Shell Shocked
by Kathleen Welton

My rating: 1 / 5
Genre: YA mystery

The synopsis I read for this book talked about turtles with strange markings on their shells, mysterious bioluminescence, and an investigation led by friends Alex and Avery. So I was expecting puzzles and detecting, but it was really just a long PSA about tourists and poachers endangering the environment. The bioluminescence is only mentioned maybe once, and the strange markings on the turtle shells are just…gashes made by boat motors? I think? It was really confusing. 

The author didn’t seem to pay much attention to her own book as she wrote. The turtle with strange markings on its shell is similar to one Alex saw in the rescue center she works at, which I thought would end up being part of the mystery, but by the next day, the turtle at the center is never mentioned again. Other elements are discovered and don’t go anywhere as well. And though I don’t mean to diminish the real-world plight of wildlife being poached and killed by careless people, the tone of the book was just so much more dire than I felt that the story required. In the end, this felt like a passion project for someone who has lived on or visited an island like that in the book and is concerned about the wildlife there, which is fine if you’re the right audience for it. I am not.

I received a copy of this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Find out more about Shell Shocked

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!