A review by sararose013
Dig Two Graves by Gretchen McNeil
3.0
I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and were not affected by the free copy.
Our main character is Neve, film noir buff and outcast extraordinaire. We meet her on the day her life falls apart. Skip ahead, her best friend Yasmin has betrayed her, so her mom and grandmother send her off to a girl's empowerment camp. Enter, Diane. Seemingly perfect, beautiful and charismatic, Neve gets sucked into Diane's plot, and jokingly agrees to murder Diane's stepbrother in ex. At least, she thought it was a joke; at least, until Yasmin is found dead. And everyone believes that Neve killed her.
Gretchen McNeil's #murdertrending series is one of my favorite YA mystery thriller series, so I was so excited to see she had a new book coming up. The book blurb includes this line: "In this twisted game of cat and mouse, the reader never quite knows who’s telling the truth, who’s playing games, and who is going to end up dead." Sadly, this book did not live up to my expectations. I saw all of the twists coming. The pacing was a little awkward, but was not a deal breaker. The plot was a bit cheesy, but I honestly expected that. Our villains are truly unlikeable and Neve is mostly likeable (I did get a little annoyed by her constant whining about not having friends and her thoughts about her forced independence).
As someone who has never watched any of the films that were mentioned in the book, they felt like odd interjections that added nothing to the book. It might mean more to others, but for me, it just felt awkward.
I absolutely love the cover! I may not have loved the book, but I will be recommending it to YA mystery thriller lovers.
Our main character is Neve, film noir buff and outcast extraordinaire. We meet her on the day her life falls apart. Skip ahead, her best friend Yasmin has betrayed her, so her mom and grandmother send her off to a girl's empowerment camp. Enter, Diane. Seemingly perfect, beautiful and charismatic, Neve gets sucked into Diane's plot, and jokingly agrees to murder Diane's stepbrother in ex. At least, she thought it was a joke; at least, until Yasmin is found dead. And everyone believes that Neve killed her.
Gretchen McNeil's #murdertrending series is one of my favorite YA mystery thriller series, so I was so excited to see she had a new book coming up. The book blurb includes this line: "In this twisted game of cat and mouse, the reader never quite knows who’s telling the truth, who’s playing games, and who is going to end up dead." Sadly, this book did not live up to my expectations. I saw all of the twists coming. The pacing was a little awkward, but was not a deal breaker. The plot was a bit cheesy, but I honestly expected that. Our villains are truly unlikeable and Neve is mostly likeable (I did get a little annoyed by her constant whining about not having friends and her thoughts about her forced independence).
As someone who has never watched any of the films that were mentioned in the book, they felt like odd interjections that added nothing to the book. It might mean more to others, but for me, it just felt awkward.
I absolutely love the cover! I may not have loved the book, but I will be recommending it to YA mystery thriller lovers.