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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
It started off kind of slow and I didn't care for the writing that much. Though once I got through the halfway mark, I couldn't put it down. I liked it for the most part to the ending. I wish the writer would have gone more into why Anna thought what she thought and if there were any medical reasons behind it. Overall was a solid read that got me out of a reading slump.
-SPOILERS-
It was definitely a page-turner: I couldn’t help but stay up all night reading, hoping to find out all of the insane plot twists and secrets hidden in the characters and the setting.
Ended up kinda feeling like the whole thing was a waste of time. I really loved the main character, and I loved the casual LGBTQ representation as well. But all of the twists fell flat and, honestly, is anyone else getting tired of murder mysteries where the murder ends up just being an accident? There were approximately no sinister actions by any characters in this book: just a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings. That’s more of a me thing, though.
All-in-all, it was alright. But I can’t help but think about how it could’ve been better.
It was definitely a page-turner: I couldn’t help but stay up all night reading, hoping to find out all of the insane plot twists and secrets hidden in the characters and the setting.
Ended up kinda feeling like the whole thing was a waste of time. I really loved the main character, and I loved the casual LGBTQ representation as well. But all of the twists fell flat and, honestly, is anyone else getting tired of murder mysteries where the murder ends up just being an accident? There were approximately no sinister actions by any characters in this book: just a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings. That’s more of a me thing, though.
All-in-all, it was alright. But I can’t help but think about how it could’ve been better.
I loved so much of this book, but the end didn't really work for me.
TL;DR: I Killed Zoe Spanos had lots of potential but, sadly, fell short of what I suspect the author was going for. This review ended up being longer than intended, but my main points are: Anna wasn't an adequate protagonist, the mystery and conclusion were underwhelming, and none of the characters felt fleshed out.
This mystery story centers around the disappearance of Zoe Spanos on the previous New Year's Eve. Due to evidence of Zoe purchasing a bus ticket, and Zoe being a legal adult, the police assume Zoe disappeared of her own volition. This explanation doesn't make sense to those closest to Zoe, especially since Zoe had made plans for the future before her disappearance. Why would she make future plans if she was just going to vanish and start a new life? The police's theory is later proven wrong when Zoe's body is found at the bottom of a lake, which is soon followed by a confession from a seventeen-year-old girl named Anna Cicconi. Despite this, the case is far from solved according to podcaster Martina Green. Anna's confession is riddled with holes, and there are multiple witnesses contradicting her story. Furthermore, Anna's confession occurred after six hours of police questioning with no guardian present or legal representation. Besides, there's proof that Anna and Zoe never met. So, what really happened to Zoe Spanos?
I Killed Zoe Spanos alternates between the first and third-person point of view, with the first-person occurring during the summer before Anna's confession and the third occurring in the months afterward. This narration style gives the reader the answer but leaves them hungering for the how's and why's. For example, the first chapter is in the third-person and depicts Anna confessing to killing Zoe Spanos. The holes in her story are obvious, and it successfully piques the reader's curiosity. Who is Anna Cicconi? What are the events that led up to this confession? Who are these other people she's mentioning in her story?
Again, as I previously mentioned, this story had lots of potential, but it ultimately fell short. I'm going to start off by discussing what I liked and what I thought the author did well before moving on to the negatives.
What I Liked:
1. The Third-Person Narrative. Personally, I think that Frick is great at writing in the third-person. Her writing style in these chapters makes visualizing the setting and characters effortless. I really enjoyed reading her third-person chapters and looked forward to them as I found them more enjoyable than the first-person narration.
2. Anna's Memories. Throughout the book, Anna gets flashes of memory that don't make sense. She has memories of Zoe and of the town despite never meeting Zoe or being in the town before, that she knows of. It's almost like she's remembering Zoe's memories. It was intriguing, and I honestly wondered if Anna was psychic. In conclusion: it piqued my curiosity and kept me reading.
3. The Podcast. I'm not sure why, but I'm lately loving stories with a podcast in it. It's probably because I like podcasts. I've seen a few criticisms about Martina coming off as immature, but she's only sixteen or seventeen, so this didn't really bother me. Yes, her slight righteousness-discovering-the-truth complex was a little annoying, but I liked it because it showed her slight immaturity and a flaw in her character. It had the potential to both help her solve the case and get her in trouble.
What I Disliked:
1. Anna Cicconi/the First Person Narration. TL;DR: Anna's chapters were majoritively uninteresting, and she wasn't an intriguing protagonist. Besides her mysterious, random memories, I questioned why Anna was the protagonist. She didn't really...do anything. Sure, she was curious about Zoe and wanted to know what happened to her like everyone else, but she barely did anything. The majority of her chapters were her nannying Paisley, chilling at the pool, talking to Zoe's ex-fiancee, being mistaken for Zoe, and having misplaced memories. She kind of asked questions, like a mystery book protagonist should do, but they were less about Zoe and more about whether or not she was going crazy.
You know the sexy-lamp test used in movies? The one where if you replace a character with a sexy lamp and the story would still make sense? Instead of replacing Anna with a sexy lamp, I feel like the story wouldn't lose anything if Anna was taken out altogether. Martina Green could have easily been the sole protagonist (and she was hardly in the story). When reading Anna's first-person chapters, I kept waiting for something to actually happen. I waited for her to get invested in Zoe's case and research and snoop and form alliances, but she didn't. Also, I'm still trying to figure out the logical steps she took that led her to confess.
I've seen other reviews refer to Anna as an unreliable narrator, but I disagree. She was never lying to the reader, purposefully not disclosing pertinent information, or lying to others. Her memory flashes could indicate her being guilty, but I don't consider that unreliable or misguided. If Anna didn't have these memory flashes and attempted to solve the case only for it to be revealed in the end that she killed Zoe, I would consider that unreliable. There, of course, are other ways of executing this. I never felt like I couldn't trust Anna. Again, there was potential for Anna to be unreliable or an interesting protagonist, but she fell short.
2. The Secondary Characters. None of the characters felt fleshed out. We barely meet Zoe, but she felt more real than the living characters. Some characters were introduced only for them to not matter later. There were instances where a character was introduced, and you get the sense they're supposed to matter or be important in some way, (looking at you, Max) but they weren't in the end. With these characters, I expected them to interact in the story more and do shady things that would make the reader wonder if they did it or if they could trust them. The closest a character came to applying was Caden, but we never get a chance to really know him or get attached to him in any way. Characters I wish the story would've fleshed out and involved more are Aster, Martina, Max, Kaylee, Starr, Caden, and Zoe Spanos' parents. Personally, all of these characters have loose ends that could've been explored beyond a brief mention. Furthermore, Martina was made out to be a secondary protagonist, but she also hardly does anything.
3. The Ending/The Resolution. Okay, so this criticism focuses on spoilers. So, the spoiler-free version is that the ending/the twist was anti-climatic. Honestly, the case could've been solved months before if the police were competent, which is accurate to a lot of current and real unsolved cases, so that's not a criticism on Frick. It's more of a, if anyone actually researched and investigated the case, it could've been solved. The fun aspect of a mystery story is trying to figure it out along with the protagonist(s), which you can't do unless the characters are getting hands-on and investigative. Alrighty, here are my criticisms that include spoilers.
The ending was far from satisfying because I don't think it was set up well. The readers barely interact with Aster or with the Spanos family, and Starr was just the name of a person who gave Anna and Kaylee booze. Furthermore, there were many hints that multiple characters knew more than what they said, Paisley especially, but this wasn't delved into except for a brief "oh, yeah, this happened" at the end. I understand that Anna's memories were a device to create curiosity and throw doubt on Anna, complicating the story, and that either Caden or Anna was meant to be the primary suspect so when the reveal happened, we were supposed to be like, "Whoa! I didn't see that coming, but it makes sense!" But there was hardly any investigating or build-up to this revelation. Don't get me wrong, I like characters that aren't fully reliable or who do shady things for selfish purposes that make them suspicious; it's intriguing and fun. What happened in this story, though, was being told that a certain person wasn't to be trusted, and we had to trust that because Anna didn't interact with the story, and, thus, neither did the reader.
Personally, to improve the story, I think Anna should have befriended Martina way sooner and hung out with her, and consequently Aster, more, and that Anna should have become more invested in the mystery than she was. What her motive is for solving Zoe's case could've been the same: she's having weird, unexplainable memories and deja-vu, and people think she looks like Zoe. But this time, she actually investigates, interacts with more characters, and works with another character. The unreliable narrator route could work if Anna discovered evidence of her being involved and hid it due to fear, and her confession occured due to Aster, who is more involved, purposefully finding said evidence and turning her into the police.
I do believe I'm in the minority opinion, which is fine. Overall, I think that Frick is a talented writer, but that this particular story suffers from a protagonist that lacks the drive to interact with the story around her, or, maybe, Frick wanted to do more but cut back during editing. I'm definitely up to try reading one of her other books.
This mystery story centers around the disappearance of Zoe Spanos on the previous New Year's Eve. Due to evidence of Zoe purchasing a bus ticket, and Zoe being a legal adult, the police assume Zoe disappeared of her own volition. This explanation doesn't make sense to those closest to Zoe, especially since Zoe had made plans for the future before her disappearance. Why would she make future plans if she was just going to vanish and start a new life? The police's theory is later proven wrong when Zoe's body is found at the bottom of a lake, which is soon followed by a confession from a seventeen-year-old girl named Anna Cicconi. Despite this, the case is far from solved according to podcaster Martina Green. Anna's confession is riddled with holes, and there are multiple witnesses contradicting her story. Furthermore, Anna's confession occurred after six hours of police questioning with no guardian present or legal representation. Besides, there's proof that Anna and Zoe never met. So, what really happened to Zoe Spanos?
I Killed Zoe Spanos alternates between the first and third-person point of view, with the first-person occurring during the summer before Anna's confession and the third occurring in the months afterward. This narration style gives the reader the answer but leaves them hungering for the how's and why's. For example, the first chapter is in the third-person and depicts Anna confessing to killing Zoe Spanos. The holes in her story are obvious, and it successfully piques the reader's curiosity. Who is Anna Cicconi? What are the events that led up to this confession? Who are these other people she's mentioning in her story?
Again, as I previously mentioned, this story had lots of potential, but it ultimately fell short. I'm going to start off by discussing what I liked and what I thought the author did well before moving on to the negatives.
What I Liked:
1. The Third-Person Narrative. Personally, I think that Frick is great at writing in the third-person. Her writing style in these chapters makes visualizing the setting and characters effortless. I really enjoyed reading her third-person chapters and looked forward to them as I found them more enjoyable than the first-person narration.
2. Anna's Memories. Throughout the book, Anna gets flashes of memory that don't make sense. She has memories of Zoe and of the town despite never meeting Zoe or being in the town before, that she knows of. It's almost like she's remembering Zoe's memories. It was intriguing, and I honestly wondered if Anna was psychic.
Spoiler
She's not.3. The Podcast. I'm not sure why, but I'm lately loving stories with a podcast in it. It's probably because I like podcasts. I've seen a few criticisms about Martina coming off as immature, but she's only sixteen or seventeen, so this didn't really bother me. Yes, her slight righteousness-discovering-the-truth complex was a little annoying, but I liked it because it showed her slight immaturity and a flaw in her character. It had the potential to both help her solve the case and get her in trouble.
What I Disliked:
1. Anna Cicconi/the First Person Narration. TL;DR: Anna's chapters were majoritively uninteresting, and she wasn't an intriguing protagonist. Besides her mysterious, random memories, I questioned why Anna was the protagonist. She didn't really...do anything. Sure, she was curious about Zoe and wanted to know what happened to her like everyone else, but she barely did anything. The majority of her chapters were her nannying Paisley, chilling at the pool, talking to Zoe's ex-fiancee, being mistaken for Zoe, and having misplaced memories. She kind of asked questions, like a mystery book protagonist should do, but they were less about Zoe and more about whether or not she was going crazy.
You know the sexy-lamp test used in movies? The one where if you replace a character with a sexy lamp and the story would still make sense? Instead of replacing Anna with a sexy lamp, I feel like the story wouldn't lose anything if Anna was taken out altogether. Martina Green could have easily been the sole protagonist (and she was hardly in the story). When reading Anna's first-person chapters, I kept waiting for something to actually happen. I waited for her to get invested in Zoe's case and research and snoop and form alliances, but she didn't.
Spoiler
She didn't even solve the case. The most she did was give the single piece of evidence she found, the flash drive and letter, to Martina.Spoiler
Her friend literally told her that Anna was misremembering and that she'd tell her what really happened in person, but what does Anna do? She goes to the police with the snippets of memory she has, fills in the holes with lies, and confesses to something she doesn't even fully remember doing. I get she was scared but dang. There were smarter things to do here.I've seen other reviews refer to Anna as an unreliable narrator, but I disagree. She was never lying to the reader, purposefully not disclosing pertinent information, or lying to others. Her memory flashes could indicate her being guilty, but I don't consider that unreliable or misguided. If Anna didn't have these memory flashes and attempted to solve the case only for it to be revealed in the end that she killed Zoe, I would consider that unreliable. There, of course, are other ways of executing this. I never felt like I couldn't trust Anna. Again, there was potential for Anna to be unreliable or an interesting protagonist, but she fell short.
2. The Secondary Characters. None of the characters felt fleshed out. We barely meet Zoe, but she felt more real than the living characters. Some characters were introduced only for them to not matter later. There were instances where a character was introduced, and you get the sense they're supposed to matter or be important in some way, (looking at you, Max) but they weren't in the end. With these characters, I expected them to interact in the story more and do shady things that would make the reader wonder if they did it or if they could trust them. The closest a character came to applying was Caden, but we never get a chance to really know him or get attached to him in any way. Characters I wish the story would've fleshed out and involved more are Aster, Martina, Max, Kaylee, Starr, Caden, and Zoe Spanos' parents. Personally, all of these characters have loose ends that could've been explored beyond a brief mention. Furthermore, Martina was made out to be a secondary protagonist, but she also hardly does anything.
3. The Ending/The Resolution. Okay, so this criticism focuses on spoilers. So, the spoiler-free version is that the ending/the twist was anti-climatic. Honestly, the case could've been solved months before if the police were competent, which is accurate to a lot of current and real unsolved cases, so that's not a criticism on Frick. It's more of a, if anyone actually researched and investigated the case, it could've been solved. The fun aspect of a mystery story is trying to figure it out along with the protagonist(s), which you can't do unless the characters are getting hands-on and investigative. Alrighty, here are my criticisms that include spoilers.
Spoiler
It took two, two pieces of evidence for the case to be "solved." Neither Anna nor Martina even solved what happened to Zoe. Martina found Aster's golden hoop earring and at least knew that Aster either started the stable fire or was there after the fact, but Aster not only then threatened to bludgeon Martina but also confessed to the manslaughter of her sister and the concealment of her body. Anna's memories of a body sinking into the water and crying about it? That was apparently her friend, Starr, who was mentioned a handful of times as a friend Anna had who left to Flordia and never talked since.The ending was far from satisfying because I don't think it was set up well. The readers barely interact with Aster or with the Spanos family, and Starr was just the name of a person who gave Anna and Kaylee booze. Furthermore, there were many hints that multiple characters knew more than what they said, Paisley especially, but this wasn't delved into except for a brief "oh, yeah, this happened" at the end. I understand that Anna's memories were a device to create curiosity and throw doubt on Anna, complicating the story, and that either Caden or Anna was meant to be the primary suspect so when the reveal happened, we were supposed to be like, "Whoa! I didn't see that coming, but it makes sense!" But there was hardly any investigating or build-up to this revelation. Don't get me wrong, I like characters that aren't fully reliable or who do shady things for selfish purposes that make them suspicious; it's intriguing and fun. What happened in this story, though, was being told that a certain person wasn't to be trusted, and we had to trust that because Anna didn't interact with the story, and, thus, neither did the reader.
Personally, to improve the story, I think Anna should have befriended Martina way sooner and hung out with her, and consequently Aster, more, and that Anna should have become more invested in the mystery than she was. What her motive is for solving Zoe's case could've been the same: she's having weird, unexplainable memories and deja-vu, and people think she looks like Zoe. But this time, she actually investigates, interacts with more characters, and works with another character. The unreliable narrator route could work if Anna discovered evidence of her being involved and hid it due to fear, and her confession occured due to Aster, who is more involved, purposefully finding said evidence and turning her into the police.
I do believe I'm in the minority opinion, which is fine. Overall, I think that Frick is a talented writer, but that this particular story suffers from a protagonist that lacks the drive to interact with the story around her, or, maybe, Frick wanted to do more but cut back during editing. I'm definitely up to try reading one of her other books.
This is not the type of book I would normally read, but it's YA and set in a town I first believed was a fictionalized version of my tiny hometown (and that's a rare thing). Someone gave me an ARC of it and I only read it because of the setting. Turns out my town (Amagansett) was mentioned by name once in the middle of the book, so it wasn't exactly set there - but it was in the neighborhood for certain. Didn't really make me like the book more, but that's why I read it. It is essentially a murder mystery with a definite twist (or two) ending, which I wasn't thrilled about. Nothing spectacular, but would make a good beach read - especially if you're going to The Hamptons, where it takes place.
I was looking for something different and this definitely fit the bill. The way it was written definitely had you wondering what the hell was going on. For a little while, it had me tripping out because it felt familiar. I wondered if I had already read it. (I hadn't.) With that said, I managed to figure a lot out. I wasn't sure, in the beginning, if I would. That last little bit thrown in at the end? It's gonna be one of those things that I will randomly think about in the future.
Would I read again? It's possible.
Would I read again? It's possible.
mysterious
fast-paced
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced