A review by emleemay
Beware That Girl by Teresa Toten

2.0

Olivia Michelle Sumner: if that doesn’t spell money, I don’t know what does. She was head-to-toe Barneys and Bloomies, preppy with a price. The rest of the girls gave her a wide berth even as they squealed, “Welcome back, Olivia!"

[b:Beware That Girl|27065377|Beware That Girl|Teresa Toten|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1448997874s/27065377.jpg|47105788] suffers from a serious case of false marketing.

This book caught my eye at the Los Angeles Festival of Books. The press releases and fliers stood, calling to me, from under the Random House booth. The title said "dark thriller" and "dangerous girls". The cover, with it's shadowy silhouette, promised a story full of secrets.

It didn't occur to me for one second that this book would be another Gossip Girl. A marginally darker tale of private school girls, designer clothing and A-list parties. Make no mistake, the characters in Gossip Girl were just as screwed up and twisted as these; they just didn't feel the need to tell us with a dramatic monologue (we could see the lies and backstabbing for ourselves).

The narrative jumps between Kate, a self-confessed liar and manipulator with an abusive past, and Olivia, a girl whose mood swings from happy to depressed as she relies on pills to get her through. Kate befriends Olivia to further her own goals, but a wedge is driven between them when Olivia becomes involved with an older man.

[b:Beware That Girl|27065377|Beware That Girl|Teresa Toten|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1448997874s/27065377.jpg|47105788] is too contrived and heavy-handed to be a good thriller. Abuse is used as a plot device here and it leaves a bad taste. Almost all the characters are stereotypes, from the empty, shallow rich girls who feed into our expectations of rich girls, to the heavily-accented Russian servant, to the cackling villain who is only a few short steps away from twirling his mustache and going "Muahahaha".

It is also hard to see why the characters behave and think the way they do. The villain is recognizable as a creeper from day one - a school staff member who has his hands all over the teen girls - and yet everyone is obsessed with him anyway.

A man - and I mean a truly male representation of his species - strode in. It had to be him, the brand-new director of advancement. I don’t know how to describe it, but the guy was such a guy. That must be it. He wasn’t like a movie star or anything, not really, but God, he exuded raw masculinity.

Eww.

The twist at the end will be obvious to most readers. Not only that, but I also thought the climax of the story was melodramatic and silly - perhaps because the lack of character depth throughout made it hard to empathize with Kate and Olivia, therefore turning those final scenes into an empty piece of exaggerated action.

Not surprisingly, the marketing team has already eagerly spewed out the usual buzzworthy comparisons to [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276], [b:The Girl on the Train|22557272|The Girl on the Train|Paula Hawkins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1462023471s/22557272.jpg|41107568] and [b:We Were Liars|16143347|We Were Liars|E. Lockhart|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402749479s/16143347.jpg|21975829]. Take my word for it - it's not like any of them.

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Store