I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

Zoe Maisey is only 17 years old but she’s a convicted killer. When she was 14, she was involved in an accident killing three school friends and the court found her guilty. Now, more than two years on from the ordeal, Zoe and her mother are trying to put the past behind them but in one night it catches up and in the morning, Zoe’s mother is dead.

To start off with: I really think publishers should stop putting Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train quotes (you’ll love this if you loved…) on the front of these books cause a lot of people end up being disappointed. This book is thrilling but in its own way. It has the mystery aspect of The Girl on the Train and the good girl possibly gone wrong vibe of Gone Girl but it should be treated as an individual and not compared too much to such modern mystery/thriller classics.

This was an enjoyable and fast-paced read and just like Gilly Macmilan’s other book Burnt Paper Sky it was very hard to put down until I had every page read and all the mysteries revealed. In this book, a majority of the events happen all in one night, other than some flash backs from the first episode, and it led to things happening very quickly and I really felt an urgency around everything that was going on. While Macmillan’s first book had me feeling intrigued, this book left me feeling a it more tense about what was going on and what hadn’t been revealed as well as feeling desperately sad for most of the characters in the book. Zoe is definitely the kind of character that you feel for, she’s very fragile and feels like she’s going to break into pieces though there was a part of me reserved in case the whole thing was an act.

I enjoyed Tessa’s POV, as it was kind of a calming, sane, point of view other than Zoe’s. Sam’s was good too from the legal point of view but not being as ingratiated into the family, he wasn’t there to talk about some things the way Tessa was. I just really liked her. Sam’s also became stagnant near the end and I didn’t quite see the point of it.

This book brings up some sensitive topics, such as slut-shaming and online bullying.

I did feel some frustration with the lack of communication between the characters, particularly in the first half of the book. I just couldn’t see what was so hard about just sitting down and talking, that’s all that needed to be done and then Lucas’s creepy scripts - why not just tell Zoe rather than get her to read a whole script. There were a few times where I wanted to scream at everyone to get a grip and just talk.

I wasn’t too shocked at the end, I had a bit of a feeling in the back of my mind it would be that person bit I still really enjoyed the book.