Sunday 15 July 2012

BOOK REVIEW: Out Of Sight, Out Of Time by Ally Carter

Title: Out Of Sight, Out Of Time (Gallagher Girls #5) 
Author: Ally Carter
Pages: 336
Published: 5th April 2012
"The last thing Cammie Morgan remembers is leaving the Gallagher Academy to protect her friends and family. But when Cammie wakes up in an alpine convent and discovers months have passed, her memory is a black hole. The only traces left of Cammie’s summer vacation are the bruises on her body and dirt under her nails. All she wants is to go home. But even the Gallagher Academy now holds more questions than answers as Cammie and her friends face their most difficult challenge yet. With only their training and a few clues to guide them, the girls go in search of answers on the other side of the world. But the Circle is hot on their trail and will stop at nothing to prevent Cammie from remembering what she did last summer."(Goodreads)


The Gallager Girls series really is one that just keeps getting better and better with every book. With Out Of Sight, Out Of Time being the FIFTH book in the series, you mught be struck with the worry that Ally Carter might have lost her touch by now, and run out of creative ideas. But start reading the book, and you would immediately realise that you were worrying over nothing.

The premise of this book is probably the most dramatic and exciting of the series so far - Cammie wakes up in a convent in an isolated area of the Alps with no memory whatsoever of her entire summer. Her mother tells her that sometimes there are things that you don't want to remember - maybe Cammie's amnesia is her brain's way of protecting her against memories of experiences that are too painful to bear. After all, Cammie did wake up in a body she could hardly recognise as her own - weak, almost emaciated and covered in injuries. But Cammie feels it is important to remember and is determined to unveil the mystery and unearth the truth at whatever cost.

The book follows Cammie and her friends through her journey to achieve this and, as you can imagine, it's not a smooth ride. Firstly, Cammie seems unsettlingly familiar with a gun, leading her to deal with the question, 'Is Cammie still herself?' Or has the summer changed her and made her dangerous and a threat to everyone else?

Out Of Sight, Out Of Time is a thrilling and exciting read, and it was intriguing to watch Cammie try to rediscover herself, and her memory, helped by cleverly placed clues left by 'Summer Me' - the name that Cammie calls the self that she can't remember.

This book was like a jigsaw puzzle with the characters gradually gathering little bits and pieces of the picture, for them to fall all nicely together and fit together perfectly at the end. Of course, not all the loose ends are tied at the end of this book, and there are still questions to be answered but, despite this, the ending was satisfying and I am now looking forward very much to the next book, although the ending was not so cliffhanger-y that I am DYING to read it NOW.

And how can I review a Gallagher Girls book without mentioning Zach?! Ahhh, Zach. As gorgeous and as swoonworthy as ever. He remains my favourite character in the series and I think he makes it all the more enjoyable for me actually; this is probably why I didn't like the first book in the series as much as I have all the rest of them - because Zach wasn't in it!

I am really impressed with how Ally Carter still managed to make this book as original and unpredictable as the rest of the series - I really was kept guessing the whole way through, and was genuinely surprised with every twist and turn - and I just hope that the next book in the series lives up to my expectations of a wonderful author!

(Oh, and one other random thing - I found it quite amusing when we discovered that the name of a certain villainous character was called 'Catherine'! Well, after I death stared at the book for about a minute and wondered if the author had something against me or something... ;-) )

7 comments:

  1. I LOVE this book, great review :)

    xxx

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  2. I adore this series - this book especially! I feel that the fifth book had much more action in it compared to the rest and I loved every minute of it! My favourite character is also Zach *swoons* <3 He is definitely much better than the first love interest Cammie had!
    I can't wait for the next book so I can see what happens to Cammie... but mostly just to see Zach again, of course! ;D

    Brilliant review! So glad you like this series too! :)

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  3. I totally agree on your point about Zach :) I didn't really like the first book because he wasn't in it :( You can see this in my review here: mystorywithyouandher.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-id-tell-you-i-love-you-but-then.html

    Thanks for commenting on my blog, I'd love a follow back too! ;)

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  4. I've only read the first book in this series (shock horror!), but I want to read the rest! Great review, thanks for sharing! :)

    PS. I'm a new follower, I love your blog! The header is awesome;)
    Zoe xx

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  5. I actually never read the first book of this series, but I don't think I missed much since Zach comes in the second one!

    Great review!

    Sophie @ The Dreaming Reader

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  6. I have been wanting to read this series for so long, I have heard so many things about how much fun it is. I also wanna read her other series Heist Society, ugh my TBR pile is so huge lol. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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  7. I love this series! I can't wait to see how how it ends when GG #6 comes out later 2013!

    Alice @ Alice in Readerland

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