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inkandplasma 's review for:
You'll Be the Death of Me
by Karen M. McManus
Full review live 6th December 2021: https://inkandplasma.com/2021/12/06/youll-be-the-death-of-me/
Content Warnings: drug use, murder, inappropriate relationship (underage & power dynamics), parental abandonment, chronic health issues, underage drinking, needles.
YOU’LL BE THE DEATH OF ME starts a little slow, as we have a fair amount of build-up where we meet all three of our main characters; Cal, Ivy and Mateo; and learn more about their past and present. They were all best friends, and once had an epic ‘ditch day’ where they missed school once to go on a grand adventure. As they’re gearing up to leave high school they decide to relive that day – even though they haven’t been friends for a while. Once we reach the point where they find a body, the book starts to move at a much faster pace and I was fully invested from then onwards as the reveals come thick and fast. I don’t think I predicted a single one of the twists before they were revealed and I loved the constant feeling that the rug was about to be pulled from under my feet. The ending of this in particular was a real kicker and I absolutely loved it.
I would like to have seen a little more from some of the subplots. One, in particular, felt like it should have had more… consequences than it did. I also started to feel like McManus’s books are a little formulaic now. There’s a lot of plot beats and twists that seem to come up a lot, which is absolutely not an issue for a casual reader but I’ve read all of her books religiously so I can see a lot of similarities. That being said, I still have so much fun reading them that I don’t mind that much. It’s fun to meet new characters and new plots either way. I’d love to see McManus blow me away completely, but I’m pretty happy to keep getting these gripping page-turners as they are.
Personally, I think the relationships were the strongest part of this book. The convoluted ex-best friends relationship is always fun to read with deeply buried emotions about their friendship break up. I found myself waiting to find out what secrets were going to come out, especially as each of the POV characters had secrets that were all fighting to come out. Ivy’s was the absolute worst to read and caused me so much anxiety as I waited for the other shoe to drop. I think I’ll always love McManus’s books because of how much I enjoy reading about her characters and their friendships and relationships, they really make the thrillers so much stronger.
Content Warnings: drug use, murder, inappropriate relationship (underage & power dynamics), parental abandonment, chronic health issues, underage drinking, needles.
YOU’LL BE THE DEATH OF ME starts a little slow, as we have a fair amount of build-up where we meet all three of our main characters; Cal, Ivy and Mateo; and learn more about their past and present. They were all best friends, and once had an epic ‘ditch day’ where they missed school once to go on a grand adventure. As they’re gearing up to leave high school they decide to relive that day – even though they haven’t been friends for a while. Once we reach the point where they find a body, the book starts to move at a much faster pace and I was fully invested from then onwards as the reveals come thick and fast. I don’t think I predicted a single one of the twists before they were revealed and I loved the constant feeling that the rug was about to be pulled from under my feet. The ending of this in particular was a real kicker and I absolutely loved it.
I would like to have seen a little more from some of the subplots. One, in particular, felt like it should have had more… consequences than it did. I also started to feel like McManus’s books are a little formulaic now. There’s a lot of plot beats and twists that seem to come up a lot, which is absolutely not an issue for a casual reader but I’ve read all of her books religiously so I can see a lot of similarities. That being said, I still have so much fun reading them that I don’t mind that much. It’s fun to meet new characters and new plots either way. I’d love to see McManus blow me away completely, but I’m pretty happy to keep getting these gripping page-turners as they are.
Personally, I think the relationships were the strongest part of this book. The convoluted ex-best friends relationship is always fun to read with deeply buried emotions about their friendship break up. I found myself waiting to find out what secrets were going to come out, especially as each of the POV characters had secrets that were all fighting to come out. Ivy’s was the absolute worst to read and caused me so much anxiety as I waited for the other shoe to drop. I think I’ll always love McManus’s books because of how much I enjoy reading about her characters and their friendships and relationships, they really make the thrillers so much stronger.