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Monday, November 15, 2021

Review: You'll Be The Death Of Me by Karen M. McManus

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You'll Be The Death Of Me
by Karen M. McManus

Thanks so much to PRH Audio and Listening Library for this gifted audiobook.

Publisher: Listening Library
Publish Date: November 30, 2021
Audiobook
10 hours
Standalone
Genres: Young Adult, Light Thriller

From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It's Ferris Bueller's Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly--and fatally--wrong.

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--he's been working two jobs since his family's business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up . . . again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They'll ditch and go into the city. 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. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they're all hiding something.

Now they're all wondering--could it be that their chance reconnection wasn't by chance after all?

My Review:


Ferris Bueller's Day Off with MURDER? SIGN ME UP! But um, yeah, no.  I didn't feel really either of those things nor would I consider this a "pulse-pounding thriller".  I thoroughly enjoyed One of Us is Lying but sadly, YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME didn't quite work for me and here's why...

Despite the snippet of a synopsis being a bit misleading, I was hoping this trio would still get me interested in their lives, ditching a day of school, finding a fellow student dead... there's so much that could've worked here.  And quite honestly, I'm not sure if it's maybe the audio that made it worse for me as I, unfortunately, didn't like it much at all. 😐 The dialogue felt a bit stilted and I found that while there were three different narrators for each of the main characters, when one of would do the voice of Ivy, or any other female, it all sounded very valley girl-ish and exactly the same across the board.  I just couldn't with that.

There were also some additions to the storyline that I couldn't figure out the point of - a couple of things could have definitely made it more interesting but once introduced... just kind of faded away so um... yeah. I also didn't care much for the ending or maybe I just really wasn't all that interested enough by that point that it wouldn't have mattered.  This is definitely a formulaic young adult VERY light thriller.. more drama.. and while I really don't mind this kind of story at times.. sometimes they just don't quite hit the mark.

McManus definitely has a following and is skilled in telling this type of story as can be seen from her prior releases.  I just felt like this one didn't feel any different or new.  I certainly will continue to read her as I do enjoy where her mind tends to flow and I am a lover of YA thrillers.. I just need them to be thrilling.

★★

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