Very Bad People

Where did it all start...With the car accident that killed her mother? With the death of an unlikable privileged Tipton student years ago? When Calliope saw a stranger that looked so familiar she is convinced he had something to do with her mom's death when the car Calliope, Laureli, and Serafina were passengers in ended up in a narrow, but deep body of water? Or was there something else that started her unpredictable plunge into that murky space between reality and what she thought was reality.
When Calliope transfers to Tipton Academy to start her junior year, she's invited to join Haunt & Rail, a secret society that has twenty members and engages in stealth campaigns to better the lot of the student body and fight injustices the show more administration and trustees ignore. She's determined to discover the identity of the mystery man, but the deeper she digs and the more involved she becomes with the secret society, the more blurred the line between right and wrong becomes, and the secrets she uncovers pull her in multiple and very painful directions. The ending is one of the best 'what if's' I've encountered in years. This is definitely a must add for libraries. show less

Skim read this after the first few chapters and focused mainly on the dialogue. There are about three big plots smushed together here which makes this YA thriller hard to get invested in. There’s no sense of satisfaction or shock when the big backstory mystery is finally revealed because literally it was impossible to predict. There’s a thing to be said about red herrings and confusing readers but this reveal was so far out of left field that I didn’t like the whiplash. The ending was also like 2 parts “well that escalated quickly” and 1 part “Sure I guess???” Overall, I wasn’t a huge fan of Calliope, wasn’t invested in her romance and thought it was weird that she sacrificed everything for this secret society/fake show more friend group a few weeks after meeting them. It honestly all would have made so much more sense if she was in love with Lee (in spite of or, perhaps, because of Lee clearly being the meanest and/or cruelest character in the book) instead of making us have Nico around for absolutely no reason. And then the ending was open. Like, why. show less

Calliope Bolan transfers to a private school to try and forget the car accident that killed her mother six years earlier. But going to Tipton (her mother’s alma mater) brings out suppressed memories that may make matters worse. Trying to fit in she is invited to and joins a secret society within the school.

This is a certainly a mystery and I it kept me interested for a long while and I really enjoyed it. But as the ending started getting closer and the pages dwindling, I was thinking to myself it can end so quickly. And it didn’t. It left so many questions unanswered that I felt cheated.

Title: Very Bad People
Author: Kit Frick
Format: eAudiobook via the Libby app

Quick Take: Sixteen-year-old Calliope Bolan joins a powerful secret society at her new boarding school, hoping to find answers about her mother's death, but she becomes involved in a dangerous campaign for revenge that threatens her new friendships.

Thoughts: The book started off pretty good and I was really into the mystery. About 40% into it, I almost stopped listening. The characters, except for Nico & Amy, become so annoying and unlikeable that it was hard to finish. The mystery around the mom's death was so anticlimactic and become so disengaged from the rest of the story that I literally paused the book and walked away for a few minutes. The secret society show more was slowing becoming a cult and I wanted to shake Calliope so hard to shake some sense into her! It was a strong start and I really wanted to like the book but it just fell flat. And I absolutely hate the type of ending this book had!

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars show less

* I got this book for review*
I think this book feel a bit flat for me. It was pitched me to me as girl trying to uncover the mystery of her mother death. I think this book was more focued on the elite prep school and the secret soceity and it adventrues on campus. I did like he main character. I also did like all the talk of abuse and how schools can do better. I also thought the battle about the sexaual assult was a nice plot line. But it did not capture me as much as her previous book do. The ending i felt was rather rushed and felt like it was left super open ended. Not a new fav, but a fast pace read!!

* I got this book for review*
I think this book feel a bit flat for me. It was pitched me to me as girl trying to uncover the mystery of her mother death. I think this book was more focued on the elite prep school and the secret soceity and it adventrues on campus. I did like he main character. I also did like all the talk of abuse and how schools can do better. I also thought the battle about the sexaual assult was a nice plot line. But it did not capture me as much as her previous book do. The ending i felt was rather rushed and felt like it was left super open ended. Not a new fav, but a fast pace read!!

3/5 stars.

I listened to the audiobook, which I fully enjoyed, but some parts just irked me the wrong way, esp the ending, did the author do that on purpose? I don't know. Unless the author is telling that there is going to be a second book? It's weird.