Better Than a Touchdown
Jalen Hurts
Both books explore Juvenile Fiction
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Children's Books
★★★★★5.0 (1)
A YA psychological thriller that keeps you guessing whether its traumatized heroine is losing her mind or something far stranger, wrapped in a slow-burn, banter-heavy romance.
What It's About
Mara Dyer wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the night that killed three of her friends in a building collapse. Her family relocates from Rhode Island to Miami for a fresh start, but Mara keeps seeing things she shouldn't, from flashes of her dead friends to scenes that feel more like visions than dreams. She enrolls at an exclusive private school and catches the attention of Noah Shaw, a sardonic British boy with a reputation, while people connected to her begin turning up hurt or dead.
Hodkin tells the story in Mara's first-person voice, which is sharp, funny, and increasingly unreliable. That unreliability is the engine of the book. For much of it you genuinely don't know whether you're reading about post-traumatic stress and grief or about a paranormal mystery, and the tension between those two readings gives the novel its unsettling, creepy edge. The family scenes, especially with her brothers and her watchful psychologist mother, add warmth and stakes.
The reading experience swings between eerie horror, school drama, and flirtatious romance. The middle stretch leans heavily on the Mara-and-Noah relationship, then the pace sharpens toward a tense final act. It is the first book of a trilogy and reads like it: expect questions to multiply rather than resolve, and an ending designed to send you straight to the sequel.
Read this if you…
- enjoy YA thrillers that blur the line between psychological horror and the paranormal
- like a sarcastic narrator and a banter-driven romance
- are happy to commit to a full trilogy for answers
Skip it if you…
- dislike brooding, possessive-leaning love interests and insta-attraction tropes
- want a self-contained story with a resolved ending
Key Ideas
- 1
Trauma or something supernatural?
The book's central hook is ambiguity. Mara's hallucinations, nightmares, and memory gaps could be symptoms of grief and post-traumatic stress, or signs of something impossible. Hodkin deliberately keeps both explanations plausible for a long time, so readers share Mara's fear of not being able to trust her own mind.
- 2
An unreliable, witty narrator
Mara's voice is sarcastic and self-aware, which makes her easy company even as her grip on reality slips. The humor softens the horror without undercutting it, and the first-person lens means every eerie moment arrives filtered through her doubt, which keeps readers off balance about what is real.
- 3
Slow-burn romance with a bad-boy love interest
Noah Shaw is the classic charming, wealthy, rumored-to-be-a-player romantic lead, and their verbal sparring takes up a large share of the book. Fans find the chemistry addictive; others find it a familiar YA formula. Either way, the romance is as central to the novel as the mystery.
- 4
Family as an anchor and a pressure
Unlike many YA thrillers, Mara's family is present and involved. Her loving but concerned parents and her brothers provide comfort, humor, and real stakes, while her mother's professional interest in her mental state adds tension about being watched, diagnosed, and possibly not believed.
Limitations
The biggest complaint is the cliffhanger: this is clearly book one, and many plot threads are left open on purpose. Some readers feel the romance crowds out the mystery in the middle, and Noah fits a well-worn YA mold that can read as controlling to modern eyes. The treatment of mental illness serves the suspense more than it offers a careful portrayal. Despite being shelved under children's books, it contains swearing, violence, and mature themes better suited to older teens.
Questions Readers Ask
- What age group is The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer appropriate for?
- It is young adult fiction best suited to readers around 14 and up. There is strong language, death and violence, disturbing imagery, and romantic and sexual tension, though nothing explicit. Parents of younger readers listed under children's categories may want to preview it.
- Is it a standalone or part of a series?
- It is the first of a trilogy, followed by The Evolution of Mara Dyer and The Retribution of Mara Dyer. The first book ends on a cliffhanger, so plan to read on if you want resolution. A later companion series follows other characters from the same world.
- Is it more horror or romance?
- Both, in roughly equal measure. The opening and finale lean toward psychological horror and mystery, while much of the middle focuses on Mara and Noah's relationship. Readers who loved paranormal romances like Shiver or creepier YA thrillers tend to enjoy the mix.
- Published
- 2011
- ISBN
- 9781442421769
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Category
- Children's Books
Book details and cover from Google Books.
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