A review by hopebrasfield
Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft

lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Think Otessa Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands--but it's a prequel, and it's bad.

Reading this felt like reading the Sweet Valley High mystery-type novels back in middle school. Those books felt so potentially mind-expanding at the time (they were so much BIGGER than the original Sweet Valley books, and all the cool smart girls were reading them), if only I could get past them being not so good, actually.

It felt like watching Lost as it aired, dissecting what might happen next each week, only to find out the creators arguably never had a plan* for where the show was going story-wise.

I'm disappointed because this came so highly recommended by somebody whose content I otherwise very much enjoy over on BookTok. Goes to show you can have super interesting cultural takes while also having not so great taste in books! People are complicated! (Unlike the characters in this book.)

* https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/doug-sibor/the-lost-writers-had-no-plan-whatsoever 
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