No Place Left to Hide by Megan Lally
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
After reading Megan Lally’s debut, That’s Not My Name, as my first book of 2024 and giving it a strong 5-star rating, I knew she was an author I wanted more from.
No Place Left to Hide is her upcoming 2025-release, with an expected publication date of January 7th, but I couldn’t wait that long. Once I had my ARC, graciously received from Sourcebooks Fire, I knew I would be getting to it soon.
Unsurprisingly, this was so gripping and absolutely overflowing with twists and turns. It took me no time to read at all, and now I must wait for more Lally. It really was a double-edged sword reading this so early.
This felt a little inspired by the true life Murdaugh murders in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. I don’t know if that was intentional by the author, but I was definitely picking up details and connections that made me think of that case.
It also brought to mind Holly Jackson’s Five Survive. If you had fun with that, you should check this out too.
You may be wondering what it’s all about, and I’m going to tell you as briefly I can; trying not to gush on about it.
So, we’re following MC, Brooke, and to her, image is everything. She comes from a very successful family. Her father has been involved in law in their county for decades and is well respected. Her Mom is the principal of their prestigious school.
There was an incident with a classmate a year ago that almost ruined it all for Brooke. Luckily, she was able to move on from it and has just been accepted into her dream school.
She’s been laying low, but with the Yale acceptance, is finally convinced by her best friend, Jena, to attend an Ivy Party, to celebrate along with the rest of their classmates.
It’s been a while since Brooke attended a party, and even though she’s hesitant, she’s looking forward to letting loose for a bit. At the party though, she is confronted by the brother of the classmate she had the incident with last year.
He blames her for what happened to his sister, and from there, everything begins to go downhill quickly.
There are screaming matches, accusations, threats, car chases, police involvement; it’s pretty edge of your seat until the very BITTER end.
I love teen drama. I love rich people behaving badly. I love having a front seat to it all and that’s exactly what Lally delivered me in this one.
Once I started, I could not put this down. Don’t get me wrong, none of the characters are likable and I wasn’t rooting for anyone, but boy, did I want to know all the tea!
While this is very different plot-wise to That’s Not My Name, Lally’s intriguing storytelling style was still on full display.
I didn’t give this a full 5-stars, because there were some minor things that didn’t quite work for me, but overall, it was a very successful, fun reading experience.
I would recommend this to any fan of YA Thrillers. Particularly, if you love really twisted stories.
Thank you to the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I can’t wait to see what more Readers think of this one, and more importantly, I can’t wait for more from Megan Lally!