With Malice by Eileen Cook

"It was the perfect trip…until it wasn’t.

Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital room, leg in a cast, stitches in her face and a big blank canvas where the last six weeks should be. She discovers she was involved in a fatal car accident while on a school trip in Italy. A trip she doesn’t even remember taking. She was jetted home by her affluent father in order to receive quality care. Care that includes a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident…wasn’t an accident.

As the accident makes national headlines, Jill finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. It doesn’t help that the media is portraying her as a sociopath who killed her bubbly best friend, Simone, in a jealous rage. With the evidence mounting against her, there’s only one thing Jill knows for sure: She would never hurt Simone. But what really happened? Questioning who she can trust and what she’s capable of, Jill desperately tries to piece together the events of the past six weeks before she loses her thin hold on her once-perfect life." (goodreads)

This book has had my attention since it was released in June 2016. This highly addictive mystery is not only impossible to put down but could be looked at as a scary realistic situation. Something so simple as a car crash in another country has turn into the biggest international murder case, that is a terrifying situation to be in.

There are two main reasons I had to read this book (I had been trying to wait for the paperback and just couldn't wait any longer!) First, the situation reminded me a lot of the Amanda Knox case. Same international country, two girls, an exotic boy, a murder. I have always found the Knox case so interesting and I have no idea, after all this time, know what I believe. Which leads to my second reason, anyone is capable of murder. Did Jill really kill her best friend Simone? I have no idea, but I lean more towards no. If I think about it too long I change my mind. There is evidence, but also the media tends to blow things out of context and makes connections that do not necessarily make sense. Her lack of memory is convenient and also makes us have to put complete trust in everything Jill tells us. How would our opinion on Jill change if we had a point of view from Simone before the car accident?

Jill and Simone were best friends but they were also so different. Jill was more a nerdy girl, who is really into school and culture. Simone is a popular cheerleader who brings Jill into her world of friends, clothes, makeup, parties and alcohol. I could really connect to this type of friendship. It also made interesting news for the media to rip apart their friendship and twist everything around to make Jill seem evil and Simone always a victim.

What I loved most about With Malice was the alternative chapters. There was so many interviews, police records, and witness statements from people involved with Jill and Simone to help the police build a case and try to understand the accident. It was so interesting to see what people who really knew them thought of their friendship as opposed to people they had just met on the Italy trip. These was my favorite part of the story. It was the only time we experienced someone else's thoughts other than Jill's, who has lost her memory. It helped to fill in some gaps and make you switch between Jill being innocent to Jill maybe being guilty.   

Unreliable narrator books can be a hit or miss for me, but this was so well done. Jill refuses to believe that she could ever hurt Simone, but with the Italian Police trying to charge her for murder, she is forced to look at herself and doubt what she is capable of. Jill definitely wouldn't hurt Simone but Jill is a different person from who she was six weeks ago.

I recommend this book to fans of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, which is another fantastic unreliable narrator story.

Let me know on Instagram (@taleswithnicole) or Twitter (@nmshears) your thoughts on With Malice, and if you think Jill is innocent or guilty!

 

 My Rating: 4/5 Stars