You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
After high-strung teenager, Ivy, loses the student council election at Carlton High to the class clown, Boney Mahoney, she’s horrified. How could this happen?!
The following day, Boney is supposed to be giving a speech addressing the school, thanking them for his victory.
Ughhhh, Ivy can’t face that.
Luckily, that morning she runs into her two estranged best friends, Cal and Mateo, in the parking lot before class and the three decide to skip school together and head into Boston for the day.
In a way, they are hoping to recreate the ‘best day ever’, a day they skipped school together and went into the city that happened to coincide with a celebration parade after the Red Sox had won the World Series.
But in truth, they’re all just hoping for an escape. A way to avoid facing all the things that are bringing them down.
When they get into the city though, Ivy spies Boney! What is he doing skipping out on his speech?
She sees red and decides to follow him, with the hopes of an epic confrontation. However, what she gets instead is the honor of stumbling upon a crime scene with a newly murdered body.
From that point forward, their potential best day ever turns into the craziest day ever as the trio attempt to avoid the cops, the media, the killer and suspicion. Oh yeah, they’re also hoping to solve the crime.
Taking place over the course of a single-day, this is a fun story, but I gotta say, probably my least favorite out of all of McManus’ prior works.
I can’t really put my finger on what it was about this one that didn’t vibe with me. Perhaps I just built it up so much in my head, anticipating it for so long, that it was destined to disappoint.
If I had to point to any one thing, I think the mystery just wasn’t compelling for me. I didn’t feel invested in it at all.
I did enjoy Ivy, Mateo and Cal; learning about their friendship, what drove them apart and their current woes. I found them to be interesting, just not the crime itself.
Regardless, the ending did have McManus’ signature final twist, which I always appreciate and because of that, I was leaning toward rounding this up to 4-stars, but have decided that just wasn’t enough.
With all of this being said, this is still a fun book. I think it will work for a ton of Readers and would be a great introduction to the YA Mystery genre. If you’ve read all of McManus’ other books, however, this one could seem lackluster in comparison.
Overall, McManus is an autobuy author for me and I will continue to pick up everything she writes.
Even though this isn’t my favorite of hers, I will still proudly display it on my shelves!!!