If you know me, you know I gravitate towards anything dark and twisted. I get super excited when I hear of a new horror/thriller film or book coming out, so it makes sense that one of my favourite authors is a YA thriller writer. You've probably heard of her bestseller, One of Us is Lying, but today we're talking about Karen M. McManus's brand new novel - You'll Be the Death of Me. It's coming out on the 30th of November, so I'm here to tell you why you should get yourself a copy as soon as it's released!
You'll Be the Death of Me follows three high school seniors - Ivy, Mateo, and Cal. They used to be friends back in middle school, but they grew apart. One morning, however, they bump into each other at their school's parking lot and spontaneously decide to ditch their classes together. They call in sick, pretending to be their parents, and head out for what they're confident will be a fun, relaxing day. A well deserved break. Until they spot newly-appointed senior class president Brian 'Boney' Mahoney out and about as well, and they decide to follow him into an abandoned building. Only, by the time they reach him, he's been killed. When they realise they very much happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they panic, and start trying to figure out what exactly happened before people start to point fingers at them. But the secrets they're all hiding make things even more complicated than they already are.
McManus's books all have a few things in common: they're multi-perspective, give insane Pretty Little Liars vibes, and are incredibly binge-worthy! I have spent the past 24 hours binging this one, and I loved every second of it. The story is incredibly fast-paced, with the perfect mix of plot and characters that makes you fall in love with the latter while being completely immersed in the former. If you're into quick reads, this is definitely the book for you.
Something else I loved about You'll Be the Death of Me is the fact that even though basically all of the characters are flawed, you still end up rooting for them. They're flawed in a way that makes them believable, in a way that makes you think, hmm, that was a shitty thing to do, but I'd probably do the same if I was in their shoes. And that is part of what makes the characters so loveable, and what makes you hope that they at least get a happy ending after all the crap they go through throughout the novel.
The one thing I would criticise - and I've felt this way with other books by the same author before - is that while the characters are very believable, sometimes certain scenes can feel a bit far-fetched. For example, at one point, Mateo carries an unconscious Ivy around for what feels like a crazy long amount of time without so much as a wince. Sure, he's described as tall and strong, but it didn't really sit well with me for some reason.
Overall, though, I would definitely highly recommend you pick this up if it feels like your cup of tea. A huge thank you goes to @TheWriteReads for giving us the opportunity to read and review this book before its release!
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