast paced plot that kept me engaged and entertained until the very last page! It was a bloody world, full of twist and turns that satisfied.

But to keep it real, THE MURDER COMPLEX was a good book, but it had it's faults. There where many aspects that I enjoyed, but many that I didn't. One that I really enjoyed was the world-building—the backbone to THE M ...more

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Jul 07, 2015 Darren Hagan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

*Actually 4.5 stars*

Really enjoyed this. It was action packed, full of ruthless people and murder. There were some good unpredictable twists and I liked the characters, even the side characters.

I found the romance to be a bit iffy though. It started off really nice but then something happened and I found it a lot harder to believe in it. My only other little problem was the language. In a book with such a high murder count, I didn't see the need to censor the "f*cks" and "sh*ts" with "flux" and ...more

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Feb 25, 2018 Rissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nook

Has A hunger games, maze runner vibe

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Mar 27, 2015 Courtney ♡ librarycutie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, recommend, ebooks, dystopian

"Welcome to the Murder Complex.
You cannot see us. You cannot feel us.
But we are here.
And we control your every move."

OH. MY. STARS! What have I just read?? I need more. I NEED The Death Code!!!

I started this book yesterday, and have finished it today. This was amazing and I honestly couldn't put it down. The writing was so easy to follow, and It was a really quick read. From the get-go I was Intrigued, and every time I turned the page, I wanted more!

So in this world, or this area of ...more

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Jun 11, 2015 Demi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Flux. Why did it take me so long to finally read TMC?? omg I need to read The Death Code as soon as possible! The Murder Complex is officially one of my new favorite books.

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topics	posts	views	last activity
YA Buddy Readers'...: The Murder Complex (The Murder Complex #1) by Lindsay Cummings - Starting September 1st 2020	14	167	Sep 14, 2020 07:01AM
Cannabinoid Complex	1	1	Oct 28, 2017 05:14AM
YA Buddy Readers'...: The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings - Restarting July 26th 2017	64	164	Jul 26, 2017 11:14AM
Bookmarked Muggles: The Murder Complex (June)	1	18	Jun 05, 2016 11:18AM
Crazy for Young A...: The Murder Complex (#1) by Linsday Cummings → Start Date: July 15th, 2015	48	87	Aug 03, 2015 08:05PM
The Elite Readers: Characters \|\| The Murder Complex	4	36	May 23, 2015 07:32AM

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About Lindsay Cummings

Lindsay Cummings

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Lindsay Cummings is the #1 NYT Bestselling co-author of ZENITH, along with her duology, THE MURDER COMPLEX from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins, and the MG trilogy THE BALANCE KEEPERS, from Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins. She is represented by Pete Knapp at Park Literary in NYC.

Lindsay deals with chronic fatigue, writes full time from her home in the deep woods in North Texas, and loves to ch ...more