Take a photo of a barcode or cover
inkandplasma 's review for:
Throwaway Girls
by Andrea Contos
Full review available on my blog on October 8th: https://inkandplasma.com/2020/10/08/throwaway-girls/
Rating: 3.5 rounded up to 4.
Trigger warnings: conversion therapy, suicidal ideation/planning, kidnapping, murder, discussion of statutory rape, ptsd depictions, police corruption/incompetency, non-consensual drug use, abuse of power.
Thanks to Kids Can Press for the eARC, it has not impacted my honest review.
Throwaway Girls is an interesting and complex thriller that did actually keep me guessing most of the way through. I was piecing things together but I still didn't quite manage to put everything together before the reveal unravelled in a high octane race to the end of the book. I read the last 45% of this book in an hour, because I just couldn't put it down until I knew what was coming next. This book covers some dark topics, but that's not a surprise for a murder mystery thriller, and I think Caroline's anxiety, PTSD and the way she handles the conversion therapy she was forced into is all portrayed with sensitivity but without softening the pain that she's been through. There's scathing commentary on the way that marginalised groups are treated, but I liked the awareness that Caroline had for her privilege and her acknowledgement of the classism inherent in her and her classmate's lives - though it wasn't as though she was perfectly woke. It made me like her a lot, because while she was inherently a good person, she didn't suffer from protagonist perfection. She lied and manipulated and when it came down to it she'd be the first person to tell you that she'd been a bad friend. But her loyalty and commitment to do better was heart-warming and made me fall in love with her.
The narrative was split in two parts, with most of the chapters from our protagonist's POV and some from another POV that's not revealed at first. I wasn't that keen on the alternate POV. By the end of the book I understood why it was there, and it did lead to an excellent moment partway through where I was struck by a sudden realisation, but I found it kind of boring at first and didn't engage with it that much. I think I probably missed little clues because of that. Caroline's POV was super engaging and interesting though, and I loved the way she was characterised throughout. By the end of this book I honestly just want to read about Caroline burning the world down.
Rating: 3.5 rounded up to 4.
Trigger warnings: conversion therapy, suicidal ideation/planning, kidnapping, murder, discussion of statutory rape, ptsd depictions, police corruption/incompetency, non-consensual drug use, abuse of power.
Thanks to Kids Can Press for the eARC, it has not impacted my honest review.
Throwaway Girls is an interesting and complex thriller that did actually keep me guessing most of the way through. I was piecing things together but I still didn't quite manage to put everything together before the reveal unravelled in a high octane race to the end of the book. I read the last 45% of this book in an hour, because I just couldn't put it down until I knew what was coming next. This book covers some dark topics, but that's not a surprise for a murder mystery thriller, and I think Caroline's anxiety, PTSD and the way she handles the conversion therapy she was forced into is all portrayed with sensitivity but without softening the pain that she's been through. There's scathing commentary on the way that marginalised groups are treated, but I liked the awareness that Caroline had for her privilege and her acknowledgement of the classism inherent in her and her classmate's lives - though it wasn't as though she was perfectly woke. It made me like her a lot, because while she was inherently a good person, she didn't suffer from protagonist perfection. She lied and manipulated and when it came down to it she'd be the first person to tell you that she'd been a bad friend. But her loyalty and commitment to do better was heart-warming and made me fall in love with her.
The narrative was split in two parts, with most of the chapters from our protagonist's POV and some from another POV that's not revealed at first. I wasn't that keen on the alternate POV. By the end of the book I understood why it was there, and it did lead to an excellent moment partway through where I was struck by a sudden realisation, but I found it kind of boring at first and didn't engage with it that much. I think I probably missed little clues because of that. Caroline's POV was super engaging and interesting though, and I loved the way she was characterised throughout. By the end of this book I honestly just want to read about Caroline burning the world down.