Throwaway Girls by Andrea Contos
He grabs my wrist, tracing over the scar on my left hand with a wide fingertip. “What are these from?”
“Fire.”
His eyes flare wide. “They set you on fire?”
“No. I set the building on fire.”
Caroline Lawson is three months away from freedom, otherwise known as graduation day. That's when she'll finally escape her rigid prep school and the parents who thought they could convert her to being straight.
Until then, Caroline is keeping her head down, pretending to be the perfect student even though she is crushed by her family and heartbroken over the girlfriend who left for California.
But when her best friend Madison disappears, Caroline feels compelled to get involved in the investigation. She has her own reasons not to trust the police, and she owes Madison — big time.
Suddenly Caroline realizes how little she knew of what her friend was up to. Caroline has some uncomfortable secrets about the hours before Madison disappeared, but they're nothing compared to the secrets Madison has been hiding. And why does Mr. McCormack, their teacher, seem to know so much about them?
It's only when Caroline discovers other missing girls that she begins to close in on the truth. Unlike Madison, the other girls are from the wrong side of the tracks. Unlike Madison's, their disappearances haven't received much attention. Caroline is determined to find out what happened to them and why no one seems to notice. But as every new discovery leads Caroline closer to the connection between these girls and Madison, she faces an unsettling truth.
There's only one common denominator between the disappearances: Caroline herself.
Okay, so this was surprisingly good!
I was really tired of the best-friend disappearing trope, but Throwaway Girls makes it work. The main reason is that Madison’s disappearance isn’t due to some dark secret that Caroline has been hiding. Yes, Caroline has secrets, but Madison has much bigger ones, ones that got her in trouble. So this is a proper mystery. Yes, there are flashbacks, and a couple things that the author hides from us until the end, but this is a proper whodunnit.
I found the mystery to be very, very gripping. The pacing of this book was great. It never felt boring, and it never felt too fast. The clues wind around enough to keep you guessing, but never enough to make you lose hope. However, the villain’s motivations are not well fleshed out, but it felt awfully realistic so it wasn’t a huge problem.
There is a lot of discussion about class in this book. Caroline goes to an uber-fancy prep school, where around 85% of the kids live on campus. The world outside campus, however, is not nearly as well-off. And this is where the problem starts. Caroline sets herself up as an ally, someone who has been immersing herself in the less savory parts of the nearby towns. However, she often comes off as preachy when she dips into this topic. The fact that she finds the perp who has been snatching girls from the “wrong side of town” stinks of a savior narrative. Still, the fact that the book repeatedly acknowledges this, and shows that Caroline doesn’t know it all, makes it a lot more digestible.
Caroline’s sexuality also makes up a large plot point in this book, with the “conversion” mentioned in the blurb being an obvious source of a lot of trauma and mental anguish. My only bone to pick was how late we find out that Caroline is bi (as opposed to lesbian). Would not be a big deal at all if she didn’t most of the book being sidekicked by a guy (who knows that she’s bi). Super minor, but it obviously flipped a switch in the way that I looked at him.
The way that time flows in this book is a little weird. I could not, for the life of me, keep track of how many days and nights passed. At a couple points in the book, a reminder is dropped in (ex: it’s been four days since Madison disappeared), but it was a little confusing overall. Along the same lines, the physical movements of the characters also seemed a little clunky. Like if a character is sitting behind you and then suddenly they’re … on top of you? It was a little difficult to follow at times, but it didn’t get in the way of the story.
Overall though, this book has a very solid plot. Though there were a couple small hitches in the details, the story is very gripping and keeps you on your toes the whole way through.
“Fire.”
His eyes flare wide. “They set you on fire?”
“No. I set the building on fire.”
Caroline Lawson is three months away from freedom, otherwise known as graduation day. That's when she'll finally escape her rigid prep school and the parents who thought they could convert her to being straight.
Until then, Caroline is keeping her head down, pretending to be the perfect student even though she is crushed by her family and heartbroken over the girlfriend who left for California.
But when her best friend Madison disappears, Caroline feels compelled to get involved in the investigation. She has her own reasons not to trust the police, and she owes Madison — big time.
Suddenly Caroline realizes how little she knew of what her friend was up to. Caroline has some uncomfortable secrets about the hours before Madison disappeared, but they're nothing compared to the secrets Madison has been hiding. And why does Mr. McCormack, their teacher, seem to know so much about them?
It's only when Caroline discovers other missing girls that she begins to close in on the truth. Unlike Madison, the other girls are from the wrong side of the tracks. Unlike Madison's, their disappearances haven't received much attention. Caroline is determined to find out what happened to them and why no one seems to notice. But as every new discovery leads Caroline closer to the connection between these girls and Madison, she faces an unsettling truth.
There's only one common denominator between the disappearances: Caroline herself.
I was really tired of the best-friend disappearing trope, but Throwaway Girls makes it work. The main reason is that Madison’s disappearance isn’t due to some dark secret that Caroline has been hiding. Yes, Caroline has secrets, but Madison has much bigger ones, ones that got her in trouble. So this is a proper mystery. Yes, there are flashbacks, and a couple things that the author hides from us until the end, but this is a proper whodunnit.
I found the mystery to be very, very gripping. The pacing of this book was great. It never felt boring, and it never felt too fast. The clues wind around enough to keep you guessing, but never enough to make you lose hope. However, the villain’s motivations are not well fleshed out, but it felt awfully realistic so it wasn’t a huge problem.
There is a lot of discussion about class in this book. Caroline goes to an uber-fancy prep school, where around 85% of the kids live on campus. The world outside campus, however, is not nearly as well-off. And this is where the problem starts. Caroline sets herself up as an ally, someone who has been immersing herself in the less savory parts of the nearby towns. However, she often comes off as preachy when she dips into this topic. The fact that she finds the perp who has been snatching girls from the “wrong side of town” stinks of a savior narrative. Still, the fact that the book repeatedly acknowledges this, and shows that Caroline doesn’t know it all, makes it a lot more digestible.
Caroline’s sexuality also makes up a large plot point in this book, with the “conversion” mentioned in the blurb being an obvious source of a lot of trauma and mental anguish. My only bone to pick was how late we find out that Caroline is bi (as opposed to lesbian). Would not be a big deal at all if she didn’t most of the book being sidekicked by a guy (who knows that she’s bi). Super minor, but it obviously flipped a switch in the way that I looked at him.
The way that time flows in this book is a little weird. I could not, for the life of me, keep track of how many days and nights passed. At a couple points in the book, a reminder is dropped in (ex: it’s been four days since Madison disappeared), but it was a little confusing overall. Along the same lines, the physical movements of the characters also seemed a little clunky. Like if a character is sitting behind you and then suddenly they’re … on top of you? It was a little difficult to follow at times, but it didn’t get in the way of the story.
Overall though, this book has a very solid plot. Though there were a couple small hitches in the details, the story is very gripping and keeps you on your toes the whole way through.
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