The Agathas was a pretty damn gripping read and a fantastic tribute to one of my favourite writers of all time.
Any book that pays homage to Agatha Christie instantly has my heart and the intricate plotting of The Agathas was worthy of the Queen of Crime herself. The way Glasgow and Lawson combined their fiendish brains together meant that a twisted concoction of secrets, alibis, and red herrings was formed. In many ways, we have the classic Christie set-up of an isolated location, pretty closed in community and basically everyone having a reason to want someone gone. I loved the way they transported this to a YA setting, creating this network of messed-up relationships and entanglements. The entire book is a love letter to the genre and its undisputed queen, but the way Christie’s books are also woven into the plot is ingenious. One of the characters is a big fan of her books and relates the events to plot points. This creates this meta, fantastically enjoyable humour and cheeky wink to the readers. It feels like a book that will go off and inspire a new generation to pick up her works.
That being said, this gem stands well on its own. Snippets of Christie are woven in, but this is a unique and well-crafted story. I loved how all of the narrative threads were pieced together into a complex and fascinating mystery. This was a tricksy little story with plenty of shocking twists and turns that kept me glued to the page.
The dual narrative is handled really well, adding enough seeds of doubt and unreliability in both our narrators. They’re flawed people dealing with their own secrets and trauma, but somehow you just root for them. Despite knowing they could be lying right to your face, you want to believe their version of events and for the truth to shine through. They both have such distinctive voices, with Iris’ snarky closed-off nature betraying a deeper survival instinct and a life spent running away from her past. Alice is cocooned in seemingly the perfect life of privilege, popularity and power but her troubles bubble just under the surface. The way the two of them interact is brilliant, with plenty of humourous dialogue and nuanced conversations about privilege, particularly in terms of wealth and class. Also, the wider supporting cast is fascinating, particularly the extra teammates for solving the mystery. I would happily read more books featuring this feisty firecrackers of a found family. The atmosphere between them all and the vibe created is a playful, fun and relaxed one, but they also always have one another’s backs. You get a modern-day Nancy Drew vibe of teenagers solving all the cases ignored and dismissed by the authorities.
On that note, this book really digs into the idea of the ‘perfect’ victim. It questions why some cases are seen as more worthwhile than other and how issues of privilege, race and class complicate this further. One death becomes national news, while another is forgotten and dismissed. The Agathas asks why justice is selective and dependent on the status of the victim. It also is a pretty feminist book, discussing why women’s testimonies are often ignored and dismissed as irrational or melodramatic. This is a pertinent and timely narrative, looking at recent news. Both protagonists and their suspicions are dismissed for being teenage girls. Lawson and Glasgow interrogate why that is in a thought-provoking and complicated analysis that is further expanded by questions of privilege and victimhood.
The Agathas is a layered mystery, combining thrilling plot lines, fascinating characters and important questions surrounding the politics of justice and victimhood.
The Agathas is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 3rd 2022.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Who killed Brooke Donovan? It’s the biggest mystery of the summer, and everyone in Castle Cove thinks it’s the wrong guy. Fans of One of Us Is Lying and Riverdale can’t miss this page-turning who-done-it that’s sure to be the next must read Young Adult thriller!
Last summer, Alice Ogilvie’s basketball-star boyfriend Steve dumped her. Then she disappeared for five days. She’s not talking, so where she went and what happened to her is the biggest mystery in Castle Cove. Or it was, at least. But now, another one of Steve’s girlfriends has vanished: Brooke Donovan, Alice’s ex–best friend. And it doesn’t look like Brooke will be coming back. . .
Enter Iris Adams, Alice’s tutor. Iris has her own reasons for wanting to disappear, though unlike Alice, she doesn’t have the money or the means. That could be changed by the hefty reward Brooke’s grandmother is offering to anyone who can share information about her granddaughter’s whereabouts. The police are convinced Steve is the culprit, but Alice isn’t so sure, and with Iris on her side, she just might be able to prove her theory.
In order to get the reward and prove Steve’s innocence, they need to figure out who killed Brooke Donovan. And luckily Alice has exactly what they need—the complete works of Agatha Christie. If there’s anyone that can teach the girls how to solve a mystery it’s the master herself. But the town of Castle Cove holds many secrets, and Alice and Iris have no idea how much danger they’re about to walk into.
