You'll Be the Death of Me

You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus makes for an interesting twist on the day-off adventure, a la Ferris Bueller. Instead of having fun playing hooky from school, Ms. McManus’ story has our three friends stumble upon a murder and decide they have to be the ones to solve it. Except to say they are friends is a stretch. They are more like former friends, which only adds to the stressors of the day.

Thankfully, Ms. McManus does not attempt to stretch our imaginations by trying to convince us that three high school students are more competent than detectives. Instead, Ivy, Mateo, and Cal only uncover clues through dumb luck and wild guesses. In truth, their missteps are almost comedic. The fact that they are even close to show more solving the murder mystery is a testament to their collective stubbornness and stunning ability to stumble upon the puzzle pieces rather than their sleuthing skills.

For all their bumbling, I still found You’ll Be the Death of Me to be quite clever. In addition, there is also a real poignancy to the story as the continued investigations force the three former friends to confront the circumstances which broke apart their friendship. Even better, Ms. McManus plays the resolution close to her chest so that the ending is as much a surprise for you as it is for our three amateur detectives, which is exactly what you want in a murder mystery. In the end, You’ll Be the Death of Me is another strong offering from Ms. McManus, who is rapidly making a name for herself in the young adult thriller world. show less

I love to see authors grow and get better and with each book I read from Karen McManus, it just gets better and better, especially her characters. When I read her first book (One of Us is Lying) a few years ago, I loved the plot/storyline, I loved the mystery and the twists and reveals at the end, and to this day I still remember the mystery and the twists and the storyline, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about the main characters. To me, the characters in One of Us is Lying were flat and underdeveloped, you can swap them out with any other characters and I would have still enjoyed the story because of the plot and mystery.

With You'll Be the Death of Me, the characters felt so real and fleshed out, I could not imagine the story show more playing out the same with a different cast of characters. Also, this was the first book of hers that I've read where I actually started tearing up over one of the characters and their situation. Mateo and his whole family were my favorites, I love them so much. I'm also glad that his mom at the end acknowledged that she hasn't set the best example for Mateo and Autumn and that there's no shame in asking for help and we see her open up and be honest with them, and want to do better for them.

The mystery and twist and reveals were great of course, that is McManus' strong suit. Also, that ending! OMG, are we really going to leave everything on that ending?! I need to know what Ivy's going to do next. I need a damn sequel! Lol, if by chance we ever do get a sequel, can we see Daniel more in it? I liked Ivy's brother and I wanted to get more of his character in the story. I'm definitely going to be thinking about this story long after today. First favorite of 2023!

Now, I'm even more excited (if that's even possible) to pick up her latest book, Nothing More to Tell. show less

This was a buddy read with my grandson. It was cute, not great, but we had some nice discussions.

High School students Ivy, Mateo,and Cal were once best buds but a black cat crossed their paths and since middle school they haven't spoken - that is, until Ivy lost her bid for class pres when the biggest jerk in her class managed to garner enough votes resulting in her humiliating defeat.

When the three meet up in the parking lot of school the day the winner is to be announced, they decide to band together and skip school, each for their own reason. When they discover the newly elected class president dead on the floor of an abandoned building (he clearly skipped too), the three of them find themselves in an awkward position which gets show more more and more complicated as the hours pass.

In the space of just a few hours, secrets are exposed, as are feelings of anger and disappointment while the three buds, with the aid of a few others, solve the mystery of their classmate's death and resolve some past issues. Wrongs are righted and everyone (probably) lives happily ever after.

The book deals with drug trafficking and inappropriate teacher student relationships - but not on a gritty or graphic level. show less

This was an engaging thriller with well-rounded and interesting characters. Told alternately by Ivy, Matteo, and Cal, it is the story of a very bad day. Cal, Ivy, and Matteo used to be good friends in eighth grade. But now they are seniors in high school and they have each gone their separate ways.

Ivy is a Type A personality who is struggling in her own mind to live up to her genius younger brother. She has just lost the election to be senior class president to the class clown Boney Maroney and knows attending her rival's acceptance speech will be nothing short of humiliating.

Matteo's life has spiraled since their eighth grade year. His mother has developed osteoarthritis and needs an expensive medicine which is beyond the family show more budget since a lawsuit caused their bowling alley to go bankrupt. He's working two jobs and his cousin Autumn is working three to try to keep the family afloat.

Cal has just suffered his most recent breakup and has realized how alone he is. His circle of friends only hang out by default if they can't find anyone else to hang out with. His last girlfriend has accused him of being "not real." Fact is that he's developed a crush on a very unsuitable person and needs to keep it hidden.

The three of them meet one morning when they are all late for school and decide, each for their own reasons, to ditch school and try to recreate the happy memories of the day they ditched a field trip in eighth grade and had a great time in Boston.

Things go wrong almost immediately when they follow their new class president Boney to a location in Boston and find his dead body with a syringe beside it. The location happens to be an art studio when Cal had previously gone to meet his new girlfriend.

Then rumors start about seeing a blond woman fleeing the scene - and Ivy's blond. The three of them don't know what to do besides run and try to figure out what happened to Boney. They are all keeping secrets about various things that could help solve the crime.

This was an excellent story. I especially loved the characters who are all realistic and flawed human beings. show less

Rating: 4.5/5

Reducing a .5 out of spite because HOW ON EARTH IS THIS A STANDALONE???

I eat up anything that Madam Mc Manus publishes because not only are the stories indulging but also very well written and almost always unputdownable.

You’ll be the death of me was all that and managed to leave me craving for more.

Like HELLO? This is a standalone? WHAT? HOW? WHY?

The tone of this was wildly uneven. The problems in these characters' lives were just on monumentally different levels of seriousness, and to have all of them given equal weight was a real "one of these things is not like the other" situation. I was definitely entertained, but mainly because I kept laughing out loud at the contrast—but sadly I don't think that was intentional!

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close friends due to the Greatest Day Ever, a time when they all skipped school together and had an amazing day. They've since drifted apart, and they're now all in high school and mostly hang out with different people. But the Greatest Day Ever still ties them together, so when Ivy is faced with coming to school after a humiliating senior-year class president election loss to Brian "Boney" Mahoney, she easily agrees when Cal suggests that the three of them skip school together like old times.

Unfortunately, the Greatest Day Ever isn't exactly something that can easily be replicated. Things go from vaguely disappointing to horrible when the three of them spot Boney (who should be at school, delivering his show more acceptance speech), follow him into an abandoned building, and then discover his body. For various reasons, none of them want to be around when the police arrive, but the end result is that Ivy becomes the prime suspect in Boney's murder. Finding out what really happened will involve digging into all of their secrets and getting to know the people they've become since they drifted apart.

This entire book takes place during the course of one school day. This was probably supposed to mirror the Greatest Day Ever, but it was also a necessary limitation on the story, because the entire thing would have fallen apart if it had dragged on for more than a day. It certainly would have fallen apart if Ivy, Mateo, and Cal had taken the time to talk to some responsible adults (Ms. Jamison doesn't count).

Ivy and Mateo initially reminded me a lot of Bronwyn and Nate from McManus' One of Us is Lying. In the end, though, I liked Ivy and Mateo as a couple a lot more than Bronwyn and Nate. It warmed my heart that Mateo knew Ivy was an anxious over-thinking mess and totally didn't mind.

All three of them had huge secrets. Cal's is revealed relatively early, and the way it was handled in the end kind of irked me - he's in a relationship with his art teacher. Once I found out about this, there was one thing I figured was guaranteed to happen no matter how things turned out with Boney's death, and yet somehow that thing did not happen.

Honestly, the book's ending is infuriating on multiple levels. It reads 99% like a standalone, and then the last couple pages swoop in an turn it into something that practically begs for a sequel. Which I would mainly only want to read if I was guaranteed, in advance, the ending that this book should have had.

I can usually count on McManus' books to be decent reads, but this one missed the mark.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less