I am so happy share with you my review of I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Genre: YA Contemporary Thriller Mystery
Pages: 384
Pacing: Normal
Publisher: McElderry Books
Published: June 30th, 2020
Get your copy:
Amazon / Book Depository / Barnes & Noble / Indigo
This gripping 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 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? – synopsis from Goodreads
I had heard a couple authors talking about I Killed Zoe Spanos last year which made me put it on my anticipated release list. I was so thrilled I got to read an early copy of this book.
Thrillers are not a genre I reach for a lot. Mysteries a bit more but Thrillers not really. I was excited to dig into this one. I do find them a bit harder to review without giving anything away though. I Killed Zoe Spanos was the type of thriller mystery where you go around suspecting every character you meet and doubting everything you learn. As we try and discover what really happened to Zoe Spanos my hypothesis went left and right and then up and down. Sometimes this genre can be a bit predictable and I will say that I did realize on a couple of things but a lot of it took me by surprise.
Anna, our main character, is what you would call an unreliable character which can be hard to connect with. As the story evolves we are made to doubt a lot of what she says and does. Nonetheless, I did enjoy Anna. You want to root for her even though you have a nagging feeling at the back of your head telling you maybe she’s deceiving us all.
The story moves a lot in time. The action mainly takes place during the Summer but we do jump a little ahead to the Fall for a couple of chapters. But everything is cohesive to the story and just serve the purpose to confuse you even more on who is lying. Besides these jumps, there is another through which we learn information and that is through the transcripts of a podcast called Missing Zoe that is done by Martina Zoe Spanos’s sister best friend. I particularly enjoyed these as I do listen to a lot of true-crime podcasts. I thought they brought an original aspect to the story and it was a cool way to introduce characters. I will probably be rereading this book since I’ve heard that the audiobook will have a full cast and I am very curious to see how it turns out.
I think that you can really see that Kit Frick masters this genre. Her writing seemed right in its element. She had me second-guessing everything. When I thought I knew what happened she threw me a curveball and I had to start my process all over again. It was my first book by her and definitely not my last.
I really enjoyed I Killed Zoe Spanos. It was a really cool thriller mystery that reminded me a little of Pretty Little Liars or Riverdale.
Thank you to McElderry Books, Netgalley and Fantastic Flying Book Club for providing an eArc in exchange for an honest review.
Playlist
You can listen to the playlist HERE
Gravity by Sara Bareilles
Mad World by Michael Andrews & Gary Jules
Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap
Young and beautiful by Lana Del Rey
Skinny Love by Birdy
The Garden by Mirah
Ramalama (Bang Bang) by Roisin Murphy
So Broken by Björk
Wave by Beck
Favourite Quotes
“Zoe Spanos is missing. And we’re missing Zoe”
“Maybe it was only grief, after all, bubbling to the surface in all its ugly trappings—grief like a gaping wound for a daughter who is gone and likely not coming home again.”
“But there are some secrets—my secrets—that Windermere will hold forever, trapped beneath the ash like spilled blood.”
“It was an accident, but… I killed Zoe Spanos.”
About the author
Kit Frick is a novelist, poet, and MacDowell Colony fellow from Pittsburgh, PA. She studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. When she isn’t putting complicated characters in impossible situations, Kit edits poetry and literary fiction for a small press and edits for private clients. She is the author of the young adult novels See All the Stars and All Eyes on Us, both from Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books, as well as the poetry collection A Small Rising Up in the Lungs from New American Press.
You can follow Kit through the links below:
Fangirl Pixie Blog 
This is a great post! I love the quotes you chose from the book! Really looking forward to picking this up now!!
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Great review and playlist!
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I’m not really a thriller person as well (not really a mystery person either), but I’ve heard good things about I Killed Zoe Spanos and especially how the main character is unreliable (but in a good well). I’m a little hesitant, but I love a good read that keeps me second-guessing; I also enjoyed Riverdale, though (not gonna lie, the title reminded me of the first season in the show).
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Oh I can see that. It reminded of Pretty Little Liars (the TV show, haven’t read the books). But from what I have seen of Riverdale, yes I would compare it a bit to it too.
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