Lacks some of the immediacy and shock value of first Vol but essential and still gripping for those invested. Pertinent, terrifying themes and strong leads to root for

DNF.
I was looking forward to the second instalment of this series but I found it really dull. Couldn't motivate myself to finish.

Day 7 is a fantastic second instalment in this series. Picking up just where Cell 7 left off, this book continues to explore social class, conspiracy and media influence in a way I’ve not seen before.

I love that these books do not shy away from the nitty gritty truth that the media paint things in a certain way. Although I despise the nature of the reality shows in this book I love reading those scenes as it’s so interesting to see how the public are portrayed as reacting to what they are fed. I would like to think that I wouldn’t be so easily sucked in but I’m sure we all have been at some point or another. It’s really quite frightening when you think about the influence of the media and those up top who can control what goes out to the public and how it goes out. Frightening indeed.

There were plenty of shock twists and turns and a couple of them did leave me a bit teary eyed (if you’ve read the book you’ll know what I’m talking about!). The plot continued to be strong and I really enjoy how steeped in conspiracy this whole dystopian society is. It was refreshing to read the story from multiple POVs and I still really like all of the characters in this book. They all have their own stories and voices but are tied together perfectly.

The ending certainly left me wanting more – I just need to know what is going to happen next!

I received an E-ARC of Day 7 from Netgalley and the publisher in return for an honest review! If you know me, you’ll know that me and series don’t really mix, but the Cell 7 series has serious potential to change that. Day 7 is an absolutely brilliant sequel and it’s got me SO excited for the finale of the trilogy. So let’s get into the review…

First of all I have to say that it was SO nice to be back in the twisted subtle Dystopia, which is a really weird thing to say but Kerry’s writing is just so flawless that you find yourself just settling back in. At first it was a little bit difficult to remember who everyone was and there is a lot of different perspectives. I was able to get to grips with it pretty quickly, though and I found myself absolutely flying through the book.

With this in mind, time goes by very quick in this novel and it packs a lot of action into a short space of time, the least amount of sittings you can read it in, the better. I pretty much read it in one sitting at that made the experience that little bit sweeter for sure.

If you’ve read Cell 7, you’ll know that the book series is based around a reality TV show that determines if someone gets the death penalty or not for a crime they may or may not have committed. This really quirky and intriguing dynamic is continued into book 2 but now it has even more political intrigue/government corruption. You find yourself, as a reader, in that situation, thinking how you would vote given you know a lot more than the people in the world. This makes the book really immersive and has you constantly changing your opinion. Kerry builds this in such a way that you can’t tear away from the book, you have to keep reading until you know the answer.

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She has a great cast of characters which some you will love and some you will hate and some will surprise you! Each one is deep and meaningful and it’s been a while since I’ve felt THIS invested in the lives of characters, which is apt because, in this book, their lives LITERALLY hang by the balance. (My heart is pounding just thinking about it).

The ending is fast paced, shocking and features loads of twists and turns. It left me feeling very satisfied as a reader but I could tell that it wasn’t over yet! If you are yet to start this series, I definitely would, it’s absolutely wonderful and I cannot wait for the finale of the trilogy!

I wonderful sequel with even more action, intrigue and twists (if that is even possible!)

Rating: ★★★★★

An all too plausible dystopian plot told at a relentless pace. Disturbing, and uplifting in equal measures.

Provocative, quite machiavellian & beyond big brotherish, this was an impressive sequel.

Again showing us the danger of the media's power and how situations can grow out of hand, using the moniker of "democracy" In theory everyone getting a vote IS democracy, but practically it is more difficult than that & of course manipulation rears its ugly head, when money is involved.

Realistic with its repercussions from the events of previous book, the stakes are even higher now, the vise of government control even tighter. We have a wider perspective of POVs & get to see more of what is happening on the outside in this one. I think the initial juggling of POVs is the reasonFor the sequel did not seem to flow narratively for me at the beginning until Patty's proposition. I think it needed more Isaac & less politician. But from that moment on, the book soars.

Enjoyed the struggle between the powers that be & the now questioning public & intrigued to see the conclusion. Will people wake up or drink the government Kool-Aid again? You just now when Drewery is involved it will be something surprising & spectacular. It is scary how well Drewery does politician speak!

I love how Drewery does the book shattering scenes with the small right to the point sentences, one after another.

As was the case with book one, Day 7 stirs up a lot of feelings having to do with some of our fundamental beliefs. She makes us think about our society & where it is going in general, painting a wholly realistic, but terrifying picture.

Those beyond thrilling last pages on the titular day that leave you gasping. Wow and again Wow! Can't wait to see what happens next.

I read and loved Cell 7 just a few weeks ago and was so excited to find this on my first trawl through Netgalley! Kerry Drewey's sequel doesn't disappoint. Once again the riveting plot line continues - this time with Martha and Isaac swapping roles. He's now on Death Row for killing his father Jackson Paige (saving Martha's life in the process) in a world where justice is decided during a week long public debate. However this debate is once again being carefully stage managed by a government who want to hide the evidence that viewers see and ultimately control the result. We have a great cast of characters - I especially liked the TV hosts and their role in stirring up the audience - and I found the pace excellent. The plot twists and turns and I didn't guess the ending and I can't wait to read the next instalment. This is a tale which will appeal to fans of the Hunger Games trilogy though this series is much better written and it's also a change to have a series set in the UK!

I loved Cell 7 so I was really looking forward to Day 7, but it made me feel a bit disappointed when I found it a little repetitive. For a lot of it, it kind of felt like the same plot as Cell 7 but with Isaac in the cell instead of Martha. It was different enough to keep me interested, but I think it could have been more different.

I love the whole concept of it though. Everything is a conspiracy. Everything is manipulation and I feel like in this book we saw more of that. We saw how everyone's strings are being pulled behind the scenes. Not just the presenters of the TV shows but even Martha and Eve and everyone else. I love reading about manipulation and how hard it is to escape from this kind of thing.

I'm looking forward to the next book a lot. I don't like the repetitiveness, but I still love the whole idea and everything else about, Kerry Drewery's writing is beautiful and the different styles really bring it all together.

I can't wait to see what happens now.

I enjoyed this and certainly did not expect the ending - I am assuming there will be another book in the series. I found the escalation in the public's involvement in judicial decisions terrifying particularly as the system was so blantantly manipulated. The systematic removal of any opponents to the regime and state control of the media were cleverly set up. I certainly did not expect the bomb nor the aftermath. A good build up to the ending -I could not put the book down!

As I really enjoyed Cell 7 back in October 2016 and had read there was to be a follow up book by the name of Day 7 I had been excitedly awaiting it. I found Cell 7 to be really different to the other dystopian books out at the moment. In fact the society is quite futuristic but totally believable that there is a possibility that our own world could one day have a court and prison like the one featured in this book series. I'm eager to know where the book will pick up, where is Martha now? Can anyone help Isaac? Will Isaac be denied the one small concession of a human counselor or will he be one of the first to have to talk to a fully computerised counselor?

The cover is as eye-catching as Cell 7, though this time the colour is green. In the centre of the "eye" or maybe a "camera lens" there is a tree. . . could that tree be a reference to the tree Martha used to try to catch a glimpse of during her incarceration. Maybe the tree represents the growth of something? Perhaps a banding together of those against this present justice system.

There is a brief prologue which picks up right where Cell 7 left off. Martha is being escorted from the studios after been let out of her cell. There's photographers flashing cameras and people taking pictures on their mobile phones and all Martha wants is for them to leave her alone to get her breath as she is naturally still stunned at being freed. She frantically grips the ring that Isaac gave her. Martha is now scared that Isaac will be given the death sentence and if that happens Martha feels part of her will die along with him too.

The TV programme set up is still fairly similar to that in Cell 7. They use the same "Buzz for Justice" eye logo. The audience seats are as usual full to capacity already. There is a slightly raised witness box as well as an area for three panelists, each with their own large blue buzzer in front of them.
The first offender is brought in, Gus Evans, who was previously given a second chance. Gus has only been free for 7 days! Kristina the presenter in her perfect grey pin stripe suit and pale blue blouse introduces Gus, then shows some CCTV footage that firstly shows him holding a banner saying "one person, one vote" then it shows the demonstration getting out of control and shows Gus with his hands on an overturned car. Once CCTV footage is seen by the audience at home and in the studio along with the panelists Gus is given 30 seconds to protest and say why he is innocent, but 30 seconds is not very long and it seems by the time Gus works out something to say his time is up! Kristina reads out what punishment Gus will have if found guilty and then goes straight to the three panelists who decide whether Gus is guilty or not. The first panelist is Ava, a pensioner who has always wanted to appear on TV,the second panelist is Sadiq, a male interested in getting into the music industry and finally Candice who wants to become an actress. So all panelists are really there for their own purposes and agenda, irregardless of the case they will vote on. How fair can a trio of panelists be if one of them can be swayed by the offer of an audition in return for a press of the guilty buzzer?!

So as you will have read the last book you will know that it is Isaac in the Cells. Martha has been released and gone with the only people she knows and trusts, Eve, Cicero and Max but it soon has to come to an end as the government, in particular Prime Minister Stephen Rennard want Martha locked away in some sort of institution where she will not have a voice. In fact in some parts of the book you realise that the Prime Minister will stop at nothing to shut up anyone that speaks out against any of his policies or ideas. The Prime Minister is very crafty and can spin things to suit his own ends.
A character I really loved is killed in this book and though the Prime Minister didn't wield the knife that killed her, he may as well have. It seems in this book that no one is safe!

Whilst Isaac is going through exactly what Martha did. He has to endure his own experience and think of how did Martha cope. Isaac has no outside contact at all, he doesn't have Eve as a counsellor like Martha. The new counselling is in effect so Isaac has to speak to a computer. When he asks questions he is warned that he will forfeit is right to counselling.

Once again it is Eve, Cicero and Max trying to help Martha get Isaac out. Max tries the ways he helped with getting the public on board. They think it will be easier to get people on their side because of them showing the video and paperwork that belonged to Jackson which showed corruption by many celebrities and officials. Unfortunately, all the evidence has been disposed of and removed from the internet. Also the way Max hacked into the system has been made more secure. Not only are they up against that but the media is determined to discredit Martha saying she should not be free even though she was proven totally innocent.

Isaac is subjected to the whole voting for justice and along with his supporters come up against the whole Guilty/Black or Not Guilty/White, there is no grey in between. Even though Isaac only shot his father because Jackson was putting the young woman he loved in danger. Jackson would have killed Martha, had Isaac not shot him. But as the TV programmers promote their show as an eye for an eye no one seems to want to hear the reasons behind Isaac's actions. In fact, the TV programme became so popular in the first book of this series, that there is both a daytime and nighttime edition.

I feel like its two steps forward, then one step back for those helping Martha. They have to be extremely careful as they are being watched and anything that could be classed as or turned into a possible crime is! At times in the book Martha and her group feel like the whole world is against them, and I certainly felt that way when reading the book. They do have some mystery helpers a couple of times in the book.

Of course there are still the 'haves' and 'have nots'. The have not's live in the Rises where Martha comes from and the haves live in the large posh houses such as the one Isaac comes from. There is still the injustice that not everyone can afford to vote, though the Prime Minister has come up with the idea of giving every person living in the Rises a mobile phone so that they can vote on the show that forms this societies legal system. I honestly had a similar reaction to a certain character in the book. How can those in the Rises vote, even if given a mobile phone it will still cost them money to vote. a mobile phone with no credit is no good! Then later in the book, you discover the actual real reason that the Prime Minister wants everyone to have a mobile phone.

The end of the book is good, not what I expected. I obviously can't say the ending as that would be a big spoiler. How the book ends it could be the final ending, but personally I think there is so much potential for a spin off series maybe, or a continuation of this series where those characters still alive could form some sort of rebellion against the black and white law rulings on TV. The other small thing that irritated me a little was the Prime Minister's surname being Rennard, as I was watching the Grimm series on TV and one of the characters in that has the surname Rennard. I know, total weird coincidence, but every time I thought of the Prime Minister I thought of the character in Grimm too. The strange thing is I kind of have a dislike for both characters.

My favourite character in this book just has to be Mrs Lydia Barkova, the lady who lives next door to Martha in the Rises. The one with all the superstitions and sayings and has ended up being a substitute mother to Martha after her own mother was killed in a hit and run accident. I felt sorry for Mrs Barkova as it was her son, Oliver that was blamed for the hit and run. He was tried on the Death Is Justice TV show and found guilty and killed. Martha, Mrs Barklova and many people from the rises knew it wasn't Oliver but he was the one that the police and authorities wanted to pin it on. In fact we found out in Cell 7 that it was Jackson Paige who killed both Martha's mother and Isaac's mother. This man has quite literally gotten away with murder on numerous occasions.

The other character I ended up quite liking even though when you read the book yourselves you may not necessarily like her much to begin with was Sofia. She wasn't mentioned as much as some of the other characters were, but she does play an important part in this book and could become a more central character if there is a book three - which I hope there is. I want the society in Cell 7 and Day 7 to realise neither the old judicial system was right but that neither is the present one.

I totally loved every page of Cell 7, and I really enjoyed this one too. The beginning of the Day 7 felt a little slow paced for my taste, especially in comparison to Cell 7. Day 7 has the tension builds up more gradually. Once the tension built a little more I began to be pulled into the plot more. Day 7 gives a little more background on some of the other characters, such as TV presenter Joshua Decker. In fact his character did surprise me a little towards the end of the book.

My thoughts as I finished reading Day 7 were: Could there be a book three? Please tell me there's more to come from this dystopian/futuristic society? There's so much more, there has to be!