Review: Red Leaves by Paullina Simons

Red Leaves

by Paullina Simons

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 448

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  As the star player of Dartmouth College’s women’s basketball team, Kristina Kim is beautiful, intelligent, and fearless. But though she’s just 21, Kristina has already had her share of heartache, loss, and dark secrets that haunt her. She’s best friends with Conni, Albert, and Jim, but the only one who seems to really know her is Albert. With long dark hair, tattoos, and a rebellious streak, Albert doesn’t fit in with the rest of the clean-cut Ivy Leaguers. Like Kristina, he has his share of secrets—secrets that are beginning to unravel this intimate circle of friends.

One wintry Thanksgiving weekend tragedy strikes...

When Detective Spencer O’Malley goes to investigate something suspicious at the foot of a steep hill on Dartmouth’s campus, he doesn’t expect that the frozen, naked body found in deep snow would belong to Kristina Kim—the remarkable young woman he met recently who entranced him. Now Spencer will never know if the chemistry he had with her was real. All he can do is find her killer.

Spencer is pulled into the strange, complex web of the surviving friends. Many important questions about Kristina’s murder cannot be answered, such as: why did none of them report her missing for nine days before her body was discovered? The more Spencer digs, the more clear it becomes that each of the three has a motive for killing Kristina. And as Spencer, seeking justice for a dead girl, is led down a labyrinth of deceit, every new revelation proves more shocking than the last….and more dangerous.

Kritters Thoughts:   Four friends are hit with tragedy and must wade through the mystery to find the truth.  The combination of a death and the wintry snow were an interesting combo that for me went hand in hand to up the creepy factor.  I will divulge next what didn't work for me in this one.

This was my first rodeo with Paullina Simons fiction and for me it wasn't a great experience.  The writing seemed elementary and at times staccato and abbreviated.  I could never get into the flow of this book and I wanted so much because the subject/synopsis was right up my alley.  I agree with others that from the beginning I was comparing this to Donna Tart's The Secret History and even if I had read this one first, I would still stick with Tart's book.  Because of the lack of flow, I was also unable to connect with any of the characters and for me that doesn't end up with an enjoyable reading experience.    

I say all this but end with hope that I would still read her again.  I could never say adios to an author after only one experience with them.  If you are a fan, what is your favorite of hers?


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.