The teen daughter of a convicted murderer attempts to prove her own innocence after a deadly weekend getaway in the chilling and captivating YA horror thriller I Didn't Do It by Elle Gonzalez Rose (The Girl You Know).
It's been more than a year since Dina Soto's "beloved soccer coach" father was sentenced to life in prison after confessing to the murder of two teenage boys. The shocking crime turned the Sotos into "villains" in their small town of Millcreek, and Dina's already overprotective Mami now insists that Dina and her younger brother, Mikey, stay close to home when they're not at school. Dina's only escape is her volunteer time at Sunny Hills Assisted Living, where she meets Kai Thompson-- popular, charming, Black and Puerto Rican, and one of the only people who treats her like "a person and not just a small-town mystery."
When Kai invites Dina for a getaway at his parent's cabin in the nearby woods, Dina is determined to go. However, attendance means defying her Mami and spending the weekend with teens--including Kai's twin sister, the "beautiful and cruel" Kiki--who see Dina as the daughter of the man who killed their classmates.
By the end of the group's first night at the cabin, the house is "soaked in blood" and Dina is the "only girl left standing." Unsurprisingly, the police consider Dina, "the murderer's daughter," the obvious culprit. As Dina tries to clear her name, the truth of what really happened unfolds through a combination of Dina's first-person narration, police evidence, and news articles.
I Didn't Do It is a taut, sinister thriller that pairs shocking twists with moving explorations of grief and fraught familial relationships. Rose makes skillful use of slasher horror movie tropes--an isolated setting, a friend group riven by secrets, a frightened-yet-resourceful final girl--combined with memorable characterization to create a distinctly suspenseful and emotional narrative that includes thoughtful commentary about prejudice and persecution.
Heavy emotions and frightening scenes are balanced out by the sweetness of Dina's blossoming relationship with Kai. Both characters experience persecution in different ways: Dina for her father's actions and Kai for being trans. Their slow-burn romance is based in mutual acceptance and respect, Dina assuring Kai he has "nothing to hide--not from me, or the rest of the world."
I Didn't Do It is a satisfyingly unsettling story for readers who, as Rose writes in the novel's acknowledgments, "find comfort in stories that take place in the dark." Fans of Kara Thomas and Nick Brooks should enjoy this sophisticated, socially conscious thriller. --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer
Shelf Talker: A teen whose father is imprisoned for murder must prove her own innocence after a weekend getaway ends in murder in this riveting and frightening YA thriller.