Danika Dizon is a natural problem-solver. Thanks to her private investigator mom and mystery author dad, she’s equipped with the skills to offer guidance to anxious classmates who come to her for a tarot reading between classes. For a price, of course.
But when one of her clients vanishes shortly after they’re dealt a death card, the girl’s younger sister, Gaby, begs Danika to figure out what went wrong. Danika takes on the case, thinking it’s the perfect way to prove to her parents that she should be an official investigator in the family’s detective agency.
What starts off as a compelling challenge quickly devolves into something darker as Danika and Gaby peel back layer after layer of the secret life the missing girl has been living. A life that those involved would do anything to keep from being revealed.
I’ve read many amateur sleuth YA novels, but this one was different. Most protagonists jump headfirst into solving a case without any real detective skills whatsoever. Whereas Danika already has the observation skills and resources from her private investigator mother.
I enjoyed Danika’s tarot readings and seeing how she interprets each card. I want her to do a reading for me!
I didn’t realize that Danika was Filipino-American until Chapter 2, when she mentions that she’s ‘pretty much a giant as a five-foot-eight Filipina’. I loved the Filipino representation, especially the food descriptions. My favorite part was when Danika had Filipino spaghetti in an ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter’ tub. You’d think I’d know about Filipino dishes from my Filipino father, but I don’t. I’ve never been an adventurous eater, and I have a very plain taste palette.
There’s also a bisexual love triangle storyline between Danika and two other characters. I appreciate that this storyline never consumed the central mystery and was never overly dramatized.
The only thing I didn’t like was how Danika called her mom and dad ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’. It made her sound like a five-year-old. And she used the term ‘AF’ way too much.
Overall, the mystery kept me engaged and invested. Plus, the way the story ends implies there will, hopefully, be a sequel.