THE SPITE GAME
by Anna Snoekstra
MIRA
October 30, 2018
From Goodreads:
Everyone does bad things when no one is watching
Mercilessly bullied in high school, Ava knows she needs to put the past behind her and move on, but she can’t—not until she’s exacted precise, catastrophic revenge on the people who hurt her the most.
First, she watches Saanvi. Flawlessly chic and working hard at a top architectural firm, Saanvi has it all together on the surface. But everyone does bad things when they think no one is watching and Ava only wants what’s fair—to destroy Saanvi’s life the way her own was destroyed.
Next, she watches Cass. She’s there as Cass tries on wedding dresses, she’s there when Cass picks out a cake, she’s there when Cass betrays her fiancé. She’s the reason Cass’s entire future comes crashing down.
Finally, Ava watches Mel. Mel was always the ringleader and if anyone has to pay, it’s her. But one tiny slipup and Ava realizes the truth: Mel knows she’s being watched, and she’s ready to play Ava’s games to the bitter end.
The good people at MIRA and NetGalley provided me with a free digital ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I don’t think I was the right audience for this book. I was picked on in school, too. I thought I would relate more to it, but I didn’t. Maybe it was the female perspective that separated me, or maybe I just wasn’t in the right space for this.
The timeline jumped around a lot. In many cases this works as things are revealed from both the present and the past. But in this case I thought it should have been told in a more linear form. There was nothing to be gained from the continual back and forth except a little confusion.
There was something to this book that kept me turning pages, but in the end I didn’t find a satisfying tale of revenge and/or justice. I just found people being horrible to one another.
