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A review by pagesplotsandpints
The One That Got Away with Murder by Trish Lundy
3.5
Read Completed 3/15/24 | 3.5 stars, rounded down
I've been having some decent success with YA thrillers so I decided to take a chance on this one with its eye-grabbing cover and synopsis with a hook. This kept me reading and I was entertained, but I ultimately didn't love the direction it took and there were a few places that I would have liked just a bit of an improvement, in my opinion.
Firstly, this book had an amazing book. A family where the boys are killing their girlfriends and no one can prove it? Highly addicting. The concept was great and I was definitely interested to see what was going to happen. I don't think I really loved Lauren or her approach to everything, but I will give it to the author that a lot of the book felt genuine to a teenage experience and choices that one might make at 16-17 years old. Some of this book was "a little more YA" than I typically like now, but obviously it's a young adult book, so that's not a bad thing -- just a personal preference. There were some things that were definitely authentic and then there were some wild things like the coach kicking her off the soccer team because she's dating the boy they're all suspicious of and telling her the to her face. UHHH NO? You can't kick someone off of a school team because of a person they're dating. I guess it was supposed to be because of team cohesiveness? But he literally said that was the reason why. That seems like a good way to get fired.
Anyway. The plot was intriguing but I didn't always like the way it unfolded. The boys in question have a rich father complete with younger girlfriend (their mom also has a younger boyfriend for what it's worth) so naturally there's power there as well. There were a few moments where the pacing and the investigation felt clunky. Some of it felt a little too forced and like the author was trying to shove every possible suspect in there and it got a bit tiresome. I got a theory after one specific line at 33% of who was responsible for these girls' deaths and that turned out to be true. I'm a little surprised, but that one line gave it away for me, and it maybe wasn't even that obvious. BUT after we went through like 5-6 red herrings, it became increasingly more obvious.
Everyone's relationships were messy in order to make this a tangled web that Lauren and her friends had to unweave and it was a little dramatic for me at times. I guess I just get tired of all of the "popular kids drinking and doing drugs" story line but that's what makes for good drama, unreliable narrators, and conflict.
Okay, onto the good stuff. The ending was a little disappointing for me. Firstly that it happened so quickly and we barely even got to spend any time on the reveal. Of course there was a villain speech and it was so wildly out there that I felt like we either needed to dwell on some of these concepts MUCH earlier or have this person be much less... this. (Trying not to give away spoilers!) It felt like an unexpected giant twist and I didn't like how unexpected it was. Even guessing correctly and looking for clues, there really weren't many there and not to THIS intensity. I can see people loving it because of how wild it is, but it just was too over-the-top for me.
I enjoyed the read -- I'm not sure if I'd pick up another thriller from this author, mostly because it was more teen than I expected (again, not knocking it, but some YA vibes I connect with more than others). I'd probably be curious enough to try another!
I've been having some decent success with YA thrillers so I decided to take a chance on this one with its eye-grabbing cover and synopsis with a hook. This kept me reading and I was entertained, but I ultimately didn't love the direction it took and there were a few places that I would have liked just a bit of an improvement, in my opinion.
Firstly, this book had an amazing book. A family where the boys are killing their girlfriends and no one can prove it? Highly addicting. The concept was great and I was definitely interested to see what was going to happen. I don't think I really loved Lauren or her approach to everything, but I will give it to the author that a lot of the book felt genuine to a teenage experience and choices that one might make at 16-17 years old. Some of this book was "a little more YA" than I typically like now, but obviously it's a young adult book, so that's not a bad thing -- just a personal preference. There were some things that were definitely authentic and then there were some wild things like the coach kicking her off the soccer team because she's dating the boy they're all suspicious of and telling her the to her face. UHHH NO? You can't kick someone off of a school team because of a person they're dating. I guess it was supposed to be because of team cohesiveness? But he literally said that was the reason why. That seems like a good way to get fired.
Anyway. The plot was intriguing but I didn't always like the way it unfolded. The boys in question have a rich father complete with younger girlfriend (their mom also has a younger boyfriend for what it's worth) so naturally there's power there as well. There were a few moments where the pacing and the investigation felt clunky. Some of it felt a little too forced and like the author was trying to shove every possible suspect in there and it got a bit tiresome. I got a theory after one specific line at 33% of who was responsible for these girls' deaths and that turned out to be true. I'm a little surprised, but that one line gave it away for me, and it maybe wasn't even that obvious. BUT after we went through like 5-6 red herrings, it became increasingly more obvious.
Everyone's relationships were messy in order to make this a tangled web that Lauren and her friends had to unweave and it was a little dramatic for me at times. I guess I just get tired of all of the "popular kids drinking and doing drugs" story line but that's what makes for good drama, unreliable narrators, and conflict.
Okay, onto the good stuff. The ending was a little disappointing for me. Firstly that it happened so quickly and we barely even got to spend any time on the reveal. Of course there was a villain speech and it was so wildly out there that I felt like we either needed to dwell on some of these concepts MUCH earlier or have this person be much less... this. (Trying not to give away spoilers!) It felt like an unexpected giant twist and I didn't like how unexpected it was. Even guessing correctly and looking for clues, there really weren't many there and not to THIS intensity. I can see people loving it because of how wild it is, but it just was too over-the-top for me.
I enjoyed the read -- I'm not sure if I'd pick up another thriller from this author, mostly because it was more teen than I expected (again, not knocking it, but some YA vibes I connect with more than others). I'd probably be curious enough to try another!