A review by jennilathrop
How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine

dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book is fine. Just... fine. The main character, Alice, loves Scream and this book is a pretty solid knock-off of Scream. This is a YA book and I am not a YA, but I feel like Alice was pretty dumb as our hero/narrator. While spending all of her time comparing what would be happening in this moment in a horror movie, she misses every. single. clue pointing at the actual killer. Like, Valentine almost hands Alice a card saying, "The killer is...." but here obsession with horror movie tropes stops her from seeing what's going on.

The writing was fine. I don't think this was a great example of storytelling, but it was't the worst thing I"ve read.

And I did NOT like the ending. I don't mind a vague ending, but this was stupid.
It was Alice's sister Claire all along who just wanted to be famous. And when Alice returns to the present, Clair is alive and everyone else is dead but Alice doesn't know if she agreed to her sisters plan or what is going on.
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