Nothing More to Tell

Once again Mcmanus is on a winner with her angst ridden teenagers trying to solve a murder mystery formula. Kids will love it as much as all her other books.
In this one, Brynn left in Year 9 after her favorite teacher was found murdered. Now she's back a year after finishing high school elsewhere with an internship to an investigative true-crime show, and she thinks that because the murder was never solved, it would make a great story for the TV show to investigate. She starts poking around and narrows in on the three kids who found the teacher's body who were Year 8s at the time of the murder ( who are now in Year 12). Why were their stories believed? Are there holes in their alibis etc? Why do they still have a weird claustrophobic show more friendship? Are they to blame or was Brynn's teacher really not the good guy she thought he was?

Side note to this : I was reading this in bed at night and in the print run when they made the book the ink had started to run out and thus began to fade so it got harder and harder to read and find out who the murderer was ! :) show less

When I received the new Karen McManus book, I was excited. Sure I'm not a teenager/young adult anymore (I guess being 32 puts me in decidedly adult category), and that is the age of Karen's characters, but that does not mean I cannot enjoy these reads.

High school drama is alive and well for the backdrop of "Nothing More to Tell." The school, being called St. Ambrose, was not too hard for me to visualize. There is a school I know of called Ambrose and its students, faculty, and makeup is very much like St. Ambrose. Popular teacher being murdered, students being questioned.....I wound up thinking of students/teachers I know.

Morbid isn't it.

At some periods throughout "Nothing More to Tell," I felt there were too many characters to keep show more track of, who were being questioned, etc. Some characters were likeable; others were decidedly NOT. (Tripp's mom, Lisa Marie, was scum of the earth.) However, most of the characters did serve a purpose which I was thankful for.

The plot line takes twists and turns with additional murders, adoptions, secret identities. I didn't fully guess the main murderer and I also didn't fully guess who had had a changed identity. So those are wins.

However, I still found myself comparing this book to "One of Us is Lying" which will always be my favorite Karen McManus offering. If you are expecting that, this book falls a little flat. But I still found it good in its own right. show less

A stupid mistake may have cost Brynn the future in journalism that she'd planned. In an effort to make up for it, she's become an intern with Motive, a true-crime show. She's hopeful that they'll use her idea for a show, investigating the murder of Mr. Larkin, her favorite teacher at Saint Ambrose.

Four years ago, three Saint Ambrose students, Tripp, Charlotte, and Shane, found Mr. Larkin's body in the woods behind their school. Around the time of the murder, Mr. Larkin was looking into the theft of some money. After his death, the envelope of money was discovered in Charlotte's locker. The fingerprints of Shane, the boy Charlotte had a huge crush on, were found on the rock that killed Mr. Larkin. Things weren't looking good for them, show more especially Shane, except Tripp's account of events matched theirs. Tripp wasn't a friend of the two other kids at the time, so what motive would he have had to lie?

Brynn is convinced that there's more to the story than the three of them ever shared, and now that she's back at Saint Ambrose she's determined to find out the truth.

This started off so-so - many of McManus' characters read the same to me, at least at the beginnings of her books. There's always that one attractive guy with secrets and a chip on his shoulder, and the brainy and determined girl he's secretly crushing on. In this book, that was Tripp and Brynn.

Eventually, Tripp and Brynn started to feel more like their own people, and Brynn's investigation into the web of mysteries surrounding Mr. Larkin's death hooked me. There was a lot going on - the secret Tripp was hiding that was slowly destroying him, Tripp's horrible mother, the question of Mr. Larkin's past and what brought him to Saint Ambrose in the first place, whatever was going on with Charlotte and Shane, and more. McManus included some effective red herrings, and I can honestly say that there was a lot about the way things worked out that took me by surprise.

For the most part, all the various pieces worked well for me. I loved Brynn's younger sister, Ellie, and the romance that developed between Brynn and Tripp was sweet. The stuff with Mr. Larkin was complicated, but not to the point of disrupting my suspension of disbelief. I know those bikers were on-page for, like, two seconds, but I got a kick out of their interaction with Brynn and Tripp. I was also glad Regina existed, for Tripp's sake, and of course Al (the fluffy Samoyed best boy) was a treat.

I couldn't quite believe in Brynn's internship - you'd have thought everyone on the show could see the PR disaster coming from a mile away - but I was willing to roll with it, and it at least gave readers that excellent moment when Brynn was trying to get Tripp to trust her again.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read. Although it's a standalone, those familiar with McManus' other books will probably appreciate the brief mentions of some of her other characters and storylines (hey, true crime is Motive's thing, right?).

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

Title:Nothing More to Tell
Author: Karen M. McManus
Format: ebook ARC via Netgalley

Quick Take: Starting her dream internship at a true-crime show, Brynn becomes determined to solve the murder of her favorite teacher four years earlier and begins to uncover secrets that change everything--and place her in the crosshairs of a killer.

Thoughts: McManus has done it again...taken a classic mystery trope but somehow made it feel fresh and new. I was on the edge of my seat (literally...I fell once) trying to figure out who did it and why. And I was simultaneously shocked but not totally unprepared for the maybe reveal at the end. I wouldn't mind a sequel to this one actually. As a matter of fact, I think I need one! The twists and turns in this show more one was so good and I absolutely loved Brynn & Tripp! I've read all of McManus's books and can't wait for the next one!

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars! show less

It’s not a spoiler to reveal that there’s plenty more to tell; there wouldn’t be a novel if the title weren’t a lie.

Karen McManus’ thriller is told by two narrators (both seniors at the same prep school) and in two timelines: 2022 and 2018, when the pair, Brynn Gallagher and Noah “Trip” Talbot. During their eighth grade year, their popular teacher, William Larkin, was killed in the woods near their school, St. Ambrose, and found by Trip and two others. Larkin’s killer was never caught.

Now four years later, Brynn, newly returned to St. Ambrose, launches a quiet campaign — and possibly foolhardy one — to discover who would want to kill a man who seemed beloved. What ensues is a rollercoaster ride of a book that will show more keep you reading long into the night. Highly recommended.

Best of all? McManus has left an opening for a sequel. I, for one, would be overjoyed. show less

Another fine mystery from this author. There's a murder, then four years later another one. Brynn is determined to solve the first one, but in order to do so, can she be honest about her motives for doing so? Then there are all the people who might have had reason to kill the beloved teacher. The deeper Brynn digs, the muddier everything becomes until your head is going back and forth, trying to keep the suspect du jour straight. It's a fun and confusing ride for the reader, one well worth taking.

Brynn's family moved away after her favorite teacher, Mr. Larkin, was killed. Now they are moving back and she is returning to St. Ambrose. While interviewing for an internship, she floats the story that her teacher was killed, and the murder hasn't been solved. She was friends with one of the 3 kids that found the body, and now that she is back in school, she begins digging into the past. However, some people don't want her to get too close to her former friend, Tripp Talbot. Yet, Brynn knows they are lying about something.
I enjoyed this YA novel and was a bit surprised about the ending.