3.5
This book was engrossing enough that I read it in one day. A group of students get detention for having their phone in class. It’s a detention they will remember for the rest of their life. First there was a car wreck, and then there was a death. But was it an accident, or was it murder? And everyone has a secret. The cast of characters has the jock, the nerd, the ragdoll, and the bad kid. But is that really who each of these characters arr, or are they hiding their true selves from others, and maybe even from themselves. This book is very much The Breakfast Club meets Gossip Girl. It takes place over a couple of months, and we see the action from each individual character. Overall I enjoyed the story. I did think that many parts were predictable. I had most of the secrets, big and small, figured out about a quarter of the way through, and the big reveal in the end was not as shocking to me as to some. But I also think it’s so realistic, and true to modern life that it kept me flipping pages late into the night. I could see this being a read and forget about book, but at the same time, I think teens would find lots of things to discuss. I would love to be a fly on the wall for those discussions. There are idiosyncrasies to the character and the plot that would result in some amazing ideas, and thoughts from the teens I work with. This book could replace 13 Reasons Why as a way to bring these societal complexities into conversations without all the “triggering” some see in 13.