Mini Reviews: The Fraud Squad, The Family Game, The Six Deaths of the Saint and These Fleeting Shadows

Hi friends! I hope that February has been treating you well so far. I’ve hit a little bit of a reading slump — I am having a hard time focusing on well, much of anything, so my reading has been on the slower side. Because of this, I figured I’d share some mini reviews for a few books I read in January!

The Fraud Squad by Kyla Zhao

As someone who loves Gossip Girl and socialite stories, I had really high hopes for Kyla Zhao’s debut The Fraud Squad, and unfortunately, those expectations weren’t met — something about it was just lacking. For me, the thing that was most captivating about Gossip Girl was that you really never knew what was going to happen next because they all were so unhinged and the big reveal at the end of the series was definitely surprising (if not confusing), but with The Fraud Squad, everything felt completely predictable. 

The stakes felt incredibly low, and in turn, I didn’t care about what was happening. There’s a lot that Sam has to lose with this scheme, and even though she spent a lot of time talking about it, I didn’t feel that she really believed that. Everything seemed really blasé to her — which, I guess you can chalk up to getting fully immersed in the world, but it was really annoying. Additionally, the romance fell completely flat for me and felt like it came out of nowhere. I didn’t feel any sort of connection between Sam and Tim and really couldn’t have cared less about their relationship. 

Honestly, I just found this one to be boring and predictable, it felt like a real slog to get through. 

Links for The Fraud Squad: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman

I had picked up The Family Game because I saw people recommending it if you enjoyed the film Ready or Not, which I did and as the plots sounded somewhat similar I figured why not give it a try. I was definitely intrigued at the beginning, but I found myself getting more bored/annoyed as the story went on. Obviously in any book, the main character is going to make some dumb or ridiculous choices, otherwise the plot won’t move forward at all, but as the book continued, I felt like Harry just kept ignoring all the signs telling her to run. With each new thing learned about the Holbeck family more red flags appeared and she just…kept going? I understand that she is a writer and it was a mystery that she wanted to solve (same), but it was really obvious from the start that there was something seriously wrong with this family. 

Additionally, I was really uncomfortable with her fascination/attraction (that sometimes seemed to be borderline obsession) with her soon to be father-in-law? It was weird and I was never totally sure that she wasn’t going to hook up with him which, again, weird. As for the twist itself, I didn’t have it completely figured out by the end but I had my suspicions. I also didn’t really care because by that point, the story had completely lost me and I just wanted to finish it.

Links for The Family Game: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow

I won’t lie, my expectations for The Six Deaths of the Saint were low, mostly because it’s an Amazon original — yes, I’m aware that that is very elitist, I’ve been burned a few times — and then because it seemed like everyone and their mother was absolutely raving about it, I thought there was no possible way that it could live up to the hype. Truthfully, I’m still fully forming my opinions, so I don’t know if I completely agree with the hype, but there was a lot that I enjoyed and I do see why people loved it so much.

It took me a while to get used to the second person POV, which I really am not a fan of, and was worried that it would turn me off to the story completely, but I see what the author was going for. I don’t know if I loved the switch from second person to first person POV and then back to second person — that threw me off a little bit. However, since the story is only thirty pages it didn’t bother me too much, though I definitely couldn’t read a whole book like that. Generally, I did really enjoy the prose and the overall storyline — I thought that the author did a great job of evoking a lot of emotion through the story, and managed to have a full storyline that was compelling through only thirty pages.

I definitely see why people seem to be so obsessed with this story, and I enjoyed it but wouldn’t say that I’m as hyped over it as others are.

Links for The Six Deaths of the Saint: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Amazon 

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall

Okay, I’m gonna be 100% transparent here, did I totally understand what was happening during These Fleeting Shadows? Nope, not at all, but did I have a great and wild time reading it? Hell yes, I did! 

I love gothic literature, and this one definitely had the vibes. I love the horror trope of a young person inheriting a large estate from the family they are estranged from — there are so many ways that it could go and I love uncovering the family secrets that caused the estrangement. The arrangement that Helen had to spend one year at the house and then participate in a ritual where the house had to accept her was a really interesting play on that trope, and I really liked it.

This book was definitely a wild ride from start to finish, and I loved the audiobook narration by Megan Trout. She did a fantastic job of setting an eerie and intense atmosphere. I found myself gasping and verbally reacting multiple times while I was reading, and felt myself getting very creeped out at times. 

I haven’t read anything else by Kate Alice Marshall, but this one kept me entertained from start to finish so I’m sure I’ll check out more of her work.

Links for These Fleeting Shadows: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound

And there you have it! Some quick thoughts on a few of the books I read in January. Have you read any of these books? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Until next time!