You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus

Hardcover, 336 pages
Release Date: November 30, 2021
Published by: Delacorte Press
Read from: November 30-December 9, 2021
Stand-alone
Source: Bought
TW: Death of a teen, mention of drugs and teens doing drugs. 
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary, Thriller, Multiple POVs, YA

    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?
     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.

* MY THOUGHTS*

I knew after her first book that I would read her grocery list. And here I am now 5 books from her later and I still stand by that. This particular one wasn’t my favorite, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. That’s how I know I’m a true fan of hers. Even when I don’t particularly like something by her, I still do.

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be best friends. But slowly and surely they started drifting apart. When they finally decide to join forces again and skip school because they need a break. But when they see a classmate that’s also skipped, they follow him. When he’s killed and they’re right in the vicinity things get interesting. Worse yet, Ivy has an actual connection to him. Can they find out what is going on, protect each other, and find the real killer all in a single afternoon?

I am normally not one for single day books, but this one I definitely was in to. I think I was more impressed that this was all within 12 hours. I didn’t even realize it until I heard McManus say during the B&N webinar thing she did the other day. I loved this so much because I think it showed her writing talents. She definitely confirmed her BOSS status with me. I usually hate books told in a day, because they almost always feel super rushed and that there are huge hunks of the book that goes underdeveloped because you don’t want to info dump the reader either. But either McManus or just thrillers in general work really well with that because I didn’t even think about it being told in that time frame.

Ok, so the thing I didn’t like about this one, was the fact that I guessed who it was and I didn’t like that there were no real curveballs. I say “real” because when McManus writes in a curveball, you know it. It will leave you looking slack jawed at the last page. But there was none of that this time. And I was disappointed. I know its a small thing, but when you have already guessed who it was, it would be helpful to get that panic I always got when I finally realized what was happening during a Karen McManus curveball. (Speaking of curveballs, she was really trying to throw us off with those red herrings right? Everyone was suspicious. Except one person lol)

I also liked that characters. Unfortunately Mateo’s mom was my favorite lol We hardly see her, but I admired her so much. She was hella strong and I found myself getting outrageously mad when they were talking about her. But still, the other characters were ok. They all played their part well and I felt like everything was explained so well.

The last and final thing I didn’t like about this was the drugs aspect. No we don’t get any teens that are actually doing them, and that’s the entire reason why I still finished this. (For those new here….. Yes I know teens do drugs. That does not mean I want to read about it.) Selling them wasn’t all that great, but it was better than them actively doing them. That I couldn’t handle. But even still, normally I would skip a few parts here and there that might be triggering, but the entire story was about them. I couldn’t skip anything here. And that was unfortunate.

This book wasn’t my favorite of hers, but it was definitely still enjoyable. Please, don’t let my triggers make you not want to read it. If this is something you can handle, go for it. Those things just weren’t enjoyable to me, but the rest of it was great.

Overall, I give this