Review - Conspiracy Girl by Sarah Alderson

Title: Conspiracy Girl

Author: Sarah Alderson

Pages: 320

Publisher: Simn & Schuster

Release date: 12th February 2015

Blurb from Goodreads: 

 

Everybody knows about the Cooper Killings – the Bel Air home invasion that rocked the nation.
There was only one survivor - a sixteen year-old girl.
And though the killers were caught they walked free.

Now eighteen, Nic Preston - the girl who survived - is trying hard to rebuild her life. She’s security conscious to the point of paranoia and her only friend is a French Mastiff bulldog, but she’s making progress. She’s started college in New York and has even begun dating.

But then one night her apartment is broken into and the life Nic’s worked so hard to create is shattered in an instant.

Finn Carter - hacker, rule breaker, player – is the last person Nic ever wants to see again. He’s the reason her mother’s killers walked free from court. But as the people hunting her close in, Nic has to accept that her best and possibly only chance of staying alive is by keeping close to Finn and learning to trust the person she’s sworn to hate.

Fleeing across a snowbound New England, frantically trying to uncover the motive behind the murders, Nic and Finn come to realize the conspiracy is bigger than they could ever have suspected. But the closer they get to the truth and the closer they get to each other, the greater the danger becomes.

To survive she has to stay close to him.
To keep her safe he has to keep his distance.

Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US

My Review:

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Simon & Schuster UK Children's and NetGalley*

3/5 stars

When Nichola Preston was sixteen her mother and stepsister were murdered in their home. Nic was there when it happened but she managed to hide from the killers who were later found not guilty.

Two years later, Nic is trying to live her life. Obsessed with safety, Nic has a trained dog for company and an apartment with security cameras, an alarm and many locks on the door. One night Nic's worst fear comes true - someone gets into her apartment.

Nic is thrown together with Finn Carter, hacker extraordinaire who is the reason the murderers walked free.

Nic is being hunted but by whom? Her mother's killers? What do they want? Is there more to the murders two years ago than there seems? Can Nic learn to trust Finn?

Conspiracy Girl wasn't quite the action-packed thriller that I was expecting but it was an enjoyable read.

Nic is a good protagonist - she's likeable, relatable and I felt sorry for her. I liked that she was trying to move on with her life and she was quite strong despite what had happened. I would have liked to have seen her OCD appear more in the book.

Finn was intelligent and likeable. He has a past which is revealed slowly and a hero complex which makes him even more endearing.

The romance is a slow burner which I liked and I could definitely feel the spark between Nic and Finn.

I love Alderson's writing style - her descriptions are beautiful. The plot was good and there were some twists that I didn't see coming but I didn't feel that they had the intended surprise/shock. The book didn't grip me but I did want to read on to find out the reason behind why people were after Nic and why her mother and stepsister had been murdered.

Overall this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.