Review Detail

YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME is an intriguing YA mystery/suspense about friendship, making mistakes, and finding your way. The book follows three characters, Ivy, Mateo, and Cal, who were once the best of friends in middle school until they drifted apart at the beginning of high school. Now, their lives seem really separate - that is, until they run into each other in the parking lot on a day they would all rather skip and decide to recreate the defining day of their middle school friendship when they left the field trip to wander Boston.

In Boston, they feel a bit aimless, and Ivy, who has an anxious personality, is definitely freaking out about skipping school and the acceptance speech of her opponent whose slacker personality beat her diligence for student body present. Cal has some ideas, and as they wander, they stumble across another student skipping, Boney, who had won the election and is supposed to be giving his acceptance speech. They follow him into the building with Cal's art teacher's studio (who has definitely been crossing a line) and soon find his body - with the police very close behind. A tip suggests a blonde woman was fleeing the scene - and Ivy is blonde.

As speculation at their school runs wild about what Ivy would or would not do, the three friends confront the things that drove them apart years ago and try to solve the murder.

What I loved: The friendships here are really strong, and I loved seeing the personal growth of the three main characters as they discuss their history, try some tough honesty, and reconnect. They each have their personal problems that have led them to this skipping day, including Mateo who is holding down 2 jobs with school to help his family tread financial water after his mother had to shutter her business due to a lawsuit and Cal with the inappropriate relationship with his art teacher. This book definitely tackles some big and tough themes, and I think it overall handled them well. These include not only the female teacher predator, but also financial insecurity, the value and challenges of honesty, drug dealing, friendship, and finding and defining who you want to be.

The mystery of the death was pretty intriguing and definitely takes some big twists and turns as they discover Boney was into some dangerous things - which also involved other characters in danger. The crime-solving and red-herring aspects were well done and keep the reader guessing, and I appreciated the suspense towards the end as the trio gets closer and closer to the answers.

What left me wanting more: There are definitely some lulls in the pace where things really slow down, and I would have preferred to skip those interludes and get and stay in the action faster. The ending quarter really made up for a lot (so good!), but the plot winds quite a bit at the beginning and in the middle, making it a bit easier to put down.

Final verdict: An intriguing YA mystery/suspense, YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME tackles some important themes in a twisty read that at its core is about friendship and finding your way.