Did I pick up I Did It For You by Amy Engel solely because it was a murder book set in Kansas? Yup. This semi-Kansas kid couldn’t resist, and ya know what? I’m not mad about this decision.

I Did It For You [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] follows Greer as she returns to her small Kansas hometown because two teenagers were murdered. The thing is, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend were murdered in an identical way back when she was a kid and she never fully believed that the police caught the right guy. The suspect in her sister’s murder was executed and said he did it, but she never really believed it. Now, she’s teaming up with the executed killer’s brother to figure out what really happened back then… and now.

This was quite the twisty story. I’m usually pretty good at figuring out the big twists in stories like this, but this one fooled me a couple different times. However, the final reveal came about in my least favorite way: exposition. Villain monologues aren’t the most creative way to put the pieces together, so I prefer more interesting methods of bringing the story to a close. It just feels rushed when it happens that way, and that’s exactly what happened here.

If you’re a fan of Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM], then you might enjoy this one. It definitely has some similar vibes and plot points, but I feel like the execution in Sharp Objects is superior. I Did It For You is still worth a read.

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