Book Review: The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Tiffany Brooks

Title: The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Author: Tiffany Brooks

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publishing Date: January 4th, 2022

Pages: 352

Audio Length: 9 Hours 24 Mins

Genre: YA Mystery

TW: *Spoiler* Adult male seducing underage girl

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

What it's about:

You think it's a game? Think again.

High school senior Riley Ozment is desperate to change her reality after making a fool of herself on social media. She needs to do something drastic to repair her social standing—like trying out for a Survivor-style reality TV show. Suddenly, Riley's dropped onto a deserted tropical island with nineteen other teens competing for a million dollars and a rumored treasure lost on the island.

But that treasure has a history: a local curse says that seven people need to die before the treasure can be found. And six hunters have already lost their lives in the search. Now the question is: who will be the seventh?

With a cast of characters who will stop at nothing to win the show, a cursed island setting, and a priceless treasure waiting to be discovered, The Girl Who Knew Too Much pitches readers right into a scheming web of lies, love, and betrayal.

A fast-paced new thriller where allies may not be who they say they are and legends abound!

What I thought:

I was super excited to read this one, I love Survivor and it said it was a mystery thriller which is right up my alley. 

The problem is it wasn't really a thriller. It did have some mystery, it did have a less exciting Goonies feel, and it was similar to Survivor in a way that they get dropped off on an island and they had to complete challenges to win. 

While I was reading this I kind of kept waiting for anything exciting to happen. Nothing ever really did. All of the "twists" weren't very twisty, I wasn't surprised by any of them. And I just really hoped for more from this book.

Cover:

It's an okay cover. I like how dark is it, and it helped me picture her. But it's nothing spectacular.

Story:

The story itself was good. A teenage girl who becomes a meme decides to go on this survivor-esque show to try to find treasure... basically so she can give the treasure to her dad and then she won't be a huge disappointment anymore. I like the idea of it and I wish that it was just more exciting. More holding my breath. 

Pace:

The pace was funky. It was really slow at some points, where nothing really happens. And then it tries to speed up and kinda fails. And then it speeds up for like a few minutes, then nothing.

Writing:

I don't think the author did a good job describing things. People. Settings. I couldn't picture it as I was reading.

Characters:

As I said above, I couldn't picture the characters. And they all kind of blended together. I got them confused and tried to remember who was who. The "romance" in it was also super awkward and seemed forced.

World building:

The world building was awful. I couldn't picture any of it.

Ending:

The ending was nothing spectacular and honestly also felt kind of rushes. I felt very "wait that's it?" by the time I was done.

Narrator:

The narrator did well I think. She was dramatic where she needed to be and she fit the character well. 

Overall:

Overall I was very disappointed and expected a lot more.

Possible books of likeness:

Author's info:

Tiffany Brooks lives in San Francisco with her family and a bunch of pets, who luckily don't object to being featured on her Instagram. The best thing about living on the west coast is she can find out what happens on Game of Thrones three hours ahead of air time. That, plus not having winter weather, means she'll never move back east, although that doesn't stop her New England family from asking when she'll be moving "back home" to NYC or Connecticut. Reality Gold, her debut novel, kicks off the Shifting Reality Collection, a YA trilogy.