SYNOPSIS
Charlie Hudson, an autistic 17-year-old, is determined to leave Sawyer, PA, as soon as she graduates high school - in the meantime, she works as many hours as she can at a sandwich shop called The Triple S to save money for college. But when shop owner Clay Cooper - a man who is both respected and feared by many in this economically depressed community - is found dead, each member of his staff becomes a suspect in the perplexing case. Charlie must work to protect herself and her friends and uncover the danger that may still be at large in their tightknit community.
Title: American Girl
Author: Wendy Walker
Publication date: December 16, 2021
REVIEW
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐💫
Charlie, an autistic 17 yo, just wants to leave Sawyer. She works at a sandwich shop to save money for college. When her boss is found dead, Charlie and her co-workers all become suspects, so she starts investigating to uncover the killer while protecting her friends.
The thing that appealed to me the most about American Girl was the fact I thought it would be a full cast of narrators (I haven’t listened to many of those), but instead it was a main narrator (Charlie), and then some chapters with dramatized scenes with different actors, sound effects, etc. Those were cool and I would have liked more of them as they really managed to draw me into the story.
I appreciate how Charlie’s character was not neurotypical, but I’m not sure how believable she was at times. Suspension of disbelief was required more than once. There were several red flags that made me wonder how did she not realize sooner that some things happening to her were pretty convenient and not exactly normal.
After a strong start I soon became a bit disinterested in the mystery itself. For the most part it was more about Charlie’s ramblings and not so much about the investigation. Also, the mystery focused a lot in a line of investigation that then didn’t have much impact in the final resolution and made me wonder why so much time was dedicated to that when it was not as interesting.
Although it was an interesting listening experience, the story itself fell a bit flat for me and my interest was only really piqued out in the last third.
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