Skip to main content

THE WONDER TEST

 



SYNOPSIS

Escaping New York City and the espionage case that made her question everything, recently widowed FBI Agent Lina Connerly returns home to sell the house she has inherited in tony Greenfield, California. With her teenage son Rory, Lina hopes to reassemble her life, reevaluate her career, and find a clear way forward. Adrift and battling insomnia, she discovers that her father's sleepy hometown has been transformed into a Silicon Valley suburb on steroids, obsessed with an annual exam called The Wonder Test.

When students at her son's high school go missing, reappearing under mysterious circumstances on abandoned beaches, Lina must summon her strength and her investigative instincts, pushing her own ethical boundaries to the limits in order to solve the crimes. Meanwhile, an old espionage case called Red Vine keeps calling her back into the fold. While Lina struggles to balance her new role as a single mother and the complex counterintelligence puzzles she is so adept at solving, Greenfield's shadowy dangers creep closer to her own home.


Title: The wonder test
Author: Michelle Richmond
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Publication date: July 6, 2021


REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐

I’m sorry to say I was not wondered by The wonder test.

Lina is a FBI agent on sick leave after her husband’s passing and some mistakes she made at work. She moves with her son Rory to California to her late father’s house hoping to ease their pain. But students from Rory’s new school have been going missing for years, reappearing days later with completely different personalities so, when she’s asked to help in the investigation Lina doesn’t think twice about it and sets herself to unveil what’s hiding under their new town’s perfect façade.

Although the story worked perfectly as an investigation procedural I felt the “wonder test” tie was a bit forced. At the beginning of each chapter there was a “wonder test” question and I gotta say I hated them! I’m not even sure I understood most of them and can’t see any 15 yo answering them.

My favorite thing about the novel were Lina and Rory. They had a great relationship and the “always telling each other the truth” policy made for such a mature mother/son relationship. I liked how she treated him as a person able to think and decide for himself and not as a little kid. Although this also made that some situations required to suspend disbelief a little bit.

My other critique is that it was way too long! 100 pages less and the story wouldn’t have suffered at all.

Although not my favorite read I would not mind seeing Lina back in action with another case.

Thanks to Edelweiss and Atlantic Monthly Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

HELLO, IT’S ME!

  I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to read... MY BRAND NEW BLOG! (Look at me plagiarazing   drawing inspiration from Adele for my very first entry).                                                               She approves! So, if you're here reading this...THANK YOU for tuning in! For those who don't know me my name is Javier and after more than a year writing reviews on sites as Goodreads and NetGalley I decided to create my own blog to share my love of books with the world. When I first started writing reviews I was not able to put two sentences together, but as I kept writing I realized I had lots to say about the books I read. Rest assured my reviews will always be honest (no problems here telling when I don't like something) and spoiler free (I hate spoilers!). My personal preferences are:...

LOVE IN LOCKDOWN

SYNOPSIS Do you believe in love before first sight? Lockdown is putting Sophia’s life on pause – just as she planned to put herself out there and meet someone. When the first clap for the keyworkers rings out around her courtyard, she’s moved to tears for all kinds of reasons. Jack is used to living life to the fullest. He’s going stir-crazy after just days isolating. Until the night he hears a woman crying from the balcony under his. He strikes up a conversation with the stranger and puts a smile on her face. Soon their balcony meetings are the highlight of Jack and Sophia’s days. But even as they grow closer together, they’re always kept apart. Can they fall in love during a lockdown? Title: Love in lockdown Author: Chloe James Publisher: Avon Books UK Publication date: November 23, 2020 REVIEW RATING:   ⭐⭐⭐⭐ When I first heard about this book I thought "Uh, uh, no way I'm reading this. Too soon. Who would want to read a book about the lockdown when the second one is waving ...

ONE BY ONE

SYNOPSIS Snow is falling in the exclusive alpine ski resort of Saint Antoine, as the shareholders and directors of Snoop, the hottest new music app, gather for a make or break corporate retreat to decide the future of the company. At stake is a billion-dollar dot com buyout that could make them all millionaires, or leave some of them out in the cold. The clock is ticking on the offer, and with the group irrevocably split, tensions are running high. When an avalanche cuts the chalet off from help, and one board member goes missing in the snow, the group is forced to ask - would someone resort to murder, to get what they want? Title: One by One Author: Ruth Ware Publisher: Harvill Secker Publication date: November 12, 2020 REVIEW RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ruth Ware has been described as “the Agatha Christie of our generation” and that has never been truer than in “One by one”. A beautiful mountain chalet in the Alps, a company retreat with some of your coworkers and an avalanche hitting, getting you...