Wow, this is one of the best YA Mystery/Thrillers I have ever read! If you enjoyed A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder or Sadie, you’ll love this book. I enjoyed the incorporation of podcasts into this book and I hope that the audiobook in the future will incorporate this as well, similar to Sadie — I’ll definitely listen to it if it does! I was so confused for a lot of this novel due to Anna being an unreliable narrator, but I think that’s why I enjoyed it so much. This book had me guessing up until the last sentence. I need to read more from this author, I love her writing! Definitely one of the best books I’ve read in 2020 so far, can’t recommend enough.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for providing an e-arc for review. I really liked the idea of a young adult murder mystery - our protagonist takes a Summer job in the Hamptons where she looks just like a girl who went missing 6 months before. Somehow she gets wrapped up in the world of the missing girl and confesses to her murder. But, did she do it? I enjoyed the unravelling of the story, but it did have me confused in some parts right up until the very end. I enjoyed it - it's not as racy or salacious as most adult murder mysteries and I think I had that in the back of my mind so I might have expected a little bit more from the story. But, it was a good easy read and is perfect for the Summer!

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.

I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick
This novel is not at all what I expected for a YA Teen novel. I found the content too mature for the twelve and thirteen year olds; drug use, (stealing opioids from a mother), drinking until passing out, and indiscriminate sexual encounters. However, saying that, I do believe that the book would be enjoyed by older teens and adults alike. The author does a great job with creating a story that twists and turns and just when the reader thinks it’s sorted out, another twist, another character and another new scenario and…well…nothing is really sorted out after all. It is a great mystery story and I enjoyed every page of it. Some parts better written then others, a tad convoluted at times and the ending maybe a bit convenient but still I kept reading. So, I give this book 4/5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC copy.

I’m starting to think maybe I’m just not a lover of YA thrillers. This one was just okay I was surprised who the killer was but it was pretty lacklustre for me. There wasn’t anything shocking or surprising for me and nothing thrilling. I’d say this is more of a mystery then a thriller

This book hooked me in from the first chapter, as it starts with Anna telling the police "I killed Zoe Spanos". The book alternates chapters of Then and Now, with Then being narrated by Anna, and the Now by a third person narrator. And I think this works very well to tell this story, as well as to get the reader closer to Anna.
.
This novel makes me want to read more contemporary YA. I really like the contemporary vibe, with the small Hamptons village, the podcast as a way of telling the story and kids not being mean to the nanny 😅.
.
There was a good steady pace in building the suspense and mystery, with several weird possibilities developing in my head. And the ending was not predictable at all, but at the same time within reason and plausible (which is saying a lot, as these days, many suspense books go crazy with the plot twists in very unreasonable ways).
.
In my opinion, the author did a great job of creating a good story, releasing just the right amount of information to build suspense and anticipation, as well as making the characters relatable and likable. I really wanted to know why Anna confessed and what happened to Zoe.
.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the free arc ebook in exchange for my honest opinion.

An unreliable narrator and a mystery that just keeps getting weirder?
Yes please!
This was hella fun to read and totally messed up.
Even if you figure out some of the pieces, there will still be a puzzle.
Thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada for my DRC.

I devoured most of this book in a day. I've been in a huge thriller/mystery mood lately, and this was entirely up my alley.

Anna has just arrived in the Hamptons for her nannying job, and soon learns she looks unnervingly similar to Zoe Spanos, a girl who vanished about six months earlier on New Year's Eve. Anna begins to have strange memories of the town and Zoe herself, though she's certain she's never been to this town before--and she ultimately confesses to killing Zoe when the girl's body is found.

Except that's not the full story. There's something off about those memories, things she shouldn't be able to know, things that don't line up. And Martina Green, an aspiring journalist with a podcast about Zoe Spanos' life, is determined to figure out what really happened that night Zoe went missing.

I really loved this story and how all the pieces fit together by the end--it was a really unique resolution and way of explaining Anna's memories and all the discrepancies.

I was looking forward to a fun summer read when I began this book, and it did not disappoint. I Killed Zoe Spanos is about a teenage nanny who gets caught up in the disappearance of a local girl named Zoe, just because they happen to look alike--and the unravelling of this mystery gripped me from start to finish. It was immersive, especially when using the format of a podcast, and the characters were compelling. I'm rating it 4/5 stars because, although the story was entertaining throughout, I found its conclusion to be unsatisfying.

By the fourth chapter, I was completely hooked. I couldn’t wait to find out more. It’s a unique, well crafted story that keeps you engaged and wanting to know what happened.
I love the addition of the podcast. It was the perfect touch. It was unexpected and enjoyable. I definitely recommend this one.

After a slow start, I Killed Zoe Spanos picked up the pace, the mystery and the suspense until I found myself unable to put it down!

I Killed Zoe Spanos is told from both the present day, where protagonist Anna has been arrested for the murder of Zoe Spanos, and several months earlier, where Anna has accepted a summer job in the Hamptons and learns she bears a striking resemblance to missing local Zoe. As her fascination with Zoe’s disappearance increases, she begins to experience unsettling memories of a town - and a girl - she thought she knew nothing about.

The style of this mystery really drew me in! I loved the incorporation of a podcast to help provide us with details about the police investigation and the history of the various locals of interest. I also really enjoyed the level of suspense Anna’s memories added - since you never knew who or what was going to trigger one. With each new memory, I found myself coming up with wilder and wilder theories about how Anna might have forgotten meeting Zoe.

I think that’s why I was so disappointed with the ultimate resolution - it was so banal in comparison to the many theories I had imagined. While I was able to appreciate how everything was connected and that there was a resolution for everything, I still found myself thinking, “oh, that’s it?”

So while the beginning was a bit slow (mostly due to the large number of characters we’re introduced to relatively quickly), and I think the ending could have been a bit more creative, I would still recommend this read for anyone looking for a suspenseful and twisty murder-mystery!

17-year-old Anna gets a job in Herron Mills as a nanny to one of the many wealthy families in the area. But Anna’s presence begins to stir up a lot of emotions when Anna learns that she looks incredibly similar to Zoe Spanos, a 19-year-old girl who went missing on New Year's Eve. Anna begins to learn more about Zoe through a podcast run my Martina Green, a local girl who is friends with Zoe’s younger sister, Aster. Martina is on the hunt to expose the mistakes the police made in Zoe’s disappearance, and what she thinks might have happened to Zoe.
But to Anna, more than Zoe looks familiar, the entire town and even some houses that she’s never been to, or at least she thinks she’s never been to, look oddly familiar, to the point where she is having vivid recollections of memories. Soon Anna begins to suspect that she’s been to Herron Mills before, and even knew Zoe!
Once Zoe’s body is discovered Anna confesses to her accidental murder, but things aren’t quite adding up.

This book started a bit slow, things become really interesting in the middle, but the ending is a little unsatisfying and doesn’t really make much sense to me in terms of a motive.

It's easy to see that Anna was experiencing some mental health issue when she was having her memory recall episodes, that lead her to confess, however, it's really not discussed much in the book although we do get a rather good explanation as to why she was having these memories. I thought the memory delusions were better than the usual woman-with-amnesia/unreliable-witness.

I really enjoyed the podcast aspect of this book and Martina Green’s character. It provided a great way to share the backstory of what happened to Zoe.

There was a plot twist that happens about a third of the way into the book which I suspected, it was a good twist that made a lot of sense.

My only real issue with this book is the ending, the person responsible doesn’t make much sense to me at all, I thought it to be a very lack-luster ending.

3 stars, could’ve been 4 with a better ending. A little disappointed with this one.

**ARC provided by Simon & Schuster Canada & Margaret K. McElderry Books via NetGalley

I have a thing for books set by the water, so from the get go I already loved I Killed Zoe Spanos. Turn out not only is it set by the water in a small town but the story was so good. I'm glad I got to read this book and I will for sure be recommending it to everyone. I loved the characters and the ending was great. I never guessed it what so ever so good job on that.

A solid YA mystery, finished it pretty much in an evening, it wasn't extraordinary but good enough to keep my mind occupied for the evening i was reading it.
The author was definitely inspired by Serial, which i think worked out quite well overall, although i think that structure wise the inserts of regular narrative were feeling a bit foreign and if it was kept between Anna's unreliable first person narrative and podcast, it might've worked out smoother. But there weren't too many of them, so no big deal.

I had troubles getting into it in the beginning, because it starts off being a bit verbose for no particular reason as Anna arrives at her job. I caught myself repeatedly eyerolling a bit over too blunt attempt of reminding us it's YA and our narrator is a teenager.
But again, it didn't last, so if in the beginning you are eyrolling over descriptions of clothes Anna wears - power through.
The author managed to keep intrigue going quite well while giving out clues here and there, but fair warning i am not the kind of reader who tries to guess the killer before they get announced, i just like to look back at it in retrospect after the book is done, so maybe it was super obvious for a more attentive person.

All in all - a solid YA mystery

I started this book feeling pretty unsure, and I ended up loving it. The story switches timelines between Then and Now and it took me a while to get used to that and remember what was going on. The holes in Anna’s memory were both exciting and frustrating; I was able to guess one of the surprises around the ending but not any of the others. There were a number of loose ends around the ¾ mark, and I was mostly happy with how they were all wrapped up by the end. The final confession did seem a bit too easy, but it wasn’t a completely unlikely scenario. While being slightly frustrating at times, I still found the book hard to put down and I stayed up late to finish it.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing a digital ARC of I Killed Zoe Spanos in exchange for an honest review.

Full disclosure: if you've been following my recent read you'll know this is the second book described as "for readers of Sadie" that I've read in the past two days. I can't help it. I have a type. Does the fact that I read and enjoyed a similar book recently impact my review of this book? I'm honestly not sure but that felt important to mention.

So, normally I'm a massive fan of modern retellings of classic books. That being said, I don't think Rebecca is the type of book that can be re-imagined in this manner. Old thrillers are obviously going to be more tella-novella-y than modern books and I think the choice to mention this book's simularities to reality-rooted Sadie at the beginning of the blurb and waiting to mention that it's inspired by Rebecca until the end (almost a page worth of paragraphs later) is going to be extremely detrimental in the long run because unless you're a massive classical lit fan, you're going to hate the ending. I knew what the ending was probably going to be and I hated the ending. A retelling like this has to make sure you know its a retelling because if you're a Sadie fan and buy this after just reading the tagline, you're probably going to be mad at the ending.

Beyond that, the pacing of I Killed Zoe Spanos felt off. This book is technically double perspective but with time jumps on top of that and Martina also having her podcast segments, I was often confused and thrown out of the plot when timelines/voices abruptly changed. I read the acknowledgements at the end of the book because I was really curious if this was originally even going to have the podcast aspect or if it was added in after the success of Sadie (apparently this is not the case) because of how weird and random podcast breaks felt.

Read this book if you like Rebecca. Read this book if you like Soap-y books. Do not read this book if you're looking for a tightly-woven mystery.

Overall I enjoyed this story and how the secrets played out. The characters were interesting and we'll written. But the reason why we get the confession felt a bit weak. I was expecting more of a stronger connection, a firmer link between the two and a reason for the memories.
Regardless, great read. I will read something by this author again

I am a sucker for a YA mystery/thriller, and as soon as I read this synopsis, I added it to my TBR. I was really excited to receive an e-ARC from the publisher!

The synopsis references Sadie by Courtney Summers (which I loved), and I think that’s an apt comparison, although the podcast aspect is not as prominent in this book. But I think fans of Sadie will like I Killed Zoe Spanos.

I enjoyed the way the story moved back and forth in time. It was a bit disorienting at first but was an effective way to tell Anna’s story.

This book was full of surprises and twists and turns, and every time I thought I had it sorted out, the author was several steps ahead of me and anticipated all of my guesses. I got sucked into this book right away and finished it in two days. This is definitely a recommended read for YA mystery readers!

(This will be published on my blog and Goodreads closer to the release date)

Kit Frick says that I Killed Zoe Spanos was inspired by Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, if it happened in the age of podcasts like Seriel. This book centers around a girl named Anna who is trying to get away from her life in the city by taking a nannying gig in the Hamptons for the summer. The only problem is, Anna looks similar to a girl who went missing in the town six month earlier, Zoe. People, at first glance mistake Anna for Zoe, making Anna want to learn as much as she can about Zoe and what caused her to go missing. Anna starts to have memories of Zoe and what happened to Zoe, but how can we know what happened when Anna is not a reliable narrator and Zoe is not there to tell her story.

This book is told in a dual timeline, when Anna arrives in the Hamptons and a couple months later. You see the development of Anna, as well as a cast of characters over this period of time, and also get a little bit of back story from the podcaster, Martina. I think my favourite character was Martina, she wanted to learn and know what happened to Zoe, even after the police seem to have given up. Martina helps piece together what did happen and takes us on the many twists and turns the book takes us on.

I really enjoyed Frick's writing in this book. They managed to tell a great story, that is clever and smart. I loved how Frick used the podcast aspect to advance the facts of the story, while moving the story along. Even more, this book kept me guessing and I really didn't know what the final reveal was going to be until I got there.

The only thing stopping me from giving the book five stars in the end. It seemed that a lot of the book came together more neatly than it had to, and there just seemed to be to many reveals. I was left feeling like each reveal was attempting to shock me more than the previous, making the story a little more complicated than it needed to be. I think this will be a great summer read, maybe by the pool or at the beach. If the audio books get a cast of characters, I can see it being an interesting audio book too!

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick is a YA thriller that is inspired by Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. Having not read the latter, I feel that my experience in reading this novel could have been greatly enhanced had I done so. That notwithstanding, this is a solid read that will certainly hit the spot with fans of the genre.

Anna Cicconi has arrived in the Hamptons to take up a nannying position for the summer. When she arrives, she is unsettled to find many of the locals passing comment on her uncanny resemblance to a missing girl named Zoe Spanos. Anna becomes convinced that she and Zoe must somehow be connected. When Zoe's body is discovered and Anna is charged with manslaughter, the lives of the two young women become inextricably linked, and Anna must rely on the local podcast of one Martina Green to sort out the truth of what really happened to Zoe on New Year's Eve.

This twisty recounting of events is told from alternating perspectives, although primarily in the voice of Anna herself. I particularly enjoyed the excerpts from the podcasts as a means to sort the fact from the fiction. Overall, an interesting read that will put your sleuthing skills to the test. 3.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read this ARC.