ARC Book Review | The Wicked We Have Done by Sarah Harian

 

 

 

Series: Chaos Theory, # 1

Format: e-ARC

Source: Publisher via Netgalley

Publisher: Penguin/InterMix Books

Publication Date: March 18, 2014

Goodreads

 

 

Evalyn Ibarra never expected to be an accused killer and experimental prison test subject. A year ago, she was a normal college student. Now she’s been sentenced to a month in the compass room—an advanced prison obstacle course designed by the government to execute justice.

If she survives, the world will know she’s innocent.

Locked up with nine notorious and potentially psychotic criminals, Evalyn must fight the prison and dismantle her past to stay alive. But the system prized for accuracy appears to be killing at random.

She doesn’t plan on making friends.

She doesn’t plan on falling in love, either.

 My Thoughts

I think this the first New Adult book that I've read that wasn't just centered on romance.  Sure, there is some romance going on, but that's not all this book is about.  It was so refreshing to finally read a New Adult book that brought something different to the table and I hope to read more like this one.

This book kind of reminded me of The Condemned in the sense that it deals with convicted felons that are put in their own space without restraints.  However, that's were the similarities end.  In The Wicked We Have Done the criminals are sent to a place called the Compass Room.  The Compass Room is designed to monitor their brain waves and decide whether or not they are a threat to society.  If they are deemed not a threat then they will be released into society.  And if they are deemed a threat, well let's just say that the Compass Room has its own way of dealing with them.

I know this will probably sound bad considering her crimes, but I really liked Evalyn.  I could tell from the beginning that what everyone thinks happened and what actually happened were two completely different things.  Evalyn has such a big heart and you could see how much she cared about people, there was just something about her crimes that wasn't adding up and it's not until close to the end that we finally learn what happened.  I hope that people see her in a different way after that.  Casey was another that I liked, he's had a hard life but he came out such a strong person and he really cares about Evalyn.

I feel that a lot of the characters in this book went so much deeper than what we saw at first and I don't think some of them belonged in prison or the Compass Room.  Yes, so of them couldn't be described as anything other than evil but some of them were put in difficult circumstances. 

Overall, The Wicked We Have Done was a breath of fresh air in the New Adult genre, it's so unlike any other NA book that I've read.  I will warn you though, there are mentions of horrendous crimes and if that's something you can't handle then this book probably isn't for you.  But, if you like the NA genre and want something different, then you should definitely give this book a try.