A review by kaitlynisliterate
The One That Got Away with Murder by Trish Lundy

3.75

A very compelling debut novel! 

 

YA female main characters are usually very hit or miss for me and I have to say, I really liked Lauren. I felt like she had a really clear internal voice and acted her age, even if that resulted in some more than questionable decisions. I especially liked how Lauren and Robbie’s relationship did not take over the whole book. Their focus was appropriately on the actual murders taking place around them. 

 

I really appreciated how there was always more than 1 viable suspect until the very end. Some murder mysteries make identifying the real killer too obvious by spending a lot of time developing a random minor character, which can only be for the purpose of a big plot twist reveal. 

 

The author mostly avoided using Gen Z references that won’t age well (though I’ve never seen music described as alt-J-esque). However, there are some YA tropes that I personally don’t like. For example, there’s a Gossip Girl type Instagram account that posts rumours/gossip about the students. 

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.