Book Review: Fourth Comings

FINALLY! I finished reading the fourth installment in what has become known as the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty. It was a tuff one for me to get through. It's a whole week in the life of Jessica Darling. A weeks worth of journal entries that document almost every single trivial thing that could happen to the girl. It's quite like reading what my own daily journal would be like if I had the time to write down every single thing that happened to me. So, I found that part to be a bit of a hurdle with barbs to get over. But throughout, just like all the other Jessica Darling books, it's flooded with ironic humor and her usual snarky, sarcastic comments.
It's a bit torturous, at least I found it to be, because something quite expected and also unexpected happens at the very beginning. THEN, you have six days of reading of mundane things that don't pertain to the outcome of what happens in the beginning. I cheated, I couldn't take the boring parts of the middle of the book-which happens to be almost all of it. Like all but ten pages or so...I sneaked peaks at the parts that I wanted to know, skimmed and scanned, and read the ending! I've never done that before, so I feel this is why it was so difficult for me to read it in a normal amount of time. So it's my own fault, but OH! It was dragging on and on and on.
In the end, while I'm sure I would have survived by not reading every page of the book, principle tells me the events in the middle that I had no interest in were very important to the overall outcome, giving not only Jessica Darling the tools to make her final decision but also an explanation for the reader. A way for the reader to identify with and understand Jessica's decision.
In my opinion, Megan McCafferty sent us on a tortuous trip of foreshadowing that could end only one way. The book, is irritatingly suspenseful including things that don't seem to pertain to the bigger picture and therefore, you might find yourself cheating, like me, or reading it that much faster to get to the end. I think it's the weakest book in the series but I didn't lose complete interest so fifth book here I come. If you're a loyal Jessica fan, you'll make it through the fourth book and also get your hands on the fifth book.