A review by life_full_ofbooks
The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is a book that has been on my To Read list for nine years and it’s yet another one that I went into blind. I had no idea this was going to be as dark and crime ridden as it was, but given the fact that I had just finished listening to a True Crime novel, I was ok with continuing on the dark and twisty path. 

This follows the story of Serena and Poppy, two teenagers who were tried for the brutal murder of their teacher in the late eighties. One was found innocent and went on to lead a lovely life and the other was found guilty and spent 20 years in jail. Now she’s out and she’s determined to clear her name and prove the other one was actually at fault. 

While I really enjoyed how this was written, it was very predictable. The twist is revealed in the last 5% of the book but I called it at 30% in. Told first person from both Serena and Poppy their storylines jump back and forth from present day (which is the late 2000’s) to the past (the mid to late 80’s to the early 90’s) but the past isn’t written linear. We see bits of the trial before we even know what happened and by the time we come to the beginning of Serena’s story, we already know how it ends for her. As convoluted as that sounds, it actually worked quite nicely. 

I seriously don’t know what drew me to this nearly a decade ago and while I’m not sorry I listened to it, it’s one I would have been fine to skip.