By: Sarah Meiselman
Karen M. McManus, a New York Times bestselling author, is known for her books in the category of young adult fiction murder mysteries. Her popular writing has won her a television series on Peacock was based on her book “One of Us is Lying.” The excitement for her new novels is high, and one of her most recent books, written in 2021, is “You’ll be the death of me,” which still managed to exceed my high expectations. This review contains spoilers, so be aware of that before reading.
Set in Massachusetts in areas near and in Boston, this book follows the point of view of three former best friends, Ivy, Cal, and Mateo, in their senior year of high school. The story develops with each new set of unpredictable challenges, all stemming from the discovery of their classmate’s corpse.
Even before this unfortunate discovery, their senior year was not off to a great start for any of them. Cal had no genuine friends and was a serial dater. Mateo’s mom was diagnosed with a joint disease and had unreasonably expensive medications, while at the same time lost her bowling alley called Spare Me in a lawsuit where a kid dislocated his shoulder when slipping on an over-waxed lane. On the day before the novel takes place, Ivy, who has been class president since freshman year, was beaten in the class president election by Brian Mahoney, who ran as a joke.
They ran into each other before school, and all agreed to skip together because of the dread they shared in interacting with their classmates. Cal drove them to Boston, and while walking around, Ivy spotted Brian, who was supposed to be giving his acceptance speech to the school. In her anger, she chased after him until she reached an art studio. Cal knew the passcode to enter, which readers later discover was because of his secret romance with his art teacher, Ms. Jamison, or as he liked to call her, Lara. She rented the studio on Tuesdays.
Ivy, after entering the studio and hearing movement above her, ran upstairs until reaching an empty studio. Mateo and Cal joined her, and Cal realized they were stopped at the specific room Lara worked in. Ivy was the first to see bright purple shoes sticking out from behind the cabinet. Brian’s shoes, and without a hint of movement, he was clearly dead. An empty syringe laid next to him, in a spot and angle that made it obvious he was murdered. At the sound of police sirens, the three seniors snuck out of the back of the building.
With all the evidence lined up, Lara seemed to be guilty, but had no motive. Readers learn later that while at a party in an abandoned house, Brian had stolen a fortune, as in thousands upon thousands of dollars’ worth, of opioids from a shed he found hidden in the backyard with his classmates Charlie and Autumn. Autumn is Mateo’s cousin. The three kids started selling the drug, but the owner of the pills, Tom Kendall, found out through Autumn’s boyfriend and planned Brian’s murder out of rage and the need to eliminate his competition. Tom Kendall is Ivy’s brother’s lacrosse coach, and Lara’s fiancé. Initially, Tom tried to frame Lara because he discovered she cheated on him, but she chose not go to her studio the day of the murder, even though she told him she planned to, so his original plan had failed.
After the three teenagers go on a wild chase around the city in search of the culprit, past secrets came up and the three temporarily broke apart for the second time. One of these secrets was that Ivy admits to being the one who over-waxed the bowling lane at Spare Me when attempting to cause her brother to slip and embarrass himself. Her plan didn’t work, and a different kid had slipped, whose parents had decided to file the lawsuit. Ivy’s dad bought the location after it shut down, which angered Mateo even more. The other secret that came up around this point in the book is that the reason their friendship fell apart in eighth grade was because Mateo left Ivy a bag of her favorite candy with a note inviting her to the movies, but Cal had stolen it before she saw it because he wanted the three of them to be friends without any relationship between them. Since Mateo thought Ivy was ignoring him, things became awkward between them, and the three-way friendship lost its spark.
At this point in the story, Cal, alone, wound up at Lara’s house to confront her because he finds bottles of opioid pills in her classroom at school, which Tom had planted in his attempt to frame her, but Cal was interrupted by Tom barging into the house holding a gun to Ivy’s head. He found her by stealing her brother’s phone and texting her to come to his location, which she did thinking her brother needed her help. Tom chose to bring Ivy because many people in their town already believed she was guilty because she had a motive to kill Brain and was not at school the day of his death.
In her garage, Lara convinced Tom to change his plan of killing Ivy and Cal and framing Lara for their deaths, to framing Cal and Ivy for Tom’s drug operations and then giving Cal and Ivy both a deadly overdose, so that Tom and Lara could run away together. Lara was incredibly manipulative and was able to sweet talk him into going with her plan. Cal and Ivy, realizing their doom, tried to physically fight Tom and Lara. When Cal was about to be choked to death by Tom, and Ivy was losing in her fight to keep the gun away from Lara, a police officer’s voice boomed from a speaker outside the garage announcing that they had Lara’s house surrounded. Readers later learn that the police knew to come because Mateo left them a tip about Tom, which he discovered before anyone while he is doing a bit of research on his own, including finding out that Autumn’s boyfriend was working for Tom, which even Autumn didn’t realize.
At the end of the book, after Ivy and Cal are saved by the police, Cal finally realized he was manipulated by Lara and needed to take a break from dating. His parents helped him improve his mental health and he made real friends to support him, including Ivy and Mateo. Ivy’s dad, now knowing that Ivy caused Spare Me to shut down, offered many options to Mateo’s mom, including offering to give her ownership of the new bowling alley he is building to replace Spare Me. She chose to work for him instead and gets promised a large paycheck with good medical benefits, including a significant reduction in the cost of her medication. Mateo and Autumn no longer needed to worry about supporting their mom with multiple jobs, like the drug scheme, so they could finally relax. They both began to volunteer at a nearby shelter that specializes in treating substance abuse, which teaches them the horrific effects of opioid addiction. Mateo found it within himself to forgive Ivy and brings her favorite candy to her, the candy that Cal stole four years earlier. The feelings they had for one another from eighth grade never left and they began dating.
Tom Kendall was locked away in prison, but Lara got an impressive lawyer and her case shifts in her favor. The biggest plot twist of all was the last chapter, when readers discover that Tom did not find out that Lara was dating Cal, but instead discovered the relationship between her and Darren. Darren is Mateo’s father, and now Lara was about to become Mateo’s stepmom. Lara, who tried to frame and kill Ivy and Cal in her garage in a previous chapter.
If I did a proper explanation of every ingenious detail McManus included in this book, this article would be longer than the book, which is 326 pages. The first aspect of the book I fell in love with was the indirect connection between Ivy, Mateo, Cal, and the murderer. Ivy’s brother is coached by Tom, Cal is in a secret relationship with Tom’s girlfriend, and Mateo’s cousin stole a huge chunk of Tom’s drugs. This made them all relevant to the plot, even if they hadn’t stumbled across the body.
Each chapter switches point of view between Cal, Ivy, and Mateo, so the reader gets an in-depth characterization of all of them. McManus writes in a way that provides a clear distinction between each character, so their individuality shines. She often leaves a character’s chapter at a cliffhanger, and then moves on to a different character in a different place, so the book is impossible to put down. I read it in two days because of this fast pace. Not a single chapter was boring, and each brought on a new shocking detail. Each word had a purpose and benefited the story. There was a perfect ratio between description of the setting and action.
The balance in the book’s plot was flawless. While I couldn’t put the book down because of the need to know who murdered Brian, I was also hoping for Mateo and Ivy’s short-lived romance in eighth grade to reappear. While their friendship at the start of the book is rocky, they learn the importance of communication and forgiveness, which allows for the formation of a realistic relationship. Another aspect of balance the book fulfilled was the ratio between verbal arguments and violent conflict. There was not an excess number of fights, but enough to create the needed fast pace of a murder mystery. The verbal conflict was needed to create a realistic but interesting plot, with lots of tension. While many fiction murder plots written from the point of view of high schoolers feel unrealistic, this one did not. As I was reading and learning more, each detail was set up so intricately that it seemed as if I was in the story bracing myself for the next set of bad news.
The only topic I wish McManus developed more was Cal’s view of Lara. He had loving parents, so he wasn’t missing a positive parental figure. With that, I struggle to grasp how he fell so in love with her. He put her on a podium and viewed her as someone who loved him back and couldn’t make mistakes. I can assume he had major mental issues, but I wish that was made clear by the author. I also wish McManus clarified that Lara had invited him to her studio and home, before the events of the book took place, because she wanted to manipulate him into doing anything she wanted, including sexual. This idea was hinted at but needed to be expanded on more to express the true severity of the situation. With that said, I know this is a difficult topic to write about and I am impressed with how well she did so, even if I wish she wrote more. I can imagine it’s challenging to write this topic from the victim’s point of view.
I would rate the book a 4.8 out of 5 stars. No book is perfect, but this one is as close as it could be. McManus was not afraid to take on controversial topics. She did not leave any plot holes, which I’ve never seen in a book before hers. Once I discovered the culprit, Tom made sense, but before so, I thought there wasn’t a chance it was him. The book was everything a murder mystery needs to be. It had the hints of romance and comedy but focused on serious topics like drug abuse and teacher-student romantic relationships. It was creative, surprising, and emotional. I highly recommend all of McManus’s books, but especially this one.
