Friday, July 31, 2020

Book review - Girl from Nowhere

Title: Girl from Nowhere
Author: Tiffany Rosenhan
Genre: thriller
Similar books: SilverFin by Charlie Higson
                      Damage Done by Amanda Panitch
Rating:
entertaining enough

Summary (provided by publisher): Ninety-four countries. Thirty-one schools. Two bullets. Now it's over . . . or so she thinks.
Sophia Hepworth has spent her life all over the world--moving quickly, never staying in one place for too long. She knows to always look over her shoulder, to be able to fight to survive at a moment's notice. She has trained to be ready for anything.
Except this. Suddenly it's over. Now Sophia is expected to attend high school in a sleepy Montana town. She is told to forget the past, but she's haunted by it. As hard as she tries to be like her new friends and live a normal life, she can't shake the feeling that this new normal won't last.
Then comes strong and silent Aksel, whose skills match Sophia's, and who seems to know more about her than he's letting on . . .
What if everything Sophia thought she knew about her past is a lie?


My opinion: In large part, this is a pretty standard thriller. Think of it like an entire family of Jason Bourne. While it starts out as a fish out of water story, a girl used to political intrigue and globe trotting learning to adjust to "normal life" in the United States while coping with trauma in her past. When their past interferes in their present, the plot abandons all of those early themes. In fact, the idea that she needs to learn to relax, to not be constantly on her guard, is what puts the family in danger. What we learn from it, then, is that one can never truly relax. It takes a sharp turn from contemplative to standard thriller, with a central focus on physical threats and old feuds. The characters, while interesting, are not convincing as real teens. A solid beach read, but I don't imagine it would hold up to close scrutiny.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

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