You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by tashasbookishcorner
Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by L.M. Chilton
3.0
Not gonna lie I thought a book called Everyone in the Group Chat Dies would involve a group chat more than it did.
The story follows Kirby, who was a real mixed bag as a protagonist. Despite being a journalist she doesn't seem to think things through or do proper research a lot of the time. She doesn't know when to keep quiet and seems quite easily led. I do think this was intentional however, so she is a bit different from your usual protagonist. In a way I quite liked that, she wasn't necessarily the most competent person but she tried anyway and was tenacious and cared. On the other hand she was quite annoying. As I say, mixed bag. Her friends (except maybe Dylan) weren't too fleshed out or likeable and I didn't really feel like they had that strong a bond which sort of undermined the book.
I think the main problem is that this book is 75% flashback and 25% present day. This throws the pacing off and means we race through the present day storylines with no real opportunity to find out what the other characters lives are like now, how they were impacted by the past event, or for Kirby, or the reader, to process their deaths (I don't consider this a spoiler, it's in the title). We just rush through it all and gloss over some things in the conclusion. There was a nice slower bit on the roof where Kirby phones her mother and breaks down where I really felt for her, if there had been more slower, emotional character moments like that I think the book would have been better personally.
I do think the worldbuilding was good, Crowhurst was a believable boring English town, nothing really going for it in the modern day but with its own weird quirks and lore. I liked the commentary about the dark side of true crime, the potential ethical implications, the impact on the victims and victims families, how sensationalizing these stories can lead to people being desensitized, how some people use these tragedies for personal gain.
Overall, there were some good bits to the novel but I think the unequal focus on the past caused a lot of problems.
The story follows Kirby, who was a real mixed bag as a protagonist. Despite being a journalist she doesn't seem to think things through or do proper research a lot of the time. She doesn't know when to keep quiet and seems quite easily led. I do think this was intentional however, so she is a bit different from your usual protagonist. In a way I quite liked that, she wasn't necessarily the most competent person but she tried anyway and was tenacious and cared. On the other hand she was quite annoying. As I say, mixed bag. Her friends (except maybe Dylan) weren't too fleshed out or likeable and I didn't really feel like they had that strong a bond which sort of undermined the book.
I think the main problem is that this book is 75% flashback and 25% present day. This throws the pacing off and means we race through the present day storylines with no real opportunity to find out what the other characters lives are like now, how they were impacted by the past event, or for Kirby, or the reader, to process their deaths (I don't consider this a spoiler, it's in the title). We just rush through it all and gloss over some things in the conclusion. There was a nice slower bit on the roof where Kirby phones her mother and breaks down where I really felt for her, if there had been more slower, emotional character moments like that I think the book would have been better personally.
I do think the worldbuilding was good, Crowhurst was a believable boring English town, nothing really going for it in the modern day but with its own weird quirks and lore. I liked the commentary about the dark side of true crime, the potential ethical implications, the impact on the victims and victims families, how sensationalizing these stories can lead to people being desensitized, how some people use these tragedies for personal gain.
Overall, there were some good bits to the novel but I think the unequal focus on the past caused a lot of problems.