Skip to main content

BOOK REVIEW: This Book Kills by Ravena Guron


Genre: Young Adult | Mystery

Release Date: Expected 5th January 2023

Publisher: Usbourne Publishing

She wrote the perfect murder. Someone carried it out. Now she's next. 

Jesminder never meant to kill anyone. And she didn't, not technically. She's been trying to mind her business and keep out of the way - making sure not to do anything that could jeopardise her scholarship at the Heybuckle School and the future she's worked so hard for.

But then, Hugh Henry Van Boren, the heir to a wealthy family and the most popular boy in school is murdered. And all eyes are on Jess when it's discovered the scene where he was found was taken straight from a short story she wrote ... a story only a few people have ever seen. Jess thought it had to be a startling coincidence, until she receives a text thanking her for the inspiration. 

Jess didn't kill Hugh, but now she's in the centre of a murder mystery just like the one she wrote about - so she knows how this goes. And when another threatening message appears, she knows she's in danger. If her and her friends can't uncover the secrets lurking around Heybuckle, she might just end up buried with the rest of the skeletons. 

"I hadn't killed Hugh, but I had helped set the stage for his death."

Fast-paced, thrilling and darkly funny - this immersive and intelligent novel gives a fresh twist on the locked-room murder mystery. The school setting was masterfully thought out - it was stifling and suffocating, you could feel the tension and fear that Jess felt every day trying to exist in a space she wasn't welcome. 

Jess herself was a great protagonist - clever, thoughtful and complex. She comes across as shy and quiet, but isn't afraid to use her voice to call out racism and classism when she sees it. She's suffered and struggled through her life and the crushing pressure placed on her shoulders but keeps going. Now of course, she does stupid things, says stupid things - but remember she's a teenager who's trying to work out who she is even is while being expected to figure out her entire life. Everyone in this book was larger than life, loud, some even almost caricature-like but it worked and left no question about who they are and their distinct identities. 

The style of writing made it feel like Jess was talking directly to us - inviting us into her thoughts and even breaking the fourth wall occasionally to almost talk off-page to us. This tone made it very easy to read and deeply person, although at times things were over-explained with a lot of verbal exposition. 

While trying to work out the mystery, you also get deeper puzzles to think about - how often guilt and innocence overlap and get mixed together. How responsible is jess for this? Does she have a duty to help avenge Hugh? Did he deserve it? This book asks you to think about how being guilty doesn't always mean pulling a trigger, it's more complex than that.

This mystery was drawn out despite the fast-moving story, slowly revealing pieces and dispelling any notions about who you think is guilty. Now, towards the end I did figure out most of this puzzle, but was still anxiously waiting to see if I was right and how on earth everything would come to a head. As a character told us, "It's not about who. It's about why."

⭐⭐⭐⭐

 I was gifted a reviews copy of this title in return for an honest review.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: This Could Be Us by Clare McGowan

Genre: Fiction | Literary Fiction Release Date: Expected 1st June 2023 Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group | Corsair  Kate has done the unthinkable. She'd worked hard to build a perfect life for herself, while ignoring her growing unhappiness. But when her second child was born profoundly disabled, reality hit. Unable to cope, Kate left - disappearing without a trace. She ends up in LA, with a glittering career and a new family of sorts, but the guilt is still suffocating. Husband Andrew was left to pick up the pieces and care for their disabled daughter and angry, confused son. Bereft and broken, he leaned on Olivia, Kate's best friend. She's been by his side ever since, ignoring her own needs to meet his. Years later, Andrew has written a memoir about his daughter learning to communicate against all odds. But when Kate's new producer husband decides he wants to make a film of it, their worlds collide once again. Now, Kate must return to the life she abandoned and reck...
Post a Comment
Read more

REVIEW: Live, Laugh, Lesbian by Helen Scott

Genre: Non-Fiction | Memoir | LGTBQ+  Release Date: 19th October 2023 Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Part memoir, part guide, part conversation and all queer joy — Live, Laugh, Lesbian is a brilliantly warm and friendly journey into the queer experience, not only from the author but from plenty of other lesbian, queer, bisexual and pansexual contributors who bring a unique viewpoint and voice and also show a beautiful diverse, intersectional scope of the queer spectrum and welcomes in queer people and allies of any kind to come feel the love. The book is very conversational, talking to the reader in a fun, friendly way — at times I rolled my eyes as the use of “famalam” but as a previous patron of Colours and Chicagos I’m not in a position to judge the Essex-isms. It’s full of anecdotes and observations that were witty and relatable as well as talking is through the more difficult side of queerness like dealing with workplace discrimination, religious trauma and coming out to family...
Post a Comment
Read more

BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS: Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen

  " This town has secrets that are best left alone." Author Hannah is a success, on paper at least. She's receiving critical acclaim and praise worldwide and her work is regarded as some of the best. She writes literature, not just books. But the reality is, outside of the literary circles nobody actually reads her work. But when she finally snaps at a book event and publicly criticises the genre fiction books that outsell hers, claiming they're easy and mindless she's challenged to write her own crime fiction novel in just thirty days by an author she loathes. Desperate not to lose to him, her editor arranges for her to spend a month in a quiet, cold village in Iceland hoping that the solitude will spark inspiration.  But instead of writing a murder story - she's in one . Just before she arrives, the body of a young man is pulled from the icy waters and her search for ideas soon becomes a search for a killer. And if she's not careful, she might end up the...
Post a Comment
Read more