Title: You’ll Be The Death of Me
Author: Karen M McManus
Review by: Dani Hoots
Rating: 5/5
Back cover:
Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day. Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out from working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up . . . again.
So when the three unexpectedly run into each other, they decide to avoid their problems by ditching. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say. . .
. . . until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school—and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse. It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common…like a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.
Could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all?
Karen M McManus has become one of my favorite authors in the past year. She can bring her characters to life in ways that makes me very jealous. She does a great job making you think a character is going to be a stereotype and then weaves in secrets and has the characters grow in ways you don’t expect. This is the second book of hers that I have read and I can’t wait to pick up her other books.
This book starts out a lot like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which is always a great call back. It definitely takes a different turn when they witness a fellow classmate’s murder. Realizing they had been spotted, they know they need to clear their names. But what secrets would be revealed as they search for clues?
I don’t want to giveaway any of the secrets, so it’s hard to write what I liked about this book. I did like how Karen addressed some issues that teens face every day and brings them to light in her writing. All in all, I highly recommend this book if you like thrillers, mysteries, and young adult books!
~Dani