I Killed Zoe Spanos

April 1, 2020
Seventeen-year-old Anna Cicconi finds herself in the middle of a mystery when she takes a summer nanny job in the swanky Hamptons enclave of Herron Hills. Frick begins her story at the end. Well, sort of. August in the Hamptons signals the turning of the leaves and sees the grisly discovery of 19-year-old Zoe Spanos' body. Zoe disappeared on New Year's Eve, and Anna, who happens to strongly resemble her, has confessed to her murder. However, Martina Green, who runs the podcast Missing Zoe, doesn't believe Anna did it and attempts to find out what really happened. Flash back to June: Hard-partying recent high school grad Anna sees her new job caring for Tom and Emilia Bellamy's 8-year-old daughter as a fresh start. As one sun-drenched day melts into the next, Anna is drawn to Windemere, the neighboring Talbots' looming, Gothic-style home, and to the brooding, mysterious Caden Talbot. But Anna can't shake a feeling of d�j� vu, and she's having impossible memories that intertwine her life with Zoe's. Frick easily juggles multiple narratives, and readers will enjoy connecting the dots of her cleverly plotted thriller inspired by Daphne du Maurier's classic Rebecca. Anna and Zoe are white; the supporting cast includes biracial characters Martina (Latinx/white) and Caden (black/white). Caden discusses grappling with being raised by white adoptive parents, facing racialized suspicion as Zoe's boyfriend, and feeling marginalized at Yale. An atmospheric and creepy page-turner. (map) (Thriller. 14-adult)

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May 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Riffing on an alternate time line to that of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, Frick creates a convincing scenario for a summer of questions, murder, fresh starts, and false alarms. A summer nanny position in the storied Hamptons is the fresh start Anna needs. She hopes for a reset away from her old friends and partying ways before college starts in the fall. When she arrives in the small beach community of Herron Mills to work for the Bellamy family and care for their daughter, Paisley, Anna is instantly singled out for bearing a strong resemblance to a local girl, Zoe Spanos, who is missing. Two months later, Anna confesses to Zoe's murder, but it's a flawed story. Podcast host and budding journalist Martina Green begins to dig through clues, texts, and interviews to sort out what actually happened the night Zoe died. Strong heroines and an intriguing flip of whodunnit tropes will keep readers engaged to the surprising resolution. VERDICT An excellent addition in the growing category of YA thriller fiction.-Bill Anderson, Scott County Public Library, Scottsburg, IN

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May 11, 2020
A slow-burning psychological thriller based on Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca plays out in parallel narratives, pre- and post-confession. When 17-year-old Anna Cicconi takes a job as a summer nanny in the Hamptons, she hopes it’ll be quiet, an opportunity to pull back from the partying and complications of her life in Brooklyn. Instead, people everywhere are struck by her resemblance to Zoe Spanos, who’s been missing for six months, since New Year’s Eve. The longer Anna spends in Herron Mills, the more she’s plagued by confusing fragments of impossible memories, until she confesses that she’s responsible for Zoe’s death. But her story doesn’t add up, and teen investigative reporter Martina Green is determined to discover what happened to Zoe and whether Anna is involved. Frick (All Eyes on Us) deftly employs multiple perspectives along with excerpts from Martina’s Serial-like podcast, Missing Zoe, to construct a twisting mystery. While the story relies a little heavily upon coincidence, tension and atmosphere mount as Anna’s uncertainty grows, and incorporation of faulty memories makes for an intriguing exploration into the nature of truth and reality. Ages 14–up. Agent: Erin Harris, Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management.

May 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 In August, Anna Cicconi sits in a police station and confesses to the accidental killing of Zoe Spanos. Zoe, a girl from a town in the Hamptons, went missing over New Year's when she was home on college break; her body has just been discovered sunk in a lake. Her family wants the case solved, but not everyone is ready to believe Anna's confession. For starters, though they look strangely similar, there's no proof that Anna and Zoe ever met. Anna, who came to the Hamptons in June for a nanny job, was fascinated by Zoe's disappearance, following a podcast created by one of Zoe's friends that covered the case and conducting investigations of her own. With her troubled past and faulty memories, Anna is hardly a reliable narrator, and the narrative, which zips back and forth between June and August and includes transcripts from the Missing Zoe podcast, plays into the confusion. Inspired by Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, this is a gripping (especially in its back half) and tightly wound exploration of the price of secrets.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)