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A review by read_with_steph
You're So Dead by Ash Parsons
2.0
Great concept, extremely poor execution.
As a huge fan of Agatha Christie's classic And Then There Were None, and a closeted consumer of both the Netflix and Hulu documentaries on the disastrous Fyre Festival, I was prepared to love this YA spin. Unfortunately, this one just missed the mark. I didn't love the writing or really any of the characters, and found myself skimming a majority of this novel. I wanted to know what happened so I didn't DNF, but the ending wasn't clever enough to leave me feeling satisfied at the end. Without Christie's intricate plot-mapping and confounding explanations for everything, I was just left feeling, "Oh, okay, they're the killer." Nothing about the ending was particularly unexpected or exciting, despite having our MC being chased by an actual serial killer.
I will say, I think this has the potential to be a great teen slasher comedy movie. I could see this playing much better on the big screen, where the characters' annoying personalities are more humorous than grating, and some of the scenes have the added benefit of visuals and special effects. So, despite not really enjoying the book at all (and wouldn't recommend it to others), I'd consider seeing a movie based on it.
Edit: Also, it was an incredibly poor idea to give two characters short names starting with "J." In a cast book like this, it was nearly impossible to keep track of who was who, so I gave up trying.
Thanks to Penguin Teen for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.
2 stars - 3/10
As a huge fan of Agatha Christie's classic And Then There Were None, and a closeted consumer of both the Netflix and Hulu documentaries on the disastrous Fyre Festival, I was prepared to love this YA spin. Unfortunately, this one just missed the mark. I didn't love the writing or really any of the characters, and found myself skimming a majority of this novel. I wanted to know what happened so I didn't DNF, but the ending wasn't clever enough to leave me feeling satisfied at the end. Without Christie's intricate plot-mapping and confounding explanations for everything, I was just left feeling, "Oh, okay, they're the killer." Nothing about the ending was particularly unexpected or exciting, despite having our MC being chased by an actual serial killer.
I will say, I think this has the potential to be a great teen slasher comedy movie. I could see this playing much better on the big screen, where the characters' annoying personalities are more humorous than grating, and some of the scenes have the added benefit of visuals and special effects. So, despite not really enjoying the book at all (and wouldn't recommend it to others), I'd consider seeing a movie based on it.
Edit: Also, it was an incredibly poor idea to give two characters short names starting with "J." In a cast book like this, it was nearly impossible to keep track of who was who, so I gave up trying.
Thanks to Penguin Teen for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.
2 stars - 3/10