Cell 7 - Book Review

Cell 7
by Kerry Drewery

What is it about:
Should she live or die? You decide

An adored celebrity has been killed. Sixteen-year-old Martha Honeydew was found holding a gun, standing over the body.

Now Justice must prevail.

The general public will decide whether Martha is innocent or guilty by viewing daily episodes of the hugely popular TV show Death is Justice, the only TV show that gives the power of life and death decisions - all for the price of a phone call.

Martha has admitted to the crime. But is she guilty? Or is reality sometimes more complicated than the images we are shown on TV?

What did I think of it:
Although a nice read I think this book could have been harder.

The premise of this book is a good and current one: How much are we manipulated by what we're shown on TV? How much freedom will we give up just because we think it doesn't concern us (yet)? How much power lies with those with money?

With issues like these I expected a bit more bite from this story, but instead it explores the misery of Martha vs. what the public gets shown, and the half-assed attempts of those who care for her to get her declared innocent. People who should know better let themselves be taken on a ride, people who are devious are being shown as devious, and the general public is shown as one big lump of uninformed and uninterested mass who just wants to be entertained.

So yeah, it's a bit black and white, and the overall story isn't strong enough to deliver the message this book wants you to receive. Maybe it works for those who haven't really thought about issues like these, but for me a read that could have been thought provoking turned out to be just an entertaining read.

Why should you read it:
It's a nice near future YA read.