2.5 stars rounded up. This book had an interesting premise, but it ended up being a skim read for me. I just never felt fully connected to the story or characters. It was pretty timely though and the ending left me wondering where the story's going next, but I'm not sure I'll stick around to see it. There were definitely some interesting ideas here though and I can see how it might work better for other readers.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

an average joe at best, intriguing first chapters beyond half of the novel but it is just way too dragged on, overly descriptive, good in terms of presentation queer single father ( bravo) but boy oh boy it puts me on a month reading slump afterwards

Kill Two Birds by Thomas Bjørn is a gripping and intense thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The narrative follows a protagonist drawn into a web of deceit and danger, where every decision could lead to life or death. Bjørn’s taut writing and intricate plot twists create a suspenseful atmosphere, making it hard to put down. The exploration of moral dilemmas adds depth to the characters and their motivations, making this book a compelling read for fans of the genre.

This was really confusing in every single aspect and I did not like any part of it. It was completely devoid of any politics related to the plot but was weirdly full of opinions about Israel's illegal occupation?? This honestly didn't even really feel like a book. It felt like several parts of book, but instead of making an actual book out of these parts, the author just stuck them all together and hoped no one would notice?? Regardless, this was not good at all.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Leah has always known that she's a little different. After all, she was adopted by a Canadian Consulate who travels all over the world. But Leah finds out how different she really is after she witnesses a shooting in Rio. Now every plan that her father has had to keep her safe goes by the wayside. Leah goes on the run, running from seemingly everyone, as she finds out who she really is.

The characters in the book were where I had the main problem. Leah's character was fine. Her motivations made sense and the things she did make sense for a seventeen-year-old. However, I did think that it was kind of unbelievable that she didn't think anything was strange about her father but whatever. Beyond Leah, though, none of the other character's motivations made any sense. It seemed like the author was trying to justify it but since we don't get the background politics, nothing makes sense. The things that all the characters say or do are tinged with complex politics that we are not privy to. It just gets really annoying.

The overall plot of the book was hard to understand as well. We have Rio being unstabilized along with the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Honestly, it felt like the author was just info-dumping about these two topics because he's interested in them. The way the characters talk about these topics and interact with these topics doesn't make much, if any, sense with the context that we were given.

I can see where the author was trying to go with the book but it felt under-researched and more like a first draft than anything that would be published. Additionally, the ending of the book felt extremely rough. I wonder if the author was under a deadline or pressured to make this book into a series. Yes, this is the first book in a series. The ending makes no sense and the writing style almost completely changes. It also leaves off on a cliffhanger. However, I think that this is a series that I will not be continuing.

I really loved the premise of this book, but I just couldn’t get into this one. There was a lot packed into this novel, and because of that it lost the room to dive into all. Each separate issue and plot point deserved more time. I feel like it would have worked better as a series!

Great concepts and writing style, it was just too jam-packed for me to follow or get invested.

Thank you to NetGalley and Slow Horse Books for the gifted ARC!

I picked up Kill Two Birds with high hopes, drawn in by the promise of a boarding school mystery and a secret society called the Disappointments. Unfortunately, this book itself ended up being the biggest disappointment of all.

I’m convinced the person who wrote the blurb never even read the book. What I anticipated was a thrilling drama, a dark academia-esque story with some high-stakes international politics sprinkled in because why not? What I actually got felt more like thinly veiled Israeli propaganda than anything else.

Despite its short chapters, the pacing of the book was agonizingly slow. I came close to giving up on it more than once, and, in hindsight, maybe I should have. The constantly shifting points of view didn’t help either. Instead of adding depth, the frequent changes made the narrative feel disjointed and frustrating.

Due to the controversial topic of the book, I will not publish this review on my Goodreads or StoryGraph.

Look, I really reallyyyy wanted to finish reading this book, it's interesting, and I've been intrigued by the title and description since I first saw it. I was already 32 pages in when I decided to finally give up!

The story, the characters, the setting, all if fine, I'd love to get the chance to explore it better if I get some solution to my problem. But currently, the font is the size of a damn ant, even smaller, not even exaggerating, trust me! At first, I thought, "Oh that's an easy fix, I'll just increase the font size."

But the only thing the Net Galley Shelf App does is to increase the SPACE between the lines, instead of increasing the font size! So, after trying, and trying again and again to make myself read the book, I had to give up because the only other option was damaging my precious eyes (everyone's eyes are precious, please take care of them!)

Dear Netgalley, please please pleeeeeaseeeee FIX THIS PROBLEM! We don't even get the option to read the downloaded books in our own EPub reader (which, I understand. No author would want to risk their blood and sweat and tears' worth of work because of someone stealing it!)


P.S. I'm really sorry dear author and publisher for talking about the issue instead of reading the book, but I really want to read the book, and hope I CAN!

Ich habe mich über das Buch sehr gefreut. Es ist nicht nur fließend zum lesen sondern auch sehr spannend.

Having not only witnessed but filmed the shooting of two policemen in Brazil during a drugs operation, teenager Leah Teague is a wanted woman. Fortunately, her father works as a cultural attaché and can pull some strings. Leah is forced to flee to the States where she takes up residence in a boarding school awash with intrigue. Settling in amongst a secret society named ‘The Disappointments’, Leah needs to keep a clear head as there’s no way of knowing who has her back.

The acronyms around the world of state diplomacy are fascinating in and of themselves and Kill Two Birds offers a rare insight into how nations protect their interests whilst always keeping their options open for collaboration where it suits them. Leah reminds me very much of Flavia DeLuce in the novels by Alan Bradley.

A very entertaining read that introduces a protagonist with plenty more to give.

Kill Two Birds by Thomas Bjorn starts slow...and stayed that way. Leah reminds me of some of my students, so I can tell she's relatable and authentic. I really wanted to like this book, but I felt like maybe Bjorn was trying to pack so much into one book things got lost or felt rushed. I can imagine my YA-loving students not finishing this. Perhaps if it was spilt up as a duology or series, it wouldn't feel as all over the place as it did.

Maybe this is geared towards a niche that just isn't mine or the YA readers I know. Again, the concept is there, just not executed well.

Jason Bourne meets 007 - this book kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page to the very end! Leah is THE action hero for our Gen Alpha kiddos who need someone new to look up to! I loved the current events discussions, while not taking a side either way, and the way teenagers were written very believably - the teenagers in my classroom wouldn't hesitate to relate to the kids on these pages. Can't wait to add it to my classroom library!

I really loved this story! I liked the characters and the way it was written! One thing I especially loved was the friendship aspect and the found family! I would definitely recommend this to everyone who's looking for a good ya-mystery with light political aspects that keeps you in the edge of your seat!

(thank you netgalley for this arc-copy!)

I3.75⭐️
am thankful to have gotten the eARC for free from Netgalley and the author so I can leave my voluntary and honest review.

This week has been tough for accurate ratings!! So there were issues with this book for sure. It reads like an independently published book that needed the help of some professional editors/ advice covers etc.. However, I couldn’t put it down! I kept reading and reading when I was meant to be doing something else!

I like the story as it was YA political thriller combined with a boarding school. Now there was a bit too much jam packed into the length of the book. It would have been better to break it up into 2 books where things could have been fleshed out a bit more or made a longer book. However, it is a YA book and could be a great intro to political thrillers for younger teens.

Other problems are that all the sub plots weren’t cleared up. Now maybe there is a sequel that will button them up but it wasn’t executed very well if that’s the case. The book definitely has an agenda to wax poetic about the Israel/Palestine conflict and does give some jabs at current US politic matters.

Lastly, some things just don’t make sense. Leah, the FMC who has had safety and protocol drilled into her from basically birth completely fails in the how to keep a secret forum. It just doesn’t jive.

All that being said, I really enjoyed the story! I wanted to see what happened and I would love to know more. This is a situation where ai would love to be on the authors Alpha or Beta team as he has something good here it just needs help in execution. I’m hoping that maybe some feedback from reviews will have him stall his publishing date a bit and make some needed corrections. You never know!


My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read

A interesting political thriller book , overall is an easy for me to fell in this book.

Whoever is in to mystery - thriller this is for you.

I feel torn about this book. On one hand I found the author’s writing style easy to follow but on the other hand I did not find the characters or plot very gripping. There was a large political undertone which I did not enjoy but overall the book itself created its intended suspense.

DNF @ 6%

I really did not vibe with the book, it just felt like I had to have previous knowledge of a different book that I do not think even exists.

This was an enjoyable political thriller, about a girl who gets herself into a situation she couldn't have foreseen, ending up bigger and darker than she could have ever imagined. This is a great, dark autumnal read.

4 stars!

Thanks to netgalley, the author and publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Honestly, I liked the sound of this book and thought it would be a good book to read amongst my fantasy TBR but I struggled to get into it from the beginning. In the 5 chapters I read, it felt like too little happened and there was nothing to grab my attention to keep me reading. Maybe one day I'll try again but for now, it's a no from me. (Also Leah doesn't have social media and it appears the author doesn't either? I couldn't find anything about the book or the author online to see what anyone else was saying about the book).

I read this hoping for a female-led thriller to recommend to some of my students, but it reads more as a bloated opinion piece on the Israel-Palestine conflict than an actual book. The characters are weakly written and unintelligent (spoiler, but: if Leah entered the country with a fake passport, why did she not enroll at the school under that false identity? It would be much easier to forge school records than a passport. Also, the Disappointments show up for about 30 pages of the book total and serve as nothing more but sad backstory dumps and then some plot devices, so why they feature so heavily in the blurb I don't know, none of them seem to have any reason to like Leah besides their insistence that She's Weird, She's A Weirdo Too), plot threads are brought up and abandoned with little to no fanfare (such as the inciting incident, which is never resolved meaningfully beyond 'I'm going to deal with it, don't worry guys'; if that's being saved for the second book, then it was a poor decision), and the writing was nothing to...write...home about. Considering how much the author harps about how strange it is for teenagers not to have social media I'm disappointed to see that I can't find anything about them or the publisher to find out more about where such a strange piece came from. (Also, it's not that weird.)