By Kit Frick
This book is about Anna Cicconi’s confession of killing a girl, Zoe Spanos, whom she has never met. Anna gets a job in the exclusive Hamptons area for the summer as a babysitter for a precocious girl whose previous sitter, Zoe, went missing over the previous New Year’s holiday. As Anna tries to acclimate to the privileged people surrounding her, she notices people staring more and more, and the creepy lady next door threatens her. Turns out her son, with whom Anna would like to spend more time, was Zoe’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance.
Anna came to the Hamptons for a fresh start before starting college in the fall. She is going to be “better”, leaving behind high-risk behaviors and friends. Her mother is rarely home as she is forced to work multiple jobs to support both of them. Viewing college as the fresh start she needs to lead a new life, this job for the summer is the beginning of a long line of decisions towards responsibility and networking. Or is it?
She starts having what can only be described as repressed memories of Zoe. Anna knows what the inside of Zoe’s house looks like, her interests, her fears, and her favorite flavor of ice cream. As these memories keep coming at her faster, she is trying to piece together what really happened that night to Zoe, confident that she died, confident that she had a part in it.
Initially she is written off as crazy, or wanting to take over a missing girl’s privileged life. Until Zoe’s body is found exactly where Anna remembers it being. And Zoe’s last known location the night of her disappearance goes up in flames. Someone else knows, and is trying to keep Zoe buried.
Pros & Cons & Potential Spoilers
Pros
- Definite, unnerving twists and turns
- Plethora of suspects to choose from, including Anna
- The end is unexpected in its motivations
Cons
- There is a frustrating side plot line of her old New York friends that eventually leads to important things, but doesn’t make sense for most of the book
- There are transcripts from Podcasts that I like the idea of, but doesn’t seem to flow quite right
- Anna falling for the neighbor seems too predictable and easy