Review: Cartwheel by Jennifer Dubois

Cartwheel by Jennifer Dubois

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 384

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she is enchanted by everything she encounters: the colorful buildings, the street food, the handsome, elusive man next door. Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily didn’t come to Argentina to hang out with other Americans.
 
Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is the prime suspect. But who is Lily Hayes? It depends on who’s asking. As the case takes shape—revealing deceptions, secrets, and suspicious DNA—Lily appears alternately sinister and guileless through the eyes of those around her: the media, her family, the man who loves her and the man who seeks her conviction.

Kritters Thoughts:  At this point in time, 99% of the world has heard about the Amanda Knox case and trial - the student studying abroad who finds her roommate has been murdered.  Cartwheel is a fictional tale based on some of the facts from this case and hearing a fictional tale about this major news story was very interesting.

Lilly is studying abroad in Buenos Aires and just 5 weeks in, her roommate is brutally murdered and from the beginning the focus is on her.  Told through the eyes of her family, the prosecution and her before the incident, this book takes you through the befores and afters of the crime.  I absolutely adored hearing the build up of Lilly and Katy's relationship, but I didn't quite love the parts from Eduardo the prosecutor.  His abnormally large words and language felt out of character and I felt like his personal life was awkwardly used to affect his views of the case.  The other characters and parts greatly outdid his.

My only issue was I didn't know where fiction and fact occurred.  The case is well known, but I know there are misrepresentations in the media coming from both sides, so I was constantly wondering if this was fact or fiction.  I think if this case hadn't been such a media blowout, this book would have entertained me more because I was on the brink of wondering where the stories overlapped.

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

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.