Don't You Trust Me?

by Patrice Kindl

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5★ Audiobook⎮ I think the main reason I enjoyed Don’t You Trust Me? as much as I did was because it was so unique to me. I’ve never heard anything even remotely close to this. It must be very difficult to turn a sociopathic character into a protagonist because Patrice Kindl is the only author I’ve ever known to do it and she did it remarkably well.

Morgan just might be one of my favorite characters of all time. It was so refreshing to hear about a clever, calculating teenage girl in a Young Adult story. This girl was so anti-“Mary Sue” that I fell in love with her from the synopsis. The things she did were atrocious, yet I was still rooting for her to get away with them all. That is basically like pulling a literary rabbit out of a hat.

The only portion of the story that somewhat bothered me was Morgan’s treatment of animals. Although, in retrospect, it wasn’t as disturbing as it could have been and it really landed the strongest blow to me in Morgan’s character development. Kindl handled the topic of the stereotypical sociopathic treatment of animals with delicacy, while still making an effective point about Morgan’s character. I’m very grateful for her tact on that matter.

Don’t You Trust Me? was an astounding homerun, in my opinion. It was both amusing and thrilling at the same time. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a “YA Thriller”, but this far exceeded my expectations. It was light enough to be entertaining, yet it still had a lot of substance. Morgan was an incredibly well-developed character and Kindl further recognized Morgan’s value as a character by not thrusting a love interest upon her. I can’t remember the last YA story I heard without a love interest!

My prediction that this story would be “hilariously delicious”, based on the synopsis, was absolutely accurate. Delicious is the perfect word to describe Morgan and her felonious activities that seem to be drawn directly from a soap opera script. And who doesn’t love a good soap? I’m crossing my fingers in hopes that this story gets turned into a movie or, better yet, a book series! I’m about 200% positive that Morgan has plenty of trouble left to get into and I want to hear about it all.

Narration review: Bailey Carr expertly narrated Don’t You Trust Me? and added so much to the listening experience. There were times when I couldn’t help but chuckle because the voice she gave Morgan so thickly dripped with sarcasm. I can imagine that voicing Morgan required a delicate balance between remaining true to the sociopathic character and still having her come across as a somewhat lovable protagonist. Okay, maybe lovable is the wrong word. But still, she’s the protagonist.

Although Morgan is 15-years-old in the story’s beginning, Bailey gives her an air of maturity that benefits the character and aids the listener’s suspension of belief. Another narrator ‘s take on this character could have drastically changed the way she came across and spoiled the magic. Carr also showed great judgment in distinctly characterizing the three teenage girls in the story according to their personalities. Bailey Carr is definitely a narrator I’m interested in hearing from again and I’ve moved up Morgan Matson’s The Unexpected Everything after learning it was narrated by Carr. ♣︎

➜ This audiobook was graciously gifted to me by its narrator, Bailey Carr, in exchange for a review containing my honest thoughts and opinions. Thanks, Bailey!