In a perfect world this would’ve been written as a CW drama starring [insert tumblr fave here] circa 2014 and it would’ve killed! There’s so much action written that just doesn’t translate well into what’s on the page, it’s much more suited for the screen. There’s a countdown! But the book really struggles to make time feel limited, it’s a longer read than you’d expect. So, it’s easy to start skimming as the action takes place to get to the important dialogue moments that are actually moving the mystery forward. I see a lot of reviews mentioning the YA feeling and I would definitely agree, I wouldn’t say any character felt like a real person (again CW soap drama level). I definitely think there are better thrillers out there and better mysteries, and this one got pretty predictable pretty quickly.

Started off with a bad start by the content warning referring to things happening “offscreen”. There is no screen! This is a book! Things happen on or off the page!

Anways, I think this had an interesting premise and it’s just not that interesting to actually read. I was comparing it to the 2020 film The Kid Detective which I think took did the directionless/lost adult with a former kid detective twist A LOT better.

I really should’ve read the back cover where they refer to this as a “millennial- friendly spin” on cozy mysteries. What I realized after reading was that it actually meant dialogue that became incessant chatter I know was supposed to be funny & sitcomish but became annoying and I found myself skimming A LOT.

Really so much opportunity but at its core the mystery isn’t that good, the characters are mad libs of minorities but nothing more, and the writing isn’t engaging. I still think the premise is such a good idea, one that would offer a lot of exploration into a character but unfortunately that isn’t in this book.