I’m back from a little hiatus with a review of a fab book that has gotten me out of a bit of a reading slump.
You’ll Be the Death of Me
Karen M. McManus
From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand new addictive thriller.
Ivy, Mateo and Cal used to be close – best friends back in middle school.
Now all they have in common is a bad day. So for old time’s sake they skip school together – one last time.
But when the trio spot Brian ‘Boney’ Mahoney ditching class too, they follow him – right into a murder scene.
They all have a connection to the victim. And they’re ALL hiding something.
When their day of freedom turns deadly, it’s only a matter of time before the truth comes out . . .
It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with murder, perfect for fans of One Of Us Is Lying and A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. This explosive new thriller is impossible to put down.
Amazon UK | Goodreads | Amazon US
I like when I return to certain authors and I know what I’m going to get, in the case of Karen M. McManus I’m always expecting a mystery that will keep me hooked and a few good secrets to keep things interesting. I also like it when I am surprised by a book when it goes beyond what I expected and let me tell you I was surprised.
I think what made this book so appealing from the offset is that I could relate to not wanting to face something so badly that I just decide to do something different and in the case of the characters it’s skipping a day of school. It’s great that the premise is you take a day to get away from the bad thing and then continually stumble into much worse things, it keeps you on side with the characters because they are all flawed but I really wanted to see how they would get themselves out of trouble.
There is something quite magical about the character dynamic in this book, Cal, Ivy and Mateo were at one point best friends and now they hardly know each other. The secrets that each of them are harbouring, because they don’t know whether they can fully trust the others yet, gives the story a lot of tension and the characters too. They are simultaneously connected and disconnected from each other and for me, it meant they could have the camaraderie but also reasonably go behind each other’s backs successfully and it was kind of fun to see that play out.
To be honest I did think at one point that the author had made the set-up too easy and I was veering towards a little bit of disappointment, thinking I’d maybe figured out an important detail way too early in the book. Turns out I fell for a red herring hook line and sinker and was totally not expecting how the story would actually end up, the second half of this book is an absolute whirlwind rollercoaster and I loved the twists and turns, I really got that edge of my seat reading feeling as it got closer to the end.
Another great book from this author and I’m interested to see what comes next.
Karen M. McManus is the #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult thriller/mystery novels, including One of Us Is Lying, One of Us Is Next, Two Can Keep a Secret, and The Cousins. You’ll Be the Death of Me will be her next novel, publishing December 2021. Her work has been translated into more than 40 languages worldwide. Karen lives in Massachusetts and holds a master’s degree in Journalism from Northeastern University, which she mostly uses to draft fake news stories for her novels.
Reviews of other books by Karen M. McManus
One of Us is Lying | The Cousins | Nothing More To Tell
everywhere-and-nowhere.com 