Everything You Want Me to Be

Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia

     Everything You Want Me to Be is another one of the psychological thrillers that are dominating the book market lately.  First there was Gone Girl and then Girl on the Train and now there are many.  If you read them you learn to look for the clues because they have to be there.

     Hattie Hoffman is a high school senior who yearns to move to New York City when she graduates high school.  She wants out of her little town of football players and a Dairy Queen.  Hattie knows how to play a part, she is everything you want her to be, something different for everyone, her parents, her friends, her teachers, herself.   As she plays her life, manipulating her persona, she comes closer and closer to the end.

     Sheriff and lifelong family friend Del must investigate her murder and unravel the many Hatties to find her killer.  As with murder investigations, there are many false leads and dead ends but the reader, if paying attention, can come to the right conclusion. 

     This story is told by three people:  Del and Hattie and her high school literature teacher who recently moved to small town America from Minneapolis.  It’s a small town, there aren’t many suspects, but the ones that Del has are not what they seem either. 

     This was a quick read and I did figure out who killed Hattie but I had to stay up till 1 a.m. to be sure.