This was a DNF for me. I tried, but it was just boring and the characters were so unlikeable. They were supposedly best friends in college on a girls trip to a winery when Vanessa disappeared. 15 years later they traveled back to said winery in an attempt at “closure.” For people who were supposed to be such good friends, they don’t seem to like each other even a little. It felt like really bad reality tv, and I just had no desire to finish this book.

Emily Fischer is an up and coming screenwriter stuck in a dead-end, un-inspiring sit-com writing gig. While looking for inspiration one day in a local cafe, Emily spots a doppelgänger of her long missing friend, Venessa Morales. Last seen over 15 years ago at a friend’s family winery in coastal Oregon. Fueled by flashbacks of their last encounter, Emily decides this is the inspiration she needs for her next screenplay, Emily gathers her old colleague friends for a reunion at the same winery looking to uncover what truly happed on that ill-fated night many years ago.

Gagnon’s locked door mystery, “Scenes of the Crime”, is great for readers who like a quick paced novel with a beautiful setting. The book picks up steam fast with the first major twist happening around 60% of the way through. Unfortunately, Gagnon runs out the steam and not much else noteworthy happens after that. 3/5 stars for a quick read in a great setting.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book and the early opportunity to read It!

Scenes of the crime is an okay, locked room type thriller. Gives messy reality tv of some spoiled, unlikable rich people. The characters aren’t really likable or well developed. I like when novels are told in different ways so Emily’s screenplay and different perspectives i enjoyed. Overall, wasn’t bad, but not a stand out novel.

I have a hard time with books when I cannot find a single character to pull for which unfortunately was the case with Scenes of the Crime. I don't watch reality tv drama and this was it in book form. The book was a little hard to follow, feeling a bit messy at points. I can see others enjoying but this just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

Emily and her best friends are on a college get away at a winery. A winery that's owned by her best friend Vanessa's family. Vanessa then goes missing, but wait! Emily has a series of text messages on her phone that make it look like she did something shady to Vanessa. Too bad she was too drunk to remember anything, so she says nothing to the cops.

15 years later she sees a doppelganger of Vanessa in an LA coffeeshop and decides to bring the whole group back together at the winery to see if she can figure out what happened to Vanessa. Oh, and she's writing a screenplay about that weekend so she can also cash in on the mystery.

The book is told between scenes from Emily's screenplay and Emily's present trip to the winery with Brittany, Paige, and Lydia. It honestly seems like none of these women like each other or have a personality outside of drinking. Everyone's back story seems so minimalized that it's hard to care about any of the characters or understand why they were friends in the first place. We're supposed to believe Vanessa was the glue of the group, but honestly she just seems like an asshole.

I didn't really like this book and the twists honestly made me angry. The author seems like she's trying to say something about toxic friendships, but there is no positive relationships to anchor the book. It's just bad rich people doing shitty things to other people. There were too many misdirects for me to enjoy the book and the ending really fell flat for me. I honestly put this book down and was like what did I just read....and not in a good way.

Emily, a screenwriter from the Midwest, still struggles with the disappearance of her college friend, Vanessa, fifteen years ago. In an effort to learn what truly happened to Vanessa and to help her make the events of that night into a screen play, Emily asks the other three women with her at the winery when Vanessa disappeared to reconnect for a vacation at the same winery. This is when the plot begins to thicken…

I really enjoyed Scenes of the Crime, but I did feel the writing was a bit confusing at times. As Emily, the main character, was a screenwriter, I understand why the author uses the screenplay she is writing to tell how Vanessa’s story unfolds sporadically throughout the book. However, I did not like reading the story in this format. Sometimes I struggled to know what actually happened and what was exaggerated for the screen play.

Gagnon did hold my interest, and I was drawn to read how the story progresses until the very end.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed above are my own.

On a girls trip years ago, one of the friend group, Vanessa went missing, never to be seen again. Emily is an ambitious screenwriter who has never felt right about what happened to Vanessa. At a coffee shop she spots a woman that looks just like Vanessa, pushing her to investigate in the form of rewriting her and her friend's story in the form of a script.

The premise is interesting the but the execution fell flat. The story is actually partly told in script form which I really was not a fan off. I never really got into the story at all. The characters never really felt fully fleshed out.

2.5 stars, rounded up

Thank you netgalley and Random House Publishing group Ballatine for giving me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Yikes. I get what the author was trying to do here, but it did not work for me at all. I usually love locked room mysteries and was very intrigued by a winery setting but between the dual timelines and the interspersed movie scripts the whole thing needed a lot more editing to be considered cohesive. I also understand the whole point of the book was about toxic friendships but all of these women were truly the worst --- not like an "ooh this is some good reality TV show drama" way but in a "I cannot tolerate another singular minute of any of these characters" way.

Wish I had more positive things to say about this one but it wasn't for me.

I received a copy of Scenes of the Crime via NetGalley to read and review.

To be completely honest I struggled to finish Scenes of the Crime. The story at it’s bones reminds me of Pretty Little Liars. A group of friends go on spring break to winery owned by two of the girls’ grandparents. On this trip the girls seem to have a lot of issues and at the end Vanessa goes missing.

The very beginning where Emily runs into Vanessa in town and Vanessa pulls the “you never saw me here” to texting Emily that she can no longer keep her secret and to meet on a beach hours later was too big of a swing in character change. This is explained towards the end but it already set a bad tone for me.

To make matters worse, Emily is the ringleader to bring everyone back to the winery 15 years later- not because she wants to solve how Vanessa went missing but because she wants the details sorted to use in her screenwriting. We get these cut scenes throughout and it takes way too long to have it confirmed that Emily switches up details to suit the story for TV. THAT frustrated me so much in the beginning. I couldn’t tell if the cut scenes were truly from one of the group’s point of view or Emily acting like it was their point of view for the screen. This caused me to almost put the book down multiple times. The only reason I kept reading was because I wanted to know what happened to Vanessa.

The ending left me absolutely frustrated. Not because it was bad but because small details were constantly being switched. One minute someone was holding a gun then the next a knife. I didn’t think this was a cut scene or Emily trying to decide what fit better but apparently that’s exactly what was happening. Even then it wasn’t super clear. I was having to reread so much throughout this book because I was convinced I misread something and who knows maybe I did but with the cut scenes being so similar to what was happening in the story (usually people change names when they write something like this so that would have really helped distinguish between Emily’s reality to what is playing out in her head) it made it really hard to follow what was really happening to the characters vs what Emily was dreaming up.

The story was interesting but this book went slow for me. The back and forth of the timelines was confusing and caused the flow of the book to stagnate. If you can hang in there, the author does pull it together in the last half of the book and ends with a good finale.

The premise of this novel sounded really interesting but I wasn't impressed with the execution. I almost DNF'ed it because for the first 1/3 I was bored and couldn't get myself invested in the novel. Ended up pushing through, but still was never impressed with the outcome. I guessed the major twist, but there was some smaller ones along the way that I didn't see coming. None of the characters are likeable, and none of them redeem themselves.

2.5 stars from me.

Well darn, I wanted to loved this. But it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I am a huge thriller fan and this one was just okay for me. I struggled to get through the book and keep attention. Not terrible but not excellent, somewhere in the middle. I will say I feel like a lot of other may enjoy this more than me. I might just be the oddity of readers. The premise does sound very interesting. I think it just needed better pacing!

I will say what I did enjoy:
- the creepy and eerie setting
- the last third picked up and made it more interesting for me
- the ending was great! This may be what saved the book to be in the okay range

Overall, this was a slower paced thriller. There were elements I enjoyed. But there were other elements I didn’t like (the characters, pacing issues). I think it is best to go into this read blindly. 3 stars out of 5. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Fifteen years ago five coeds went to a family winery for the weekend. Only four returned from the weekend. Emmy, the protagonist, is an experienced scriptwriter and has talked the other three into another weekend at the winery to discuss what happened fifteen years earlier. The novel is, I thought, slow starting. I spent a week reading the first third and an afternoon finishing it. Each chapter tells more than one story. Initially it is the present and the interaction with the women. Then it goes into the script Emmy is putting together about her version of what might have happened. These women, both young and middle aged, are not nice and likable. It is an interesting tale. Thanks to Net Galley and Bantam Books for an ARC for an honest review.

ARC review: Scenes of the Crime by Jilly Gagnon
⭐️⭐️💫

Sometimes it’s really hard to write reviews because the honest answer is “I hated it until about 60% through when something finally started to happen, and then I found it pretty good, but the writing style is bad the entire time, so, like, maybe I recommend it? 🤷🏻‍♀️”

I REALLY struggled through the first half of the book. The structure and the pacing are confusing, and NOTHING happens. NOTHING. Just a group of grown women acting like teenagers for 150 pages. I almost DNF’d, which I rarely do, but my gut told me to stick around. And I…kind of liked it? I guess?

Things I like:
👍🏻 The setting of a creepy isolated winery in the Pacific Northwest gave excellent vibes for a locked-door thriller.
👍🏻 The ultimate plot twist maybe made slogging through the first half worth it.
👍🏻 Once the plot finally picked up, I could actually feel the tension and it was quite a ride.

Things I didn’t like:
👎🏻 The last third or so of each chapter is written in the style of one of Emily’s scripts. Scripts are meant to be acted and seen, not read, and I found myself skimming through these so they would be over faster.
👎🏻 Any of the characters. They act like teenagers who enjoy causing drama, not like the women in their mid-30s that they’re supposed to be. Why are they so mean to each other?
👎🏻 Too many italicized words to emphasize the point—seems nit-picky, but it happens at least 5 times per page and is very distracting.
👎🏻 LOOOOOONG chapters that kept losing my attention.

If you’re a thriller aficionado, you might enjoy this one, but if you’re more of a casual thriller reader, I think you’ll be so bored in the first half that you’ll give up.

Scenes of the Crime publishes on September 5. Thanks @netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one was really difficult for me to get into. My mind wandered, and I just wasn’t invested. I did enjoy the last bit more than the rest, and the ending was satisfying. I wish I could give a better review, but I still suggest you give it a go for yourself. You may love it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Fifteen years ago 5 college friends spent the weekend at an Oregon winery. Vanessa disappeared during the weekend and was never found. Emily encourages everyone to return to the winery to try to figure out what happened to Vanessa.

This story is told in two formats. One is fiction as we know it and the other are the pages from a screenplay. It will take the reader some time to adjust to the format. This also confuses the story as the screenplay does not always line up with the fiction. Which is the truth? It seems the point that whoever tells the most interesting story is believed. In my opinion not the best story I have read.

Thank you to #netgalley, #Ballantine, and #JillyGagnon for a copy of this book.

I had a hard time with the style of this….the way it kept jumping timelines and styles made it hard to sustain momentum. Not my favorite from this author.

I'm always a fan of books about writers. I like how the chapters start with scenes from the screenplay then switch to real life, having the author set the scene in movie-style detail is super helpful to the reader. Although, towards the end it did get a little confusing trying to separate the movie details from what actually happened, but I guess that was the point. I liked that each character was different, but I would have liked a little more back story from them. I also would have liked to see more about what happened during the first trip, not just with what happened to Vanessa, but a little more about their friendship dynamic. Overall, this was a great story- the final scenes in the caves had me on the edge of my seat trying to guess what was going to happen (all my guesses were wrong). 4/5 stars, I'll be on the lookout for more Jilly Gagnon books in the future!

Thank you Random House for granting me access to this title. Scenes of the Crime by Jilly Gagnon I thought would be such a homerun for me. I was certain it would be a top read for me. Did it live up to my expectations? Not entirely, but honestly, it's because I felt the book could have been a bit shorter. The plot was too convoluted at times. Let's start with a bit of a plot summary.

Back in college, five girlfriends take off for spring break to a remote winery owned by their friend's family. What was supposed to be an amazing trip turns into disaster when one of them never leaves. Vanessa Morales vanished without a trace. Emily Fischer believes she was the last person to see her alive and all these years later she can't seem to let it go. Tired of her dead-end job for a sitcom, Emily decides it's time to tell this story. When she suggests a reunion to the other three girls, everyone seems a bit hesitant, but Emily convinces them they have to do this for Vanessa. They owe her a weekend to honor her life and their friendships.

Emily knew the reunion would be awkward, especially returning to the winery, but she didn't anticipate just how awkward it would be. Things quickly fall off the rails as weird things start to happen. Who can Emily trust? What happened that night? Can Emily turn her script into a smashing success?

I liked the flipping between the script and what was currently transpiring. What I struggled with was understanding whether the script portions were fiction or real. That didn't become clear to me for awhile and I hesitate to state either way, because I think that's part of Gagnon's story's allure. I really enjoyed the ending, but I felt like we could've gotten there much sooner.

Five friends spending enjoying spring break until one of them disappear. Fifteen years later there are still unanswered questions and no one knows what really happened to Vanessa. Emily Fischer is a screen writer for a television series. She is unhappy with her life and bored with her career. She still thinks about the night Vanessa disappeared. Then one day in a local café, she looks up and sees a woman that looks exactly like Vanessa. This puts her on the track to find out what really happened that night. She starts contacting the others and they meet to spend a reunion week and hopefully Emily will find the answers.
Jilly Gagnon Did a wonderful job setting the scene and developing the characters. My main drawback was the bouncing around and the addition of screenplay writing. It felt like it interrupted the flow of the story and I did not get the point. I would get to a part then wonder is this part of the disappearance story or is the a screen play that she is creating.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for the ARC.