Reviews with content warning for Bullying - This Lie Will Kill You

Trigger warnings include: alcohol use, bullying, car accidents, child abuse, physical and emotional abuse and domestic violence, death, fires, gaslighting, murder, revenge porn, suicide (past and mentioned) and violence.
~
~
So, I've just finished this book and quite honestly I'm not sure what to think. In short, I'm confused.
~
It's a murder mystery YA book. And within it's pages there are many stories told, many lies and half truths, many twists and turns. and I don't really know what to think about it. I don't know what's true and what's not with it. And I can't really work out who the real killers were, who survived the story and who didn't exactly.
~
When it comes to murder mystery stories and thrillers, typically while they're not cut and dried, you finish with a sense of knowing what happened, knowing the full story of events. But with this one, at least for me, I don't have that feeling. I don't really know, and maybe that's just my inability to follow it entirely.
~
Regardless, I really enjoyed it and I've been meaning to read it for several years and I'm glad I finally have.

Content Warnings

lucya2803's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

valyn_grebe's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

maferencak's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved the story. It was compelling, mysterious, and even though I sensed very early on of who was the person behind it all, it still kept me on my toes until the end. The characters are very morally qustionable and my feelings toward some of them are, well, complicated. I love them, I understand them yet I don’t quite condone them. The only thing that kind of struck me as a tad too exaggerated were some of the relationships and the conversations. I know they had to be as strong for the story to make sense, but it didn’t stop me from cringing at some parts.

Seriously, the conversations between Shane and Ruby made me want to barf at times.

I did, however, like the way the book touched certain triggering topics.

But seriously, Ruby, get help. Like, professional one.

Content Warnings

hunnee_sophie's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I found it very predictable and a lot of it seemed unnecessary or unconnected. There were definitely good parts, especially in the writing itself, but overall lacked coherence, interesting plot, characters and character relationships.

Content Warnings

angelicathebookworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ever since reading and falling in love with Karen M. McManus’ novel debut One Of Us Is Lying, I’ve been looking for something just as good if not better to devour. Then I stumbled across Chelsea Pitcher’s This Lie Will Kill You with its cover claiming it to be for fans of the McManus novel like myself and so I had to give it a read.

Pitcher’s novel plays with a common classic crime fiction and detective story trope—the suspects are gathered by the detective for the big reveal. But instead of a protagonist detective, the five teens are condemned by an unknown figure to relive that fatal night until the whole truth, and some of their own secrets, come to light. The suspects are each invited to partake in an exclusive murder mystery night where the one who reveals the killer, gets to walk away with a scholarship and the prize money. Their invitations come with instructions to wear a specific outfit and bring a particular item which all link to the character they have to play—an exaggerated version of themselves. It quickly becomes apparent that each character parallels one found in the popular board game Clue with Juniper as Mrs Peacock, Ruby as Miss Scarlet, Parker as Mr Green, Brett as Professor Plum, Gavin as Colonel Mustard, and the mysterious figure who supposedly brought them all together as Mrs White. I really liked this detail, I’ve yet to come across it before in a book and it made for the novel to be that much more intriguing.

The narrative style is similar to that of McManus’ novel with each chapter switching to a different character but instead of using first-person narration, the novel uses the close third person. With this narrative choice, I did find that their characters were not as well developed—for the most part, they stuck very closely to the various common archetypes they’re based on such as the nerd and the outcast with little added depth—and they weren’t as memorable or distinct from one another. While I didn’t have much problem with the narrative style, there were a few jarring moments with the narrative as the chapters jumped between five different voices and constantly jumped between the present and various points in the past.

I loved the beginning of the novel. It was set up beautifully, the plot started off strong, and the tension and atmosphere created by Pitcher were unbelievable. During the second half of the novel, when the main plot twist started showing a little early, was when the tension started to slip and the novel kind of lost me. Overall I found the plot a little bit messy and the twists weren’t that unpredictable but nevertheless an enjoyable read. The plot really isn’t that realistic either and while that didn’t actually bother me it might be something worth keeping in mind. One of the things I did really love about the plot, however, was the fact that there wasn’t really any violence or death which was what I was expecting. At first, I was a bit disappointed but then I really enjoyed the fact that it was quite thrilling even without those particular things.

While I found the characters fairly interesting and enjoyable, they weren’t as strongly developed as I would have liked. While I didn’t mind that they are all pretty terrible people (they all had a part to play in a suspicious death after all) when aspects of their pasts are revealed to give them more depth and evoke sympathy it just didn’t quite work for me. While overall the characterization wasn’t the most detailed, I did quite like Gavin—our surprisingly not that typical highschool outcast—and I did actually feel sorry for Brett when his past comes to light. Ruby’s character was very surprising though, both in good and bad ways and was particularly surprised to see her parallel the femme fatale figure which is a popular trope of crime fiction. Characterization definitely was a mixed bag for me with Juniper being a little bit annoying in my opinion but Parker was a well-written despicable (can I say ‘asshole’ in a review?) character.

Romance and relationships also played a huge part in the novel and every single one of the ‘secretly in love with’ romances mentioned throughout was super predictable. What I wasn’t expecting though, and was actually quite disappointed in, was the fact that the interesting relationships were merely mentioned and glossed over whilst the more stereotypical ones were showcased and I can’t quite figure out why. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the more interesting ‘secretly in love with’ ones were developed more.

While there weren’t many aspects that I overly loved about this novel, there wasn’t much terribly wrong with it either. Even though while writing this review it doesn’t seem like a 4-star rating, I definitely think that the pacing at the beginning and throughout was it’s saving grace along with a couple of decent plot and character developments. Overall, it’s a pretty good young adult mystery novel perfect if you’re looking for a super fast-paced quick read or a good palate cleanser.

For more reviews like this one, check out https://angelicacastilloking.wordpress.com/

Content Warnings

More...