Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - The Agathas

I am a sucker for a multi-media story. Give me transcripts! News articles! Tweets! All of it.

This book has an engaging plot, I figured it out about 60% of the way through, but I'm here for a good time, so that sort of thing never bothers me.

Iris Adams, I love her. She is precious. She's a nerd (affectionate) who is dragged into figuring out this murder. She's tough, she's clever, and she deserves all good things.

Alice Ogilvie is a perplexing character. She grew on me, but there are definitely times where her internal monologue comes across as "grown adults writing shallow teens" which was a bit annoying. I also did not like how we barely find out where/why/how Alice just up and disappeared over the summer. It's barely a paragraph in one of the final chapters. I think Alice is better when she's with Iris, but I feel like Iris could stand on her own as a character, whereas Alice is weaker in terms of development.

Spike, Nora, and Neil were fun, but they lowkey could've been condensed into one or two people--they didn't have enough page time to shine as individuals (namely Nora and Neil).

Now, Alice is obsessed with Agatha Christie. I mean the title of the book is a reference to her. The issue I have is that Christie's works contain racism--which isn't uncommon for the time, but it is a fact that cannot be ignored (while Christie's intentions can be debated, that does not erase the fact that her books have racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, etc). The book And Then There Were None originally had the N-word in the title. I wish that this had been addressed in the book, whether in the book itself or in an author's note.

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book! I'm working my way through Agatha Christie's work so this was extra fun. I didn't figure out the who-dun-it until later in the book, which is always a plus. I appreciate the domestic abuse part of the book as well. It added another layer to the book as did Alice's disappearance mystery. I also loved most of the characters. I really hope that there's a sequel, as the ending seemed open to that!

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missrosymaplemoth's review against another edition

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4.25

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

If you're looking for a YA mystery to start off your summer with, this is a great twisty one! Just when you think you have the mystery figured out, something will happen to make you second guess yourself. I also thoroughly enjoyed the references to Agatha Christie, even though I've never read an Agatha Christie book in my life.

That being said, I think it was slightly longer than it needed to be? At times, the story seemed to drag a little. But it all lead to a fun conclusion, one that will definitely keep you on your feet.

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camiclarkbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I received a digital ARC Of "The Agathas" by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has been on my TBR since January 2022 when I first saw the cover on social media. I was initially drawn to the illustrated cover, with its retro vibes and cool color scheme, and knew I had to read it was I saw the book’s tagline: “Who killed Brooke Donovan? It’s the biggest mystery of the summer, and everyone in Castle Cove thinks it’s the wrong guy…”

“TheAgathas” story is of how Alice Ogilve mysteriously disappeared for five days last summer and now her ex-best friend has also disappeared, but unlike Alice, Brooke Donovan didn't come back instead, her body was discovered in the water below the cliffs at Castle Cove. Alice partners with her classmate and tutor, Iris Adams, to uncover the truth of Brooke's death. Along the way, the two high schoolers discover that their town and the, people that live there have been keeping secrets of their own.

I was blown away by the concept of “The Agathas” from the book’s beginning. Alternating the perspective of each chapter between Alice and Iris not only gave us insight into the main characters but also gave us different angles of the mystery. Alternating POVs can be a difficult thing to manage. One character’s perspective is often better written than the other’s which can result in the reader dreading the shift and skimming the less interesting perspective’s chapters and missing crucial information about the plot. Luckily, that is not the case with “The Agathas.” Both Alice and Iris had compelling POVs that were equally well written.

The two main characters also had some good depth to them, though they did play into some stereotypes. Alice is portrayed as the typical “poor little rich girl,” raised by a nanny in a huge empty house with parents that are always too busy with their own lives to be around her. This has resulted in Alice having deep-rooted insecurities, but has also made her a very self-reliant individual. That, coupled with her hyper-fixation on Agatha Christie novels, helped her to solve the mystery of her ex-best friend’s death.

Iris is the typical smart outcast harboring a secret of her own. That secret drives almost all of Iris’s actions, from her agreeing to tutor Alice to her forming a partnership with her to investigate Brooke’s disappearance and death. The result is that Iris is a very goal-oriented character who moves through the plot with decisive actions, which is refreshing in a YA story, when so many female protagonists are so questioning of their every decision.

The side characters in “The Agathas” are all relatively flat stereotypes—ranging from the overzealous guidance counselor to the misogynistic detective. Although it would have been nice to see some more well rounded characters, the side characters all worked in the framework of the story. It gave the story the feel of a teen comedy movie and that really set a fun tone for the reader. I was able to perfectly picture a “Mean Girls” style Netflix show of “The Agathas,” which I would binge watch immediately.

Since “The Agathas” is a mystery, I don’t want to spoil it by spending too much time analyzing the plot. So, I’ll leave it at this—it was great. There were excellent twists of all sizes, which were executed beautifully thanks to the chapters alternating POVs. The ending was a great homage to Agatha Christie’s works, as anticipated, and also nicely set up future mysteries in Castle Cove.

As for the writing style, I wish there had been a little more description of the scenes; “The Agathas” was very dialogue heavy. This was not a bad thing, as the dialogue was all well written, but I think some more time describing the scenes could have strengthened the story a little more. Every few chapters there were text conversations between some of Alice and Iris’s peers, which gave the reader additional insight to the events surrounding Brooke’s disappearance. Although I loved the idea, I thought the messages themselves were very awkward. Most of the chat speak used felt very outdated, from the days of AIM instant messaging, which did not blend well with the references to Facebook and TikTok. However, it is extremely difficult to write a believable text conversation, let alone text conversations between seventeen year olds, so this critique should be taken with a grain of salt.

Overall, “The Agathas” is a great YA mystery with a fun setting and a captivating plot. The book reads like a movie and is one that will have you staying up late to figure out “whodunnit.” I absolutely loved “The Agathas” and am so grateful to Random House Children’s, Delacorte Press, and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book before it’s released on May 3, 2022. I actually loved this book so much that I added the Barnes and Noble exclusive edition to my shopping cart and have begun stalking the Internet for any news on upcoming sequels. If “The Agathas” isn’t turned into a series, that will be the real crime.

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