The Fixer

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

[Angie]

The Fixer sounded like it was going to be a fun and exciting read! Sadly, I was mostly confused by everything happening, and I must have missed half of the stuff mentioned in the description (or it really didn't happen). Tess does indeed get brought to Washington D.C. by her sister, who fixes problems for power families as a living. However, Tess does not become a fixer for her classmates. She helps one girl ONCE because she hates bullies, then when word gets out, and she turns everyone down. Then she becomes focused on this political mystery involving her only new friend's father.

The Fixer has too many characters and I couldn't keep most of them straight. The only ones who I remembered were Tess, Ivy (her sister), and Vivvie (her friend). Everyone else was basically interchangeable. It wasn't just a matter of too many people, but too many connections. If I couldn't remember who was who, there's no way I'm going to remember who their parents are and what their jobs are, or who's friends or related to who else. I mean, for most of the book I thought Adam was younger which made one of the reveals near the end pretty awkward. Then when the murderer is revealed, I was like "Wait, who was he again?!" I was just completely lost. Never mind, that I totally did not understand his motivations at all.

The one thing I did really like about The Fixer was the family secrets! I love family secrets! Tess hasn't seen her sister in 4 years, and they only lived together for one, because they're 17 years apart! To say they're not close is an understatement. It's obvious that Ivy is hiding a lot of stuff from Tess, and it's not just job stuff. I was really shocked when things came to light at the end.

Maybe politic thrillers aren't my thing, or maybe The Fixer just wasn't my thing. If it hadn't been so confusing perhaps I'd have liked it more. Or maybe not. I was definitely looking forward to seeing Tess solve problems for her classmates, but instead she just takes on the most powerful people in the country. There's also no love triangle as mentioned in the description. I mean, there are definitely boys in the picture, but I didn't get any sense of romance at all. I hate lying descriptions.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.