“I don't know why it's so hard for people to admit that sometimes they're just assholes who screw up because they don't expect to get caught.”

Book Info

Genre: Young Adult Mystery
Number of Pages: 361
Perspective: First Alternating
Location: Bayview, CA

Five students are in detention. Only four come out alive. Everyone has their secrets, and at least one is definitely lying. For a complete summary, you can go here.

Book Review

TL;DR: This is a must-read for a murder-mystery twist on The Breakfast Club.

Rating: 5/5

Full Review: I have to admit that I waited WAY too long to write this review after finishing this book, so I don’t have a ton to say. I love when I find multiple binge-readable books in a row! [My sleep does not appreciate it as much.] But the problem is that I read a bunch of books without stopping to review them. So my reviews got a little backed up and I’m left with all my initial thoughts disappearing.

Here are my main thoughts. I loved that the author compared it to The Breakfast Club turned murder mystery because I definitely got that feeling. I even got a season one Riverdale vibe. I tried to guess the ending and one of my early guesses was correct, but there were a few tricks along the way that kept me questioning myself.

I do want to point out that I know there are some complaints about how she handled mental illness. I thought it was appropriate for the story. But I'll give a trigger warning now for mental health-related trauma.

We started off the book with the stereotypical roles: jock, nerd, burnout, outcast, beauty. It could have tanked from there, but I really loved the character development and that everyone was a lot more complex than they initially seemed to be. I usually don’t like romantic subplots, but I kinda loved this one. I could really picture this book being turned into a movie or Netflix mini-series [a la Thirteen Reasons Why].

I highly recommend this book and I gave it my Best Book Award. I’m so excited to read her new release Two Can Keep a Secret. [Not a sequel, as far as I can tell.] If you are interested in buying this book, you can buy it here. After you have read it, leave a comment and let me know what you think!