The Fixer

Weak 3 stars. This is a fast-paced thriller about a teen girl who reluctantly moves to Washington D.C. because she can no longer keep the truth about her Grandfather's condition secret, so her sister comes out of the blue and uproots her out of her country ranch life. She quickly learns her sister has more connections with people in high places than she would ever expect, especially since she had no clue what her sister did in Washington.

I really liked the protagonist but she's the only person I could empathize with because of her situation. I didn't connect to any of the other characters (though they were well-crafted) because I ultimately didn't care about them. Tess's relationship with Ivy was rocky to say the least, and that led to a faulty foundation on which any sort of relationship would crumble, which didn't ever get resolved in this book. This first installment focused primarily on revealing secrets and answers questions (after repeatedly going over the same ever evidence exhaustively) about the main mystery “case” than building any sort of deep connections or investing time with the characters introduced throughout the book.

Overall, a good thriller that didn't expand beyond just that. Won't be continuing with the series.