Ratings:
Star Rating: ★★★★☆
If This Book Was a Movie Rating: PG-13
Review:
Pay close attention and you might solve this.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.
Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.
I love this story. I love how each one of those characters fought to be something more than what they were. More than what they were seen as. More than the stereotypes they lived in. But in the end, not everyone breaks those stereotypes, getting past what other people think about them. What’s the price you’re willing to pay for acceptance?
In real life, stuff is messy. Lines are blurry. We hate and love at the same time. The world is never black and white; it’s a thousand shades of grey.
In the entire book, no one was innocent. Everyone had a story, a reason (never an excuse) for how they acted. You just had to look at the story from their point of view. For some it all turned out fine, and for some it didn't. When they finally figured out who the villain was, the villain was just a protagonist who didn't have someone to help them and comfort them at the tight time. When they were in pain, no one gave them a hug and whispered you're worth it. Their pain turned into bitterness, and that bitterness made them a villain.
Not everyone gets a happy ending, do they?
I’m not gonna say much else because it’s a murder mystery and I give no spoilers, but especially because the whole thing wasn't really about the plot. It was a story about a choice: let others define you, or learn to define you yourself.
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Recommendations If You Liked This Book:
Any of Karen McManus’ other books
The Ivies by Alexa Donne
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