Murder

2.5 Stars ( )

Tandy Angel and her three brothers are unnaturally gifted—they’re also the prime suspects when their parents are found dead in their penthouse. Emma Galvin narrates in a rapid, even voice that accentuates Tandy’s intelligence, focus, and flat affect. Galvin softens her tone in periodic confessionals in which Tandy addresses the listener, relating troubling gaps in her own memory as well as the secrets behind her family’s success. Affairs, shady business dealings, and hidden motives emerge as Tandy investigates her parents’ murder, reconstructs her fractured past, and begins to reconnect to emotions she’d thought she’d lost forever. ( )

I listened to this book with my 12-year-old, and we both enjoyed it. He was bothered by the breaking of the fourth wall, the way Tandy, the narrator, would address the reader (listener) directly, but, other than that, we liked it. And he was very glad that he doesn't have Malcolm and Maude Angel for parents. ;) ( )

I really enjoyed the writing style, but it did start to get quite annoying. There were so many snippets and a lot of teasing without much substance behind it. I understand they want to leave some for the next book, but it would have been good to have learned a bit more detail about their lives.

I mostly liked Tandy, although she was a bit insufferable at times. She is one of those characters who knows absolutely everything, and yet is still really stupid. She jumps to conclusions, doesn't approach is very analytically at all, and takes a long time to come to conclusions.

I disliked that the character whose bisexuality is hinted at is also the coldest, possibly villainous, character. Stop using the LGBT villain trope, it's tired and boring, and it would have been so much better to have one of the children identified as LGBT.

It wasn't terrible, but it definitely could have been better. ( )