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 Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon is a Young Adult thriller that takes place in the city of Boston. Everything about Don't Turn Around for me was fascinating and made me want to read it desperately. The cover is just so interestingly designed and made me very inquisitive. The description was enticing but the selling point for me was The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Don't Turn Around was being compared to Dragon Tattoo which is one of my all time favorites. 
 Noa is not your average teen. She's a runaway from foster care and she is a computer hacker. She wears all black, is very pale, and had a mother who failed her. Noa has bad memories associated with fire and is an Apple junkie. For crying out loud, all the clues are here! This none other than a carbon-copy of Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Noa fails to live up to her older role model because there is only one Lisbeth. No character could be as kick ass or awesome as Ms. Salander. It's just not possible frankly. 
 The plot of Don't Turn Around was very promising and it did deliver. The pacing was fast in the beginning and the ending. During the middle of Don't Turn Around was not as interesting and a bit tedious compared to the rest of the book. I really liked the whole idea of /ALLIANCE/ and the hacking segments of the book. Clearly this book was well researched or Michelle Gagnon is a computer nerd. I really wish I was as handy with computers as the main characters. 
 The problem is that I couldn't connect with the characters. Peter and Noa were just nothing extraordinary, personality wise. The reader doesn't get developed backgrounds of the characters as needed. We know basic information but we don't know enough to feel connected to the characters. You can't empathize or like a character if you can't connect with them. 
 Don;t Turn Around was action-packed and had an interesting plot. The problem is that the reader lacks a connection to the characters. In my opinion Gagnon was too concerned with trying to make a Dragon Tattoo, that she didn't focus on character development. I really liked the action of this book but I think a bit of romance would be a great addition to the book. It really sounds like I didn't like the book based on my review but it's not the case. Don't Turn Around was a mostly fast paced, and action packed mystery with an interesting premise. I am a bit annoyed because the end didn't tie up nicely and I had more questions left unanswered. I am not sure if I will read the sequel to this book because it was just a decent read.