2.5 stars.

Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff was a book I came across by accident. Falkoff takes a sensitive topic (suicide) and links a story of a best friend trying to figure out what really happened via a playlist left by his friend for him to listen to.

I thought Sam was an interesting character. He was very protective of Hayden throughout their friendship and although he and Hayden didn’t see eye to eye on everything, they had a solid friendship. They connected around videogames and music and the night they end up at a party, something happens that prompts an argument. When Sam comes to apologize the next day, he is the one to find Hayden’s body and the playlist.

As the story moves forward, there is a full cast of characters that pull this story together. From Hayden’s brother and his bully friends, to a mystery girl who connected with Hayden over a videogame, to another girl who mysteriously knows so much about Hayden and becomes close to Sam. As Sam begins to dig into what really happened with Hayden, he finds out there is more to the story than he originally thought. I have to say, there is a lot going on in this book and while it all ties together, there were times that I was wondering if we were really going to get into the detail of what really happened.

I thought Falkoff did a solid job of developing the characters and while there were times that I definitely felt some empathy to both Sam and Hayden, I didn’t really connect with either of the characters. I also thought that while the playlist has a role in the story, I thought it would have a bigger role in helping Sam figure out what really happened.

I can’t say much else here as I don’t want to give anything away about the story but overall this book was just ok for me.

Thank you to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for the review copy.