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This Book Kills: the bestselling new YA thriller of 2023

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Jess is at Heybuckle School on her merits, one of very few students who aren't there due to hereditary or new money family wealth.

I love the idea that our protagonist is unknowingly involved in the murder mystery because it sets the character up to different conflicts– for example, being an unreliable narrator. Night Mayor Franklefink has vanished from the Transylvanian Express - and it's up to you to solve the case! It was a little reminiscent of the St Trinian's remakes or Riverdale at times, though definitely not as over the top as that got.The pacing was done incredibly well, which meant I ended up flying through the pages, and the constant twists and turns in the plot kept it fresh and exciting. When covert ops organization The Panacea Group approaches Winter with this once-in-a-lifetime chance to infiltrate Morrison’s inner circle, Winter must use his fame, cunning, and charisma to pull it off—only he won’t be on his own. It could be that I'm a bit rusty in my mystery-solving skills, but I genuinely did not expect a lot of the plot twists in this book. Someone steals her story and uses the exact mode of death to murder their richest and most popular classmate, then texts to thank her for the inspiration. Avoiding the gossip and in-fighting of her classmates, Jess prefers to spend time with her best friend Clementine and immerse herself in crime novels.

Nonetheless, the vibes in this book were really good, it totally made me feel as if I was at that elite boarding school myself. At once fun, twisty and insightful, This Book Kills is a gripping murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Not only was the eerie plot so good that I kept turning pages into the dead of night, but the character development was rich and well-crafted, with new favourites popping up all the way to the end. And I admit, given how sweet their interactions were I was wholeheartedly rooting for Jess and Tommy to become more that friends.

I really liked the protagonist we had in Jess and felt like she had amazing potential, but I’m still undecided on whether the book brought out her true character well. This Book Kills by Ravena Guron follows Jess, a scholarship student at an exclusive boarding school only for the elite. Also massive thank you to Nina Douglas and Usborne for the proof (and the chocolate which was delicious.

I’m not saying it’s a rip off, it definitely had its own uniqueness, but I can’t help but feel there were a lot of similarities there. During one particular scene, my heart was thumping and I had to turn the lights on, which never happens to me!However, she soon becomes more personally involved when the circumstances surrounding Hugh’s death are revealed. That happened in this book as well, and the moment just felt off with the character saying “But it can’t be - but if it is…. We’re Marie (she/her) and Nyx (she/her), two sisters screaming about books at each other and now with you, too. But when that is taken away from him, his only hope is to pass a near-impossible exam and join the other students in Scholastic Parliament. Suddenly Heybuckle is thrown into disarray—especially since the manner in which Hugh died bares uncanny similarity to a short story Jess co-wrote with Summer, the other scholarship kid at the school.

This interaction with the book made me completely forget whether my prediction was predictable or not. I can’t remember the last time I was so immersed in a book, that I spent a full all-nighter finishing it, gasped at every hint and literally jumped (all the while dropping the book in excitement) when I correctly guessed who’d done it! There are so many things that I enjoyed about this book: the elite, boarding school setting, the secret society, the super realistic main character, the slow-building female friendship and hints of romance. The plot gradually felt like it was broaching on more unrealistic territory which I struggle with in crime.But when enquiries among her classmates lead to more disturbing texts and veiled threats from the mysterious Regina Club, Jess begins to realise that she may not be just the killer’s inspiration – she may be their next victim. You got given just enough knowledge about the background characters to make them familiar, but not too much so that mysterious atmosphere remains. So there are touches that bring us out of the immediacy of the murders and remind us that the narrator already knows the solution, and often does this with humour. También va contando sus hipótesis y descubrimientos en voz alta a donde quiera que va, sabiendo que el asesino se encuentra entre los estudiantes y que puede estar escuchando lo que dice.

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