Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Once again a book promoted as "like Gone Girl", do you agree? What did you think of the book overall? Spoilers welcome on this thread.
*though if you post spoilers to a different book please post with the spoiler text code from "some HTML is ok" to hide your spoilers.

I finished the book. Wow, it was really good. Really, really good. I am going to think about this one for a while. The narration was excellent, especially the voice of Amelia, she was so fresh and clear and sweet sounding.
I promise to go back and summarize the final segments so that if others want to join in discussing the various parts they can do so, but for now my comments are general.
Better than Gone Girl in my opinion. (and I liked Gone Girl)

First off, the heartbreak Kate feels about her daughter's death is palpable. The potential for this story to have gone another way for Amelia was maddening and so sad. I have a feeling that was intended and as a large part of the point of the book and if so, the message is well delivered and thoroughly received by this reader.
I hope all readers of the book might find some opportunities to step in and make a difference in someone's life if any sort of bullying is happening, I know I will try if I spot any. It seems like it may not be as easy to spot as we think based on this story. So much promise, such good intentions. The damage done by jealousy is hard to fathom how it helps, other than to cause more pain.

Thanks for doing all the summaries Ann. I listened to the audio version so it was hard to figure out where I was at so I decided just to wait until I was finished to comment.

Not really sure why this was compared to Gone Girl. This was much more serious and frankly depressing for me. While Gone Girl had characters I loved to hate this just had unpleasant types who I hope never to encounter in real life and found hard to read about.

I suppose I hope that the plot line and how the teenagers acted was overdone but am afraid it was not.

Sandi: I agree, commenting once is much easier; after finishing the book I realized I could have broken it up differently, but I don't know that it would have helped much, especially on audio.
Reading about the bullying was horrible, and the school's attempt at a cover-up was criminal. I was shocked that a parent would instigate such behavior. The lifestyle of these teens was quite privileged and emphasized that all the money, and fancy schools can't protect kids or give them much needed guidance. Sad and so shocking in the end to discover how Amelia actually fell.

It was very sad about the way Amelia died and terrible that it was her best friend. How horrible that she kept it to herself for so long.

Amy: I agree, the fact that it was her best friend eluded me right up to the end. I was shocked and it was so sad. The truth was right in front of them with her reaction to Amelia's death if anyone had probed deeper. It was a very sad book.

I was going back and forth between her best friend, I thought maybe she was really very upset about her joining the group or the girl that hated her.

Amy, In hindsight, the best friend was unlikely to not be upset, but being involved in the death never occurred to me.
Amy wrote: "I was going back and forth between her best friend, I thought maybe she was really very upset about her joining the group or the girl that hated her."

I finally read this and am glad I did so. I can't imagine what made someone compare this to Gone Girl unless it was to capitalize on that book's popularity. This reminded me so much more of The Secret Place.

I spent most of the book vowing never to read another book that immerses me in a teenager's world, but as I wrote in my review the last quarter or so had me so caught up I was anxious to see how it ended. So many thoughts..

I really liked Amelia, not in a way that I dreaded her life was going to end (not that I wanted it to, not sure I'm explaining this correctly). I guess what I mean to say is that I wasn't overcome with the fact that I knew she was going to die from page one. At first I didn't like her particularly, then I did.

It just hit me that maybe that's the comparison to Gone Girl. You're hearing from the characters' perspectives in alternating chapters, and that draws you in to the story.
Ann wrote: "Once again a book promoted as "like Gone Girl", do you agree? What did you think of the book overall? Spoilers welcome on this thread.
*though if you post spoilers to a different book please post ..."

I agree, I never pegged Sylvia as the cause of Amelia's death. I alternately thought Dylan, Zadie, Mr. Woodhouse, and near the end, Zadie's mom.

I can't believe Sylvia kept it a secret for so long. I find that hard to believe. Racked with guilt doesn't even begin to cover it. So sad.

Amy wrote: "It was very sad about the way Amelia died and terrible that it was her best friend. How horrible that she kept it to herself for so long."

Ann, I don't think breaking it up differently would have helped without lots more work on your part. Listening to it I could only tell where I was by your summaries, and at one point I was content to keep listening and wait to comment until the end, so don't bother going back to add summaries. And thanks for taking that on!

Ann wrote: "Sandi: I agree, commenting once is much easier; after finishing the book I realized I could have broken it up differently, but I don't know that it would have helped much, especially on audio.
Rea..."

I didn't see Amelia being gay coming, from a plot twist perspective. I thought that transition was beautifully done.

I just hate that she didn't find a way to share any of this with her mother, but it wouldn't have been the same novel if she had.

I felt a little bit like there was condemnation for, or maybe a cautionary tale about, single working mothers, and this had me feeling uncomfortable when reading those points. I don't want this book to be about blaming Kate for working hard and having no one else to fall back on.

I guessed about halfway through that teacher Liv was the blogger of Gracefully, but once it was revealed I found it to be a bit preposterous. SO risky, selfish and a little meanspirited, especially coming from the teacher that was popular and supposedly could relate to the students because she was younger.

I also guessed that Ben was probably not Ben; I alternately thought it might be Mr. Woodhouse, Jeremy, and Zadie's mom.

There were lots of twists and turns at the end. I thought the turn with Jeremy's involvement being revealed, and his serial philandering, and fathering Zadie, was a bit over the top, but made for a bang-up ending that tied stuff together.

I'm still thinking about this book; probably will check back later with more thoughts.

That was exactly how I felt after finishing the book Carol!
So many thoughts. One of them you touched on from the perspective of (any) message in the book's intent. Was it a subtle indictment of single Moms? If so it proved to me that Zadie's Mom (not technically single if she wasn't married wasn't there at least a boyfriend - it's been a while) was a MUCH worse Mom than any single Mom with her teenager.
I agonized that opportunities were lost for Kate and Amelia to talk about the magpies. That to me is an important point - to try to always be open to talk about issues. (With anyone you are friends with or related to)

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "I'm still thinking about this book; probably will check back later with more thoughts."