A review by stephaniesbookreviews
I Did It For You by Amy Engel

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

 I received a copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

I was vey intrigued by the title and description of I Did it for You. I went into it expecting a twisty thriller, but it’s not really what I got. As a mystery, it left a lot to be desired for me, but as an exploration of grief and guilt and love it excelled. 

Greer’s sister and her sister’s boyfriend were murdered when she was a teenager and while the killer was caught quickly, she never believed he was working alone. Now after more than a decade, two more teenagers are killed in the same manner. Greer finally decides to return to her small hometown to try and figure out what happened once and for all. The story was pretty slow moving and the reveals felt few and far between. The biggest ones were due to Greer’s unreliable narration and not things that she actually discovered, which I didn’t really care for. The villain ended up being one of my first guesses and the motivation for everything that happened felt very flimsy. 

Where the book really worked for me was when it looked at how people cope with grief and guilt. Greer teams up with Dean, the brother of her sister’s killer, as he also always believed there was someone else involved. Roy never shared his motivation for the killings, nor did he really express remorse for what he did, before his execution, but as we get to know more about him through Dean’s eyes, it’s hard to not feel bad for him. While Dean is devastated and ashamed of what his brother did, he’s also grieving his loss and the emotional confusion and turmoil of it all was very well done. Greer’s journey through grief, anger, and guilt to acceptance was also a well-done journey. 

Overall, I Did it for You was just ok for me. The mystery/thriller aspect really lacked for me, but the emotional exploration helped make up for it.