One: setting an entire book on the disappearance of a character we barely got to meet. But this book did, and for that, I enjoyed it. Always bonus points on funny books, because it’s kinda hard to make me laugh. She’s impulsive, loud, sarcastic, a bit insensitive – not a good combo I like in my heroines, thank you – but I must admit I like her cynical sense of humor that was actually funny. I must admit I liked Frankie herself, albeit for all the wrong reasons. The entire plot, therefore, depends on Frankie’s progress, sometimes hindered by being grounded from leaving home to do her sleuthing, so the pacing was uneven and a bit jagged But that’s to be expected when it’s a mystery novel (not so in a coming-of-age one, but let’s go with my label to prevent any more misplaced expectations, okay? Okay.) Frankie barely has enough time to get to know her half-brother, Xavier, before he disappears. Plot-wise, the novel is wholly character-driven, leaning hard into the mystery genre. We have enough YA books set in the US as it is. I, as an American, thought this will be an opportunity to experience something NEW, setting-wise. I mean, on the outset, it does look different from my usual reads: a contemporary coming-of-age novel (or at least, that’s how it’s marketed, but I saw it as a mystery contemporary to me, at least, the labeling is just bizzare), and, most importantly, it’s written by an Australian author. In all honesty, I picked this one up because I thought it’d be DIFFERENT.

Frankie by Shivaun Plozza