Wish You Were Dead (Thrillogy #1) by Todd Strasser #Bookreview

Title: Wish You Were Dead
Series: Thrillogy #1
Author: Todd Strasser
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Published Date: September 22nd 2009
Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller
Page Count:236
Format: Hardcover

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
Str-S-d:
I’ll begin with Lucy. She is definitely first on the list. You can’t believe how it feels to be in the cafeteria and turn around and there she is staring at me like I’m some disgusting bug or vermin. Does she really think I WANT to be this way? I hate you, Lucy. I really hate you. You are my #1 pick. I wish you were dead.The day after anonymous blogger Str-S-d wishes the popular girl would die, Lucy vanishes. The students of Soundview High are scared and worried. Especially frightened and wracked with guilt is Madison Archer, Lucy’s friend and the last person to see her the night she disappeared.
As days pass with no sign of the missing girl, even the attention of Tyler, an attractive new student, is not enough to distract Madison from her growing sense of foreboding. When two more popular students disappear after their names are mentioned on Str-S-d’s blog, the residents of Soundview panic.
Meanwhile, Madison receives anonymous notes warning that she could be next. Desperate to solve the mystery before anyone else disappears, Madison turns to Tyler, but can she trust him when it becomes clear that he knows more than he’s sharing?
The clock is ticking. Madison must uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearances . . . before her name appears in Str-S-d’s blog.

In the spirit of stories like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Todd Strasser updates the teen thriller for the techno age with Wish You Were Dead, the first installment in a new “thrill”-ogy.

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 My Review:

"While other kids were learning to look both ways crossing the street, I was being taught what to do if I was ever kidnapped. What the general public didn't know and the police only suspect, was that the kidnapping of the children of wealthy parents happened more frequently than was reported in the news."

Madison works with a local program to drive young adults home on the weekend when needed. This seems like a fairly easy job until one night a passenger goes missing after having been dropped off. This sets the whole town on edge, but the kidnappings don't stop there over the next weeks another two teenagers go missing as well. The local authorities are questioning all of the usual suspects but keep coming up empty-handed. So it's up to Madison and a person who comes to her for help to find out who's taken them and why all without getting caught by the real kidnapper.

This was so much better than I thought it would be. I really liked this thriller mystery and I loved how it was all able to fit into such a short book. Not only did you feel actual fear for the characters, but all of the other mini mysteries surrounding the main big one were fun to figure out. As for the big mystery, I was completely wrong on who that one was and I had never even had that person as a suspect making it truly shocking.

I can't wait to read the next companion novel in this series and see what Strasser is able to come up with next.