Cover Image: I Killed Zoe Spanos

I Killed Zoe Spanos

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

This was a very meh read. The mystery was so mediocre and the ending was just really dramatic. When I was reading, I just was wanting to finish it.

Was this review helpful?

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

Was this review helpful?

This was a really fantastic read! That we had the beginning with the confession, and then went into the past for the summer just before, and then sometimes would get the present, it was a great way of telling this story! I had such a great time reading it!

Anna was a really great character! Though the idea of being a nanny scares the crap out of me-the anxiety of taking care of another person's child, being responsibility, of what could go wrong, that had me on the edge basically the whole book. She's made some poor decisions in the past, but she's determined to make better choices now. But oh, does she have something up with her memory!

The main mystery is what happened to Zoe. We know she's dead because her body was found, but not until the end of the summer, which is almost the end of the story. I loved how when we caught up to the confession, we switched perspectives, and see Anna from an outsider's view, as well as continue the investigation.

Man, the twists and turns in this book! There was a trail of breadcrumbs of one part of the mystery that didn't mean anything at the time until they did, and they successfully mudded the waters. That ending was really shocking and I loved it!

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to read more by Kit Frick!

Was this review helpful?

I could not get into this book, sorry. Trying to clean up my netgalley. Didn’t realize that I was forgetting to leave reviews on netgalley itself, My apologies.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Really loved this one, I re-read this summer. It's a great engaging story.

Was this review helpful?

I am officially obsessed with YA mysteries and I Killed Zoe Spanos is such a winner!

The plot is interesting and engaging from beginning to end and the podcast element is so well done and really adds to the story and reading experience.

Anna is the new girl in town and quickly discovers that she bares an uncanny resemblance to missing teen Zoe.

Anna quickly gets wrapped up in the search for what happened to Zoe and the reader is brought along for a fun and well-developed whodunnit with great character development and satisfying reveals along the way.

Perfect for fans of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. I can't wait to read more by Kit Frick.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for the advanced readers copy.

Was this review helpful?

I can’t put my finger on why, but I didn’t love it. It was an interesting story, and it wasn’t terribly slow, but I just wasn’t excited to find out what happened next. Actually, the only piece I really enjoyed was the last little chapter. That got me. A little twist at the end to just throw a wrench in the whole thing. That was very well done. The writing was good, the characters weren’t bad. It was just a little boring I suppose.

Was this review helpful?

This had me on the edge of my seat! So well written, I had a lot of expectations going into it and they were definitely met!

Was this review helpful?

Tired of all the partying and drinking, Anna Cicconi is determined to get her life together the summer before going to college by accepting a nanny job for a family in the Hamptons. When she arrives there, everyone confuses her for Zoe Spanos, a girl that disappeared a few months back. A girl that Anna confesses to have killed. Only that Martina Green, a friend of Zoe and Anna and host of a podcast dedicated to figuring out what happened to Zoe, is not convinced and continues to use her podcast to figure out exactly what happened to Zoe Spanos.

Told in a dual point of view, the "then" when Anna arrives to her new job and the "now" when Anna confessed to Zoe's murder, Kit Frick does an excellent job of going back and forth without giving away too much or making any part boring. I was hooked all the way through. The characters, besides interesting, were realistic to me and made the story better. Especially with Anna being an unreliable narrator with memories of places she's never been to and doesn't know how she got them.

One of my favourite things about this book is that, since it has a podcast as part of the story, the audiobook has the podcast episodes in it!! I thought that was brilliant and so fun and added so much to the story than just reading the transcript in the book.

I give this book 4.5* only because I would've liked to see a bit more about two characters in the end, but really this book is everything I could've asked for. Already a favourite and can't wait to get a physical copy and have it on my bookshelf forever.

I killed Zoe Spanos is a story with intricate characters, fantastic mysteries, and multiple plot twists that will have you turning each page at the end of your seat waiting for more.Tired of all the partying and drinking, Anna Cicconi is determined to get her life together the summer before going to college by accepting a nanny job for a family in the Hamptons. When she arrives there, everyone confuses her for Zoe Spanos, a girl that disappeared a few months back. A girl that Anna confesses to have killed. Only that Martina Green, a friend of Zoe and Anna and host of a podcast dedicated to figuring out what happened to Zoe, is not convinced and continues to use her podcast to figure out exactly what happened to Zoe Spanos.

Told in a dual point of view, the "then" when Anna arrives to her new job and the "now" when Anna confessed to Zoe's murder, Kit Frick does an excellent job of going back and forth without giving away too much or making any part boring. I was hooked all the way through. The characters, besides interesting, were realistic to me and made the story better. Especially with Anna being an unreliable narrator with memories of places she's never been to and doesn't know how she got them.

One of my favourite things about this book is that, since it has a podcast as part of the story, the audiobook has the podcast episodes in it!! I thought that was brilliant and so fun and added so much to the story than just reading the transcript in the book.

I give this book 4.5* only because I would've liked to see a bit more about two characters in the end, but really this book is everything I could've asked for. Already a favourite and can't wait to get a physical copy and have it on my bookshelf forever.

I killed Zoe Spanos is a story with intricate characters, fantastic mysteries, and multiple plot twists that will have you turning each page at the end of your seat waiting for more.

Was this review helpful?

On the one hand, this book kept me reading way past my bedtime.  I just HAD to know who had killed Zoe Spanos, but also, how all the weird things that were happening were going to be explained.  There was so much happening and presented perfectly—the right speed, the right order (the author chooses to go between “then” and “now” and does so absolutely brilliantly), the right amount of character development, just brilliant.  But the ending got me a little disappointed.  I mean, I didn’t see it coming until the end, followed by another twist on the very last page of the book.  And when you reread the book, you see the hints throughout quite clearly—a lot like in The Sixth Sense.  But it was still a little anti-climactic.  I’m not sure if it’s because I, as a reader, was expecting too much, or because it was actually anti-climactic.  Rest assured I will be bringing this up with anyone who has read this book—which, by the way, I still completely recommend!

Was this review helpful?

A great YA mystery/thrillers! I love book featuring podcasts, and I thought that this story really benefited from it! I really enjoyed all of the characters, and really enjoyed the story overall!

Was this review helpful?

**I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.**

I was beyond excited to pick this book up, I mean who doesn't like a good murder mystery? Unfortunately, this book fell a little flat for me. There were things I liked and things I didn't like. I found that Kit Frick's writing style just wasn't for me. It wasn't bad in the least, it was just a style that I'm personally not a fan of. This book is told in two different times, one in the present and one in the past. I found this format worked well for this book, however, the first half of the book I found to be slow and uneventful. I thought the idea behind this book was a really good one, however like I mentioned before I found the first half of the book to be slow. I did really enjoy the "present" chapters, but I found more often than not I would have to push myself through the "past" chapters, at least during the first half of the book. I sadly wasn't a fan of any of the characters either, which was unfortunate as I find characters can either make or break a book. Once the book finally picked up I ended up really enjoying the book and I was pleasantly surprised to find I hadn't guessed the ending.

Overall this book wasn't bad and if you like murder mysteries and crime I would suggest picking it up, however, this book won't be making it onto my top 10 favourite books list.

Was this review helpful?

I don’t usually read teen murder mystery/ thriller reads as I have so much trouble finding them plausible and believable, but I have so many recommendations about I killed Zoe Spanos that I had to give it a try. I killed Zoe Spanos has an excellent cast of characters with the ever-much-loved unreliable narrator. Filled with twists I did not see coming, overflowing with drama and a format that bridges the past and present via a podcast. I Killed Zoe Spanos is a fun, entertaining and addictive murder mystery teens and adults will devour.

Was this review helpful?

The title was all I needed to want to read this book immediately. As a huge fan of anything mystery, I was super excited to start I Killed Zoe Spanos.

I found the idea of the book really interesting, told in two different times, from two people, in regular prose and in podcasts. The story delved right into the mystery immediately, something I admired. Anna Cicconi had arrived at Herron Mills to work as a nanny for the summer in hopes of a fresh start, but then she finds that she has an eerie resemblance to Zoe Spanos, the girl who disappeared at New Year's Eve and nobody has heard from her since. Two months later, Anna is at the police station and confesses to killing Zoe Spanos. But the story she tells doesn't add up, she's never been to Herron Mills, she doesn't remember going to the ocean. So what really happened?

It is said at the end that this book was inspired by the novel Rebecca, which I have not read but now really want to.

As much as I enjoyed the first few chapters, I wasn't able to hold on to it. After Anna arrived at her job, the story became a bit slow as nothing was going on. I was around 20% into the story when I decided to take a little break from this book. However, I'm a bit mad at myself for taking that break because as soon as I started reading it again, everything got a whole lot more interesting!

This book does not give anything away. Kit Frick wrote this mystery in a way that there are so many plausible reasons as to what happened to Zoe Spanos, especially with all the visions she's having, and people that are acting weird around Anna which may or may not have to do with their resemblance. But you never really know who it is until the end, and then BAM! (I actually guessed who it was, but with no real evidence it was completely random but finding out was still SUCH a thrill!) But not only that, there was another little mystery in the book, one of Anna's friend moved away and won't respond to her texts, which seems normal but with the atmosphere the book has, you just know something is not right.

Although Anna Cicconi is the central perspective, it isn't the only one. Enter: Martina Green, host of the Missing Zoe podcast and best friend of Zoe Spanos's younger sister. Her podcast series follows the story of Zoe's life, dissapearance, and all the suspects that the police are questioning. She's determined to find the truth for Zoe's family to have closure, no matter the what others believe.

I really enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it! It's perfect for all mystery/suspense/thriller fans! Overall, I rate this book 4.5/5 stars!

Was this review helpful?

I haven't read a YA mystery in a while but this was such a good ride. It was so interesting to get the main characters and see the mystery unravel. I found the murderer really hard to as we keep learning new information as you turn the pages. The unreliable narrator direction is always my favourite as I think that it always makes you second guess everything that you hear through out the story. I feel like there isn't much that I can write that won't give it away. I also really liked the podcast aspect of the book and I feel like it would make this a great audiobook. There are twists that you can probably guess pretty easily. Everything else is a surprise.

**Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for providing me a copy for an honest review**

Was this review helpful?

I just don't think murder-mysteries are for me. If the mystery is so easy that I guess the killer beforehand, I get mad that it was too easy. But if I have no clue as to who the killer is the whole time, I get angry that I'm not understanding and putting the pieces together fast enough.

In this case, I didn't guess who the killer was, but the thing was, I never really cared.

I really wished the author focused more on Zoe Spanos. I never really felt sorry for her as a person, and if I cared about this poor missing girl more then I might have cared about what happened to her. Unfortunately, it never got there.

I also never really connected to any of the characters. The main character, Anna, spends majority of the story having flashbacks of her supposedly killing Zoe Spanos and she knows all the details about Zoe that she doesn't remember ever acquiring. We find out why she knows all these details later, but I feel like there should have been more consequences, like, I don't know, go to therapy? If I had a history of blacking out and I knew all these random details about a girl I never met before and had all these memories I didn't remember making, I think I might decide to get some help for it. I'm sure Anna has a mental illness, and some of the symptoms are confusing her memories and blacking out. I think I would have felt more closure for Anna if this was addressed.

Was this review helpful?

The main narrator of this tale is Anna, an underprivileged teen who takes a job in the Hamptons as a nanny to a wealthy family. Things go well until the body of beloved local girl Zoe is found and Anna unexpectedly confesses to the murder. Things get eerie as Anna and Zoe look very similar and Anna seems to remember things about Zoe and the town that she couldn’t possibly remember. Between the drugs and the blackout drinking Anna is the definition of an unreliable narrator. She has some serious memory issues. Throughout the book she doesn’t have a clear grasp of what is going on and what has happened in the past. She has major problems keeping her own timeline straight as past and present and possible delusions seem to merge. I can’t say that I liked Anna at all but I really enjoyed Martina and her podcast. The inclusion of transcripts from this true crime podcast was a real highlight for me and I think this book will be excellent in audio.

I could relate Anna’s confusion as I too had difficulty keeping the timeline straight. It was a bit frustrating to feel like I was floundering and not really understanding. For the life of me I could not figure out how all the pieces were going to come together and make sense. Even 75% in I had no idea what was really going on. While I guessed one small aspect of the final reveal I in no way guessed most of it. It totally surprised me! My only quibble is with the feasibility of Anna’s memory issues. I’m no expert on the subject but it seemed unlikely and I couldn’t completely suspend my disbelief. Despite this I still really loved the mystery and the completely unpredictable plot. Just when I thought I had a handle on things something else would be revealed and throw me for a loop. The story switches between past and present and throws in parts of Anna’s memories that may or may not have occurred. It wasn’t easy to keep everything straight and you really need to pay attention to appreciate the payoff at the end. It was pretty complicated with a lot going on and many, many threads to follow. Anna is messy and scattered and the story mirrors her state of mind. Even though I wasn’t completely sold on the ending this book was so twisty and unpredictable that I feel pretty confident in recommending it to fans of YA suspense and murder mysteries.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

Was this review helpful?

I meant to have this read by the 30th, but alas time was not on my side.

**e-ARC provided provided by Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada**

Anna has accepted a job as a summer nanny before going to school in the fall. Her best friend is a partier and she wants to change up that lifestyle. Her job is really easy since the little girl is great but she has the evenings off. Anna has too much time to keep herself occupied and starts exploring the grounds. The cute boy next door is confused as to why Anna looks like Zoe, who went missing at New Years Eve. Lots of people in town have made this connection. Zoey's sister has done an investigation through a podcast, trying to figure out what happed to Zoey. Its the perfect summer thriller as it alternates between then and now to figure out what happened.

I'm not a huge YA thriller fan, aside from the exception of this one and Sadie. I really enjoyed it. It didn't feel as predictable as other YAs, so I was intrigued the entire time. I'm very impressed with how good this was and the podcast element is one of my new favourite things in thrillers.

4.5/5 stars.
I recommend this as the perfect beach read and to fans of Sadie, Serial and true crime.

Sidenote: Is this not one of the best titles of a book you've heard? It instantly made me want to pick it up!

Was this review helpful?

Wow, what an excellent read! I loved all of the twists in this story! My opinions about the main character shifted throughout the story. I loved the setting and the mystery! I was especially shocked by the ending! I would definitely read more books by this author!

Was this review helpful?

This mystery thriller had me questioning who to believe and if I should trust the narrator. Zoe Spanos is dead, but the small Hamptons village is reeling from its effects. It’s summer after the news broke of Zoe being missing since New Year’s Eve. We follow the story of Anna, a live-in nanny for the summer, she’s looking for a new beginning. I thought Anna was an unreliable character and I didn’t know who to believe or to suspect in Zoe’s murder. The podcasts are always a nice touch to these types of books - like Sadie. In this case, it added an insider perspective to the mystery. Overall, Kit Frick does an amazing job with subtle hints to what actually happened to Zoe! I loved it!

Was this review helpful?