“A shivery delight.” –People For fans of Sadie and Serial, this “gloriously twisty” (BuzzFeed) thriller follows two teens whose lives become inextricably linked when one confesses to murder and the other becomes determined to uncover the real truth no matter the cost. What happened to Zoe won’t stay buried… When Anna Cicconi arrives to the small Hamptons village of Herron Mills for a summer … Anna Cicconi arrives to the small Hamptons village of Herron Mills for a summer nanny gig, she has high hopes for a fresh start. What she finds instead is a community on edge after the disappearance of Zoe Spanos, a local girl who has been missing since New Year’s Eve. Anna bears an eerie resemblance to Zoe, and her mere presence in town stirs up still-raw feelings about the unsolved case. As Anna delves deeper into the mystery, stepping further and further into Zoe’s life, she becomes increasingly convinced that she and Zoe are connected–and that she knows what happened to her.
Two months later, Zoe’s body is found in a nearby lake, and Anna is charged with manslaughter. But Anna’s confession is riddled with holes, and Martina Green, teen host of the Missing Zoe podcast, isn’t satisfied. Did Anna really kill Zoe? And if not, can Martina’s podcast uncover the truth?
Inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Kit Frick weaves an electrifying story of psychological suspense that twists and turns until the final page.
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Fascinating Plot that Slightly Fizzled at the End
I don’t read a lot of YA, but I do read a lot of thrillers. I’ve seen a lot of hype about this book and decided to check it out.
I was pleasantly surprised by the content. There are enough plot twists that it took me a while to figure everything out, and the story moves along at a nice pace. The character development extends far past “awkward teenage girl every boy desires” and “scorching hot teenage boy who only has eyes for her.” Everyone seems to have a secret, and their reveals are quite satisfying. That is, until the big reveal at the end. So much buildup went into the story that the climax required a bang, not a whimper. And while it might not be fair to call the ending a whimper, it was definitely not a bang.
I received this book from NetGalley, so I may not have had the final, polished version. Because of that, it’s unfair of me to judge the book on mechanical errors. There were several, but I did not let that factor into my rating. Instead, I’m only considering content. This author has a fertile imagination and a good sense of story development and pacing. The book is engaging, and despite the fizzling ending, I can comfortably give it a solid four stars.
With an addictive voice, expert storytelling, and a twist even I didn’t see coming, I Killed Zoe Spanos is one killer thriller! Read. It. Now.
4.5/5
I received this book as part of my Unplugged Book Box June YA subscription. The story centers around our protagonist Anna Cicconi, who accepts a job as a nanny in a small Hamptons town for the summer looking for a fresh start from her party life in NYC before starting college in the fall. Anna soon learns she has a striking resemblance to a girl, Zoe Spanos, who has been missing since NYE. When Zoe’s body is eventually found, Anna is charged with her murder which she admits to, albeit with a confession “riddled with holes.” This story takes us on an adventure to figure out the truth.
I really enjoyed this book. Staying spoiler free, Frick had me guessing every step of the way, creating multiple believable scenarios as the story takes twists and turns. Every time I thought I had it figured all out, I was off. There were some things I predicted but never the ending in full. I felt Frick’s writing style, pacing, and character development were phenomenal, and I felt the ending came together beautifully. I love when all the details are tied up neatly. If you like twisty thriller/mysteries that make you doubt your theories every step of the way, are full of morally gray characters, and have a seemingly unreliable narrator, pick this up. A perfect summer read.
I am the person who figured out the trick to the Sixth Sense twenty minutes into the movie and this book had me guessing until the end. Kit Frick is a master of plot and she shows her chops with this book. Fully developed characters and an idyllic setting create a sturdy base for this powerhouse of a story. A biting and exciting read, I Killed Zoe Spanos is a book you want with you during this quarantine.
An addictive sea-side thriller, I Killed Zoe Spanos is a tour de force! I have paper cuts all over my hands from turning these pages so fast.
review found on my blog https://www.emilythebooknerd.com/2020/07/i-killed-zoe-spanos.html
Anna is a 17-year-old girl who is deciding that her life needs a little change before she heads off to college. Her high school life has not been a very tame one and she has decided that she needs a break from all the parties. She gets a job in the Hamptons in the town of Herron Mills being an Au pair for a wealthy family. Anna soon realizes that she looks suspiciously like a girl who has gone missing. A girl who she has memories and visions of. Soon the body of Zoe Spanos is discovered. Anna starts to put pieces together and cannot help but wonder. Did she kill Zoe?
I killed Zoe Spanos was a book that I did not expect to fall in love with. I do not usually read a lot of mystery or contemporary books. The story moving between two different time periods really gives you a sense of knowing whats going to happen and then flips on its head. Many things did not make sense and that feeling of needing everything to fall into place kept my attention. I finished this book in one day not being able to put it down. I needed to know what happened to Zoe and if Anna was a part of it.
The influence on Anna’s drinking and slightly hinting in that she is an alcoholic is an important part of the story that I think should have been resolved a little better in the end. I believe that people need to see that not only can you stop drinking on your own, but you can get help for it too. Her being an Alcoholic is what has her so confused and believing in the possibility that she could have killed Zoe.
The book did a particularly good job of showing the difference between different class structures and what is possible when you have money. The fact that Anna is placed in juvey after she confesses to something without a lawyer present and without a parent. Along with the fact that her story does not hold water and she is still charged. While after a different individual confesses, they are given very lenient treatment because the family has money. This also comes up when you think about women going missing. Zoe is of high importance because of her status and family but some other women might not even be reported missing.
This book is a remarkably interesting book that I think is coming out at the perfect time. Would be amazing to sit on the beach or alongside a pool in the sun reading this book. The scene that is set in the book makes me want to go to the beach and soak up the sun.
I Killed Zoe Spanos is a dizzying, kaleidoscopic fever-dream of a novel. From its ‘did I read that right?’ opening pages, right through to an ending I truly didn’t see coming, this fantastic thriller left me breathless.
I Killed Zoe Spanos was attention gripping from start to finish. I started it one evening and stayed up past midnight just to finish it because I couldn’t go to sleep without knowing how it all ended. There were so many twists and turns, clues hidden in plain sight everywhere, but even so it was still hard to piece together just what the hell happened to Zoe and what was going on with Anna.
Anna – After partying her way through senior year with drinking and drugs, she’s ready to be serious and put some distance between who she was and who she wants to be in college. To earn some extra cash and get out of the city she takes an au pair job for the summer in the Hamptons for the (blank family). There’s no better way to jump on the responsibility train than to have to be responsible for a kid right? She also apparently looks a lot like a local girl, Zoe, that disappeared on New Years. It seems she has unwittingly stepped into Zoe’s life. Was it an accident though?
Martina – A crime podcaster behind the the “Missing Zoe” podcast. She’s best friends with Zoe’s younger sister Aster and has channeled her journalism passion into helping to solve Zoe’s murder since the cops seem to think she just ran away. Until they don’t. Even then though pieces of the confession aren’t matching up and all she wants to do is find out what exactly happened to Zoe on New Years Eve.
We do have a dual POV, with Anna’s typically being in the past while Martina was the present. It was such a good juxtaposition because we know how things are in the present but not how they got to that point. I also really enjoyed the podcast aspect of the story. We got to learn about Zoe from friends, teachers and classmates which put together this pretty clear image of who she was and why she wouldn’t have just up and disappeared.
I loved Anna and I just kind of felt sorry for her. She’s made some bad decisions but just wanted to turn it all around and be someone better, to make this better life than she had up until this point. Life just dealt her the most craptastic hand though.
There were so many clues and puzzle pieces sprinkled throughout the novel. Things that just stuck out like “oh that was weird I should remember that for later” and made me think I could solve who killed Zoe. I was constantly trying to put the pieces together and it was so fantastic. I love a good twist too and it fit with everything I already knew so it was totally believable. This was my first mystery thriller by Frick and it won’t be my last. If you love unsolved murders and mental puzzles that you can in fact figure out I highly recommend this book.