review 1: This book was too long and drawn out, too much psychologizing, too many self-righteous and smug characters for me to like any of them. It's hard to even believe that a murder investigation might proceed in this way--I kept expecting that real evidence might have to be brought forth at some point, but who knows what other countries are like. Perhaps in Buenos Aires, as in Mexico, you are guilty until proven innocent. I don't know, but I thought it was a ridiculous book with completely unsympathetic characters all around. review 2: It seems like everyone's first instinct is to compare this story to the Amanda Knox case. Aside from the obvious (girl in foreign country arrested for murder) it's not terribly derivative. Unfortunately, it also doesn't offer up ans... morewers any more than the Knox case. At the end, after all the drama, it's still not clear whether the girl is guilty or not, just that her life (and the lives of those who care about her) will never be the same. Which is maybe the point. less
