Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this read. This was quite interesting premise. I like how the book was about children that go missing due to the test. Now, love books that try to get you involved. I liked how ever chapter had a question that was on the test. I really enjoyed this one and sorry for the delayed review.

Very pleasing reading experience! This one is a fun, swift ride, but the novel also has much depth (presented best within the mother-son relationship, where I find the main heroine Lina being very respectful, caring mom). The entertaining factor is very high (if you like thrillers like I do), as the authoress can create high and believable tensions and atmosphere where you understand the need to move, to fight, to sleuth. That the stakes are realistic and quite high!
FBI agent Lina relocates to her father´s old house after his passing. She is also recently widowed and the pain is very hard to bear. So she kind of entertains herself with looking after some cold cases of missing teenagers. But they might not be cold cases at all...as one girl goes missing soon.
Lina is tough-as-nails, resourceful and smart, so I totally understand how she very soon realizes they foul play and deals with it. I believe everything she did and I understand her reasoning (even if I disagree with some of her doings). I only wish the perpetrator was played better! There are no motivations for his, let´s say, eccentricities - and I would love to dvelve more. I would love for them to have better, longer cat-and-mouse play, as the perpetrator does not seem a comparable adversary to Lina in smartness and capabilities. in a broader sense - the real enemy here might be the silence of the locals, their unwillingness to really get into what truly happened. And the greed. I would love to have these issues addressed more clearly.
But having said that - from now Ms Richmond is on my auto-read list. rarely I enjoy thriller as much as I have enjoyed her work here!

📖My Thoughts📖

This was a pretty gripping page turner that kept me completely enthralled. I picked this book up literally having just looked at the cover and the title (yes, I do this often) and imagine my surprise when I realize that yes it does in fact involve a test, but on a whole different level than I ever imagined. People are completely obsessed about the Wonder Test, kids go missing and when they’re found, they just aren’t the same. This was one heck of a ride! The only thing I didn’t care for about this book is that it had a couple subplots going on that kind of just lingered without any real closure, but overall I was pretty impressed with how it kept me at the edge of my seat for the majority of it. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author in the future!
Thank you Netgalley, Michelle Richmond and Grove Atlantic for the opportunity to read and review this book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really liked this book. I found it was well researched and detailed. Lina is recently widowed and she moves to California with her son Rory to change up her life. The students at her son’s new high school have to study and prepare for The Wonder Test. The more Lina learns about this the more alarmed she becomes especially when students start disappearing from her son’s school. I found the premise of the book both interesting and terrifying at the same time. This book was well written and I enjoyed the twists.

Didn't capture my attention and engagement. Interested in trying it again though and hopefully it will take.

As a teacher, I read this book with fire coming off of my fingers. I couldn't turn the page fast enough! I loved the premise of a Wonder Test, the gold standard of standardized testing (the bane of my existence) and the competitive world we are leaving for our kids. From reviews I've seen Michelle did a great job with the setting; I had thought that before reading reviews so I was glad to know that what I was picturing was close to accurate! My favorite part of this story, outside of the education pieces, was the relationship between mother and son. So often this relationship is shown in books as very tense and full of grudges and anger, but Lina and Rory were very connected. I enjoyed reading about them.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Michelle Richmond, and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this engaging school "thriller" and appreciated how it kept my interest. I enjoyed the authors writing and her choices with the characters.

I unfortunately had a lot of trouble getting into this book. It is about a high schooler named Rory and his mom Lina who move from New York City to a small town in Northern California. His new school is focused on teaching to the “Wonder Test,” a Silicon Valley based standardize test. Lina is on leave for the FBI and is helping consult on the case of students who disappear every year coincidentally (or not) right around the time of the Wonder Test. I got about 40% of the way through this book and I’m not sure if it was the plot or Lina’s voice but I struggled to get into the plot and care too much about the mystery.

On leave from her FBI job after the tragic death of her husband, Lina moves to go to Silicon Valley to clear out her father's house. She enrolls her teenage son, Rory, in a private school near their new home. This new school places a lot of emphasis on teaching to a "Wonder Test". This test seems to test skills and ask questions that make little sense, but the school's reputation and funding seem to hinge on the results of this test every year. If that isn't weird enough, Lina discovers that there is a students that disappeared last year. You can take the girl out of the FBI, but you can't take the FBI out of the girl.

This is a fascinating book in light of the recent scandals surrounding college admissions. The mysteries that come up in the book are woven together well. This is a good book for people like academic thrillers and police dramas.

I found the premise of this to be different and intriguing and I have enjoyed Michelle Richmond’s other books. I loved the descriptions of “the wonder test,” and especially liked that the beginning of each chapter started with a different question from the test, which was fascinating and very thought-provoking. I liked the main character, Lina, and her strength and tenacity, though as mother she made some questionable decisions. I can’t really put my finger on why, but for some reason I wasn’t as hooked into the story as with some of Richmond’s other books. Nonetheless, I will be recommending this to library patrons.

A very modernized "Stepford" for kids story. It fits in with the recent scandals with college acceptances, standardized testing, and all the pressures that students currently face. Very trendy for the times, but the story has been washed and rebranded a few times.

When I read The Marriage Pact last year, I was happy to find an author whose storyline was a bit different than the usual. I hoped Michelle Richmond would continue to bring us new plots, and The Wonder Test did not disappoint. The characters are multi dimensional, and I found myself eager to get back to the book whenever I was doing something else. In today’s world of education, standardized tests tend to overshadow what I believe is the most important parts of education. Richmond shows us just how dangerous that can be.

This book was such a clear metaphor for public education today. Do high-stakes, standardized testing get THIS "cut-throat"? Of course not. However, the idea of a school being obsessed with their students doing well on a standardized test is unfortunately quite realistic. As an educator, I did figuratively roll my eyes at some of the criticisms of public education that was spoken through many of the metaphors throughout the story, however I did appreciate how the author took an already disliked aspect of education and turned it into an interestingly outlandish plot. There were moments where I felt the plot was a bit drawn out and that readers would be so far ahead of the main character despite her "secret agent"-like skills and profession, but this was still an enjoyable book with plenty of plot for readers to discuss.

The Wonder Test by Michelle Richmond is an enthralling and engrossing read with a great plot and characters! Well worth the read

The Wonder Test combines a police procedural with an over the top social commentary about parental pressure in upper class suburbia. Entertaining.

A fast-paced thriller with excellent writing and memorable characters. I really loved this one. Richmond felt like she was in control of the narrative and characters the entire time, and unlike plenty of thrillers I read these days, there were no outlandish turns, no wild reveals. Instead, she stacked chapter upon chapter, like an expert house of cards, and I read the second half in 24 hours. Really really well done.

The Wonder Test needs more attention! Beyond the generic looking cover lies an incredible story that is thought provoking and intense and an incredibly good read. I loved, loved this novel and hope that when it's released in paperback it gets a new cover and a little bit more of a push because it's a fantastic novel that I hope more readers are exposed to. In the meantime, I'm happy to hype this as much as possible because it deserves all of the praise it's gotten and for more readers to read it.

“The Wonder Test” just did not do it for me. It’s a mystery involving missing kids and testing and its effect on a city. I could not get into it at all and while it’s certainly a unique premise, it was not one that really kept my interest. It took me a while to finish this one up. 3 stars ⭐️.

The Wonder Test is a harrowing tale of an FBI agent’s quest to find kidnappers, identify the mastermind and save her son. It’s a suspenseful, nail-biter that hooks the reader from start to finish.

Agent Lina Connerly is on leave from a botched case (Yellow Beak), grief-stricken from her husband’s sudden death and mourning her late father. She moves to the wealthy suburb of Greenfield, California, into her late father’s home with her teenage son, Rory. They discover the community is obsessed with a Wonder Test, designed to use questions and answers as a learning technique. Their mantra is “Prepared for the Test, Prepared for Life, and Every Student Counts.”

A young police officer contacts her after hearing about her background, and Lina becomes involved in a case of missing children that mysteriously reappears. Plagued by grief and shame, Lina tries to remain under the radar. Not even her friend and coworker George can convince her to return to her former job in New York. But the details of the students’ disappearances intrigue her. Then Rory’s girlfriend vanishes. After enlisting George, the case takes a new twist as they dig deeper, opening Lina to greater risks and jeopardizing her son.

I sped through this book, intrigued by the premise and voice of the protagonist as she balances motherhood and job as an FBI agent, almost holding my breath until the end. The questions at the beginning of each chapter add to this unique premise. I thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review it. #TheWonderTest #NetGalley #thriller

This book held my interest throughout the whole thing. Some very interesting twists throughout. Would recommend!!