I love young adult mystery thrillers. This one had a lot of twists and turns I didn’t see coming, and I loved the mysterious aspect.

This was a great read that made you think if Anna didn’t kill Zoe then how did Zoe find herself at the bottom of the lake.
I will say this. The audio did help on the podcast chapters because of the fact that they added character to the story that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
From beginning to end this was a wonderful book that I couldn’t put down.

This was an unfortunate DNF for me. While the book sounded right up my alley (YA mysteries are my favorite and it even mentions Serial in the blurb!!) it didn't quite work for me. I think it was more an issue of marketing and of me as a reader. The tone was quite dark and was, actually, a bit triggering. Not for me.

-- this review is unfortunately several years past release date (due to the many issues of 2020). Thanks a million to the publisher and Netgalley for an early copy of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was a very interesting YA mystery/thriller. I truly love reading mysteries/thrillers but most of the time I find myself wanting more. I tend to guess a lot of the endings as well... and sometimes when I'm right it kind of stops me from enjoying the whole book. Truth be told, most of the time is more of an issue with me as a reader and not exactly with the book. However... this book kept me guessing until the end.

I really enjoyed the writing style and all the exciting parts. Surprisingly I didn't see the ending coming. I liked all the details in the book, especially everything related to the podcast. Overall, I would definitely recommend it!

I can’t recall why this one didn’t grasp my attention. The cover really draws you in though. Maybe I will try it some other time

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

This book sounded like a fantastic mystery and I was not disappointed. The story follows Anna who arrives in the Hamptons for a nanny job, leaving a problematic homelife behind. She quickly discovers that she bears a striking resemblance to Zoe Spanos, a girl who went missing from the area six months prior. Anna befriends many of Zoe's friends, including Martina, who is producing a podcast in which she investigates Zoe's disappearance herself. Anna feels strangely connected to Zoe, and eventually begins to believe that she must have been involved in Zoe's disappearance somehow because she has some vague, confusing memories of meeting Zoe and being at her house. But nothing is quite as it appears, even to Anna.

There were so great twists in this book, coupled with an unreliable narrator, that made the mystery incredibly suspenseful until the very end. There were moments during which Anna felt confused about her involvement that were slightly confusing as a reader, but they were also incredibly compelling so I got over those quickly. I have already purchased copies of this book for my library and just as I expected, kids love it!

Another book that I just could not put down! Following Anna on this bizarre journey through the Hamptons was met with so many twists and turns. I love a book that keeps me guessing and I was figuring things out right along with Anna.

While reading this book, one of my favorite things to do was to follow Anna’s travels with google maps. Putting real places in this story was a great idea.

If you are craving a good mystery thriller, then definitely pick up this book.

For more fun little notes, quotes & must haves, check out on my blog post: samanthamccombs.com

YA mystery thrillers are becoming my favorite thing! The characters are amazing, the unreliable narrator, the plot twists. Everything was great.

Going in to this one I was a little worried. This was my first book by Kat Frick that I read all the way through. All her other books are filled with drug usage, and for personal family reasons, that’s not my cup of tea. And because of that, I don’t ever finish them. But this one was a pleasant surprise.

Anna got a great new gig in the Hamptons with a sweet little family. She’s here for a fresh start, but she runs right into a community who’s lost a girl whom everyone liked. And to add on to that, she looks like the girl that has gone missing. As the summer goes on, Anna learns more about the unsolved case and Zoe’s body is finally found….. And now Anna is charged with manslaughter……

My favorite thing about mysteries is always the plot. This one was a bit confusing, but I think that was done on purpose. There’s so much going on and things are so jumbled, that you don’t know what to think. Ironically, that was also one of the things I didn’t like about this one. I am not a fan of mysteries that don’t give you a fair chance to guess who did it. You don’t get all the facts or characters until the end when the big reveal is. I just feel like they should be able to write all the things in and still make us guess wrong. But even still, I did not guess who did it for this one, so I’m guessing that’s actually a good thing.

As for the characters, I really liked Paisley. She was so cute. I can’t help but think she KNEW. No one else did, but somehow she did. I wish she had played a bigger role in the story though. And Anna was your basic unreliable narrator, but I felt bad for her? Very different than most other books where feel bad for the villain.

And this may seem weird, but I really liked the setting and the world building. It’s not usual to have a mystery or thriller set on a beautiful beach around pretty water. But this one had everything, sun, sea, ice cream, murder. It was definitely a summer thriller!

As for the audio, I really liked the audio. Y’all know I’m a huge fan of audios that have full casts. And this one was pretty cool. And to make it better, when it did the podcast sections, it sounded like an actual podcast. Definitely cool to see how they do all of these things to better the listening experience.

This was everything that I needed right then. I was in the mood for a mystery and Kat Frick delivered. I’m not sure when podcasts became a thing with mysteries, but I am here for it. This is one trend that I hope Kat Frick and others stick with! Well done!

This was a wonderful YA thriller. Every time you think you have everything figured out, you are given another clue that throws you completely off. As an avid podcast listener, I also loved the podcast elements throughout.
Just a really well done story and I could definitely recommend!

I KILLED ZOE SPANOS is an engaging YA thriller. The book switches between the present and a few months earlier, when Anna was babysitting in the Hamptons. The book begins when Anna is coerced into a confession that she killed the missing girl, Zoe. But did she? This is unclear, especially as her memories of the night Zoe disappeared are spotty at best.

Anna has an alcohol/substance abuse problem that she is trying to escape. She would frequently go partying and then forget herself and/or what she had done. She is hoping that taking a job nannying will help her to leave that life behind. Being a nanny in the Hamptons is complicated by the fact that she looks a lot like Zoe Spanos. As more people make the comparison, Anna begins to look into the people and the case as much as she can, but her own questions are increasing.

What I loved: This book hooked me pretty early with wanting to know what really happened to Zoe Spanos, and the answer is very complicated. The book also includes podcasts that really add something special to the plot. The end gets a thrilleresque feel as Zoe's murderer is on the trail, and Martina, Zoe's little sister Aster's BFF, is making podcasts, trying to figure out what happened to Zoe. This is a solid plot, which is paced slower at first and much faster later on. The reveals at the end were top-notch, really bringing everything together beautifully.

Final verdict: Perfect for fans of SADIE, I KILLED ZOE SPANOS is a clever and engrossing YA mystery/thriller that will keep readers guessing to the end.

I loved the premise and the twists up until the end. The ending soured my mood so this was a miss for me. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy!

I was very excited by the premise of this book. Heck, even the title grips you! I enjoyed a lot of the journey and getting to know the characters, with many popping out as possible culprits of the whodunnit. Unfortunately, I felt like the ending fell very flat and didn't jive with the rest of the book. In a mystery you expect to have some kind of twist but this twist didn't feel earned and it cheapened the rest of the story. I am super picky with mysteries and I am disappointed in the endings more often than not, so take my opinion with a grain of salt! I highly encourage looking up other reviews to see what other folks have to say.

Anna just landed a dream job as a nanny to a sweet little girl for a rich family in the Hamptons for the entire summer. Not only is Paisley the easiest kid to watch, but she is given the freedom to explore Herron Mills with Paisley during the day and has the pool house to herself every night. This is just the kind of new start Anna needed after a rough year of partying and getting in trouble back in Brooklyn. Anna's ready to start the next chapter in her life story, and Herron Mills is the perfect opportunity reacquaint herself with responsibility and to focus on her future. But then she starts getting strange looks, and people start mistaking her for a girl named Zoe. Zoe, the young girl who went missing just a few months prior. Zoe, whose family and friends are still looking for her, hoping she's just run off. But when Zoe's body is found, not only does that hope disintegrate, but so does Anna's fresh start. Because Anna is starting to realize she's been to Herron Mills before... and that she knew Zoe before she disappeared. Did Anna have something to do with Zoe's death? And how does Anna have memories of a person and a place she swears she's never visited before?

Thoughts: Absolutely captivating! Full disclosure: I read the ebook and listened to the audiobook at the same time, which made this even more tense and interesting. Reading the ebook was a bit confusing at times because there are alternating chapters between Anna now (after Zoe's body is discovered) and Anna at the beginning of the summer, when everyone thought Zoe was missing but still had some hope she might return, and there are a few chapters from a third character's perspective and even a few podcast episodes. So it does jump around a bit. And a few of the podcasts reveal information that hasn't been known to or acknowledged by Anna yet, so some are spoilers for the reader. But regardless, I was riveted by this story. Anna is the quintessential unreliable narrator, with memories she shouldn't have but also seem iron-clad in their realistic possibilities. There's a cast of secondary characters who will keep readers guessing as to their motives as well as their importance to the story itself, and none of them are forgettable. This mystery truly had me stumped, and readers may find themselves lulled into a false sense of security before realizing there's much more to this story.

I have not been a big fan of YA thrillers recently. But this changed that for me! I loved all the twists and turns the book took. It was so much fun and I absolutely loved the setting. I think this is a fun book for YA readers. I really enjoyed the depth of the characters and how you couldn't figure out who to trust or who not to trust. It felt like a YA version of Turn of the Key (one of my all-time fave books) and I really liked that!

I really, really, really wanted to like this book but something just felt flat with it for me. It didn’t hold my interest the way I thought it would and it took me too long to remember what was happening every time I picked it up. Not for me but I know many will love!

Young fans of Gone Girl will enjoy this one.

The book has a really long build up for what I thought was not so much payoff. I felt like all the mystery was crammed in the last 50 pages instead of spread across the book.

This was a fun and twisted mystery. Frick has mastered the unreliable narrator trope and used it in a magnificent way where it became a part of the plot. The pacing was superb and I can't wait to read more from Kit Frick.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of I Killed Zoe Spanos in exchange for an honest review!

I'm finally here with my review! I let this one stew a bit which honestly helped me realize that this one wasn't a favorite for me. I love the premise & the writing is phenomenal, but in the end, I found that I just really didn't care about the characters.

With that being said, prior to getting to the ~plot twist~, I still really wanted to know what the heck was going on. It's very twisty-turny & I think fans of YA thrillers should still check it out! In the long run, this just isn't a book that's going to stick with me whatsoever.