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rachcannoli 's review for:
Nothing More to Tell
by Karen M. McManus
Four years after the unsolved death of her teacher, Brynn moves back to her former school and the scene of the crime, but she is still unable to shake what actually happened. She pitches the cold case to a popular true crime podcast and ends up snagging an internship that requires her to dig a little deeper and do some investigative work at her school, including one of the three students who found the body, ex-best friend Tripp. But she quickly learns that she may be sticking her nose where it doesn't belong very much putting herself in danger.
McManus has the YA thriller novel down, to varying effectiveness, but for the most part I really enjoyed this one! First off, I really liked our two leads, they remind me a ton of former characters from the ONE OF US IS LYING series. Brynn is a TON like Bronwynn (though less annoying) and Tripp reminded me of a mix between Nate and Knox, so needless to say they were both enjoyable, likable characters and I liked both of their POVs. I also appreciated the mix of Tripp having been involved in finding the body while Brynn is the one searching for answers and they end up meeting in the middle. I enjoyed their relationship, though I don't know if I fully bought Tripp carrying a torch for her all this time and the moment he drunkenly admits to it the switch is flipped in their dynamic. But for the most part I enjoyed their journeys.
I really liked the multitude of red herrings and most of the reveals as they came, but I unfortunately do think it tripped at the finish line. There was a solid moment where I thought they truly weren't going to tell us what happened to the teacher only to then exposition dump what happened in the epilogue. While it was one of my theories, it was a weaker one and felt very lacking when it was exposited to us. So while on the whole I did enjoy this one, I think it lost a bit of the plot by the end and felt like a weaker version rom the ONE OF US IS LYING universe, which since it's shown to take place in the same world, it literally is. Not my favorite from her, but definitely better than her worst and still a fun thriller overall.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON
The multiple red herrings and the slow drip reveal of them was truly the best thing about this story, it had me second guessing it all book long. The only person I was 100% certain of it couldn't be was Tripp since he's the dual lead and that has never been McManus's MO, though maybe a cool twist for the future. I first suspected Shane, as did everyone, but he was far too obvious. I definitely did not expect her friend Mason to be the secret brother of Mr. Larkin. I do wish we got a bit more hints to him, I'd have to go back to confirm, but I don't remember him ever acting stiff or awkward at the mention of him, the only hint that something was amiss with him was that he was hysterically sobbing at the old grounds keeper's funeral, who also clearly knew Mr. Larkin wasn't a fully great dude with the 'he got what he had coming to him' comment, so I do wish Mason had a bit more hints, but I loved that reveal and that he was just the poster vandal, nothing to do with the death.
That was another great thing about the reveals, they all turned out to be circumstantial and mostly unrelated. Like Mason was the poster vandal and Tripp's horrid mother was the one sending threatening text messages and who stole the field trip money. Tripp's mom is straight up the WORST! She couldn't give two shits about her son and literally only wants to speak to him if it benefits her. Like she only reaches out to him when she believes his involvement in this cold case will get her time on a sleazy tabloid show and when he doesn't cooperate she almost fully sells him down the river and frames him as a psychopath, genuinely garbage. But of course her having stolen the money supports Tripp's fear that his father killed Mr. Larkin and he was the one who accidentally framed Charlotte with the money envelope to get the scent off his father. I was also pretty positive his dad was innocent, though similar to Mason, I wish he had more of a role before his reveal. Like maybe some sketchy moments or stilted conversations with Tripp or moments of him trying to protect him from his mother etc. I liked that Tripp never told him that he suspected him of literal murder, but the moment of Tripp confessing to believing he also stole the money was so sweet and showed how much his father really does care about him. I was very much relieved it wasn't Brynn's young uncle either. He was an early red herring from the beginning, so seemingly sweet and around the same age as Mr. Larkin so I feared he was involved somehow. But it felt very unlikely from the suspects I had and he really had zero motive, so I'm glad he was just another innocent who unluckily happened to communicate with Mr. Larkin on that day and Shane saw him.
This is when the plot went a bit off the rails to me with the whole who actually is Mr. Larkin and the reveal of his father being this horrid, abusive dude who now owns a pawn shop. It's an interesting reveal and the scene of Brynn fucking up and showing the medallion to Dexter and running off was genuinely tense and stressful, though just backed up that Brynn is such an idiot for running off and doing all this shit by herself, like sure Tripp was in the car, but she literally could've gotten murdered. There's one point were Tripp is like, 'you could've done all this same stuff by just calling' and that's how you know it was stupid. And then he showed up at the dance, kidnapped Brynn's sister believing it to be her and they all ran off to chase him. Mind you, Brynn is currently interrogating her uncle to see if he's a murderer, it all seemed too much even for this crazy book. And while again, the scenes were tense I was annoyed thinking, ok but he's not the murderer, so why do I care? He never knew his son was even dead before Brynn came looking for him. Also their entire relationship is SO confusing. Mr. Larkin and his dad were clearly not in contact, otherwise he would have figured out he were dead after four years. Clearly he went looking for his brother, who we now know is Mason, and at first it seemed he just wanted to apologize and reach out to the last vestige of family, but then he reveals he's going to tell their dad about who he is and where he's been hiding, putting Mason and his mom in danger, but like, why? So with all this backstory I wanted some smoking gun or big reveal for why Mr. Larkin sucked so bad, but it just felt super confusing and strange. I don't know why he'd go through all this trouble, for a dad he clearly doesn't even speak to? And for what, to get back in his good graces? It just didn't add up or make any sense. But then the dad threatens the crew he'll kill them if they don't give up Mason's name, mind you, Tripp, Brynn, and her uncle got in a car accident chasing this fool and her uncle straight up almost dies, but wakes up just in time to kill this fucker by running him over, which then only fucks his injury up more to the point where they have to put him in a medically induced coma to save him, it's WILD and really felt too much. And after all this craziness I was still over here like, ok, but who the fuck killed Mr. Larkin?!?! Are we really not gonna answer this???
So I suspected Charlotte when they mentioned that the rock that killed Mr. Larkin wasn't actually that heavy so I kid could've done it. Then Charlotte mentions in the library there are a lot of versions of bad people and her reacting to Mason not being the brother, instead of Shane who she believed it to be, made me pretty much sure it was her. BUT I just wish there was more of a reason and a better reveal. The only reason we're given is she did it to protect Shane, and some of this stems from Mr. Larkin being such a confusing, murky character to begin with. I kind of wish she had some sort of tussle with him or she heard worse, I don't know, but then we're just told this theory by Brynn straight up exposition dumping in the damn EPILOGUE! And even then Charlotte's like 'lol you have no proof bye' and that's all we get. And all this for Shane?! Someone who was def going to dump her before this traumatic experience and then did anyway YEARS later? I'll truly never understood the devotion, you have to really love someone to kill for them and I just don't quite get it. So while I don't hate her being the killer, I feel like she'd be wracked with FAR more guilt than she's ever shown to, like Tripp is having mental breakdowns on the regular just for thinking he covered up for his dad, let alone actually being the one who killed. I don't care if it wasn't even her intention, it seemed a bit sus, I just wanted more and by shoving it into the epilogue I was never going to get that.
So yeah that's the bonkers plot, most of it worked pretty well, I just think it tripped at the finish line. I did quite like Brynn and Tripp, though I wish their relationship was better done. Their dynamic was far too similar to Bronwyn and Nate, but not done as effectively. Tripp theoretically has had a massive crush on Brynn for ages and then is horrible to her because he believed she saw the envelope his father 'took' and she'd figure out the truth, so he pushes her away. It's a solid enough reason, but I wish we saw more yearning, more of his fear and when he comes clean more of a slower build to their relationship. I didn't dislike it, it just felt like a box McManus wanted to check and I wanted it to be done a little better, also maybe change it up a bit. I feel like Tripp's lack of funds/hope for getting a scholarship plot just gets dropped other than he didn't get it and Brynn goes from journalism and the Motive internship being her everything to quitting for Tripp's trust, with no follow up on that, to pretty much solving the case or giving them juicy enough info that they want her to come back which she declines, but then decides she will, it's just too wishy washy. I don't mind the plot of her recognizing how dangerous what she's doing is and being horrified of the repercussions her actions have wrought, but similarly to the romance I don't think it was built up enough, it just was all of a sudden debilitating to her, but she gets over it as soon as her uncle is cool, like it was too quick of emotional shifts.
All in all though I had fun, not perfect, but still quite an enjoyable ride. I really like McManus's thrillers, they're never SO obvious that it's frustrating and there's always a ton of twists to keep me on my toes. I think these are two of her better characters, and honestly it was nice to just have a dual POV, I think it kept the flow of events a lot cleaner and allowed them both to equally shine, problems I've had with some of her other books. But I would've added 50 or so more pages to flesh it out a bit more and not have to rush to the finish line for the sake of drama.
McManus has the YA thriller novel down, to varying effectiveness, but for the most part I really enjoyed this one! First off, I really liked our two leads, they remind me a ton of former characters from the ONE OF US IS LYING series. Brynn is a TON like Bronwynn (though less annoying) and Tripp reminded me of a mix between Nate and Knox, so needless to say they were both enjoyable, likable characters and I liked both of their POVs. I also appreciated the mix of Tripp having been involved in finding the body while Brynn is the one searching for answers and they end up meeting in the middle. I enjoyed their relationship, though I don't know if I fully bought Tripp carrying a torch for her all this time and the moment he drunkenly admits to it the switch is flipped in their dynamic. But for the most part I enjoyed their journeys.
I really liked the multitude of red herrings and most of the reveals as they came, but I unfortunately do think it tripped at the finish line. There was a solid moment where I thought they truly weren't going to tell us what happened to the teacher only to then exposition dump what happened in the epilogue. While it was one of my theories, it was a weaker one and felt very lacking when it was exposited to us. So while on the whole I did enjoy this one, I think it lost a bit of the plot by the end and felt like a weaker version rom the ONE OF US IS LYING universe, which since it's shown to take place in the same world, it literally is. Not my favorite from her, but definitely better than her worst and still a fun thriller overall.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON
The multiple red herrings and the slow drip reveal of them was truly the best thing about this story, it had me second guessing it all book long. The only person I was 100% certain of it couldn't be was Tripp since he's the dual lead and that has never been McManus's MO, though maybe a cool twist for the future. I first suspected Shane, as did everyone, but he was far too obvious. I definitely did not expect her friend Mason to be the secret brother of Mr. Larkin. I do wish we got a bit more hints to him, I'd have to go back to confirm, but I don't remember him ever acting stiff or awkward at the mention of him, the only hint that something was amiss with him was that he was hysterically sobbing at the old grounds keeper's funeral, who also clearly knew Mr. Larkin wasn't a fully great dude with the 'he got what he had coming to him' comment, so I do wish Mason had a bit more hints, but I loved that reveal and that he was just the poster vandal, nothing to do with the death.
That was another great thing about the reveals, they all turned out to be circumstantial and mostly unrelated. Like Mason was the poster vandal and Tripp's horrid mother was the one sending threatening text messages and who stole the field trip money. Tripp's mom is straight up the WORST! She couldn't give two shits about her son and literally only wants to speak to him if it benefits her. Like she only reaches out to him when she believes his involvement in this cold case will get her time on a sleazy tabloid show and when he doesn't cooperate she almost fully sells him down the river and frames him as a psychopath, genuinely garbage. But of course her having stolen the money supports Tripp's fear that his father killed Mr. Larkin and he was the one who accidentally framed Charlotte with the money envelope to get the scent off his father. I was also pretty positive his dad was innocent, though similar to Mason, I wish he had more of a role before his reveal. Like maybe some sketchy moments or stilted conversations with Tripp or moments of him trying to protect him from his mother etc. I liked that Tripp never told him that he suspected him of literal murder, but the moment of Tripp confessing to believing he also stole the money was so sweet and showed how much his father really does care about him. I was very much relieved it wasn't Brynn's young uncle either. He was an early red herring from the beginning, so seemingly sweet and around the same age as Mr. Larkin so I feared he was involved somehow. But it felt very unlikely from the suspects I had and he really had zero motive, so I'm glad he was just another innocent who unluckily happened to communicate with Mr. Larkin on that day and Shane saw him.
This is when the plot went a bit off the rails to me with the whole who actually is Mr. Larkin and the reveal of his father being this horrid, abusive dude who now owns a pawn shop. It's an interesting reveal and the scene of Brynn fucking up and showing the medallion to Dexter and running off was genuinely tense and stressful, though just backed up that Brynn is such an idiot for running off and doing all this shit by herself, like sure Tripp was in the car, but she literally could've gotten murdered. There's one point were Tripp is like, 'you could've done all this same stuff by just calling' and that's how you know it was stupid. And then he showed up at the dance, kidnapped Brynn's sister believing it to be her and they all ran off to chase him. Mind you, Brynn is currently interrogating her uncle to see if he's a murderer, it all seemed too much even for this crazy book. And while again, the scenes were tense I was annoyed thinking, ok but he's not the murderer, so why do I care? He never knew his son was even dead before Brynn came looking for him. Also their entire relationship is SO confusing. Mr. Larkin and his dad were clearly not in contact, otherwise he would have figured out he were dead after four years. Clearly he went looking for his brother, who we now know is Mason, and at first it seemed he just wanted to apologize and reach out to the last vestige of family, but then he reveals he's going to tell their dad about who he is and where he's been hiding, putting Mason and his mom in danger, but like, why? So with all this backstory I wanted some smoking gun or big reveal for why Mr. Larkin sucked so bad, but it just felt super confusing and strange. I don't know why he'd go through all this trouble, for a dad he clearly doesn't even speak to? And for what, to get back in his good graces? It just didn't add up or make any sense. But then the dad threatens the crew he'll kill them if they don't give up Mason's name, mind you, Tripp, Brynn, and her uncle got in a car accident chasing this fool and her uncle straight up almost dies, but wakes up just in time to kill this fucker by running him over, which then only fucks his injury up more to the point where they have to put him in a medically induced coma to save him, it's WILD and really felt too much. And after all this craziness I was still over here like, ok, but who the fuck killed Mr. Larkin?!?! Are we really not gonna answer this???
So I suspected Charlotte when they mentioned that the rock that killed Mr. Larkin wasn't actually that heavy so I kid could've done it. Then Charlotte mentions in the library there are a lot of versions of bad people and her reacting to Mason not being the brother, instead of Shane who she believed it to be, made me pretty much sure it was her. BUT I just wish there was more of a reason and a better reveal. The only reason we're given is she did it to protect Shane, and some of this stems from Mr. Larkin being such a confusing, murky character to begin with. I kind of wish she had some sort of tussle with him or she heard worse, I don't know, but then we're just told this theory by Brynn straight up exposition dumping in the damn EPILOGUE! And even then Charlotte's like 'lol you have no proof bye' and that's all we get. And all this for Shane?! Someone who was def going to dump her before this traumatic experience and then did anyway YEARS later? I'll truly never understood the devotion, you have to really love someone to kill for them and I just don't quite get it. So while I don't hate her being the killer, I feel like she'd be wracked with FAR more guilt than she's ever shown to, like Tripp is having mental breakdowns on the regular just for thinking he covered up for his dad, let alone actually being the one who killed. I don't care if it wasn't even her intention, it seemed a bit sus, I just wanted more and by shoving it into the epilogue I was never going to get that.
So yeah that's the bonkers plot, most of it worked pretty well, I just think it tripped at the finish line. I did quite like Brynn and Tripp, though I wish their relationship was better done. Their dynamic was far too similar to Bronwyn and Nate, but not done as effectively. Tripp theoretically has had a massive crush on Brynn for ages and then is horrible to her because he believed she saw the envelope his father 'took' and she'd figure out the truth, so he pushes her away. It's a solid enough reason, but I wish we saw more yearning, more of his fear and when he comes clean more of a slower build to their relationship. I didn't dislike it, it just felt like a box McManus wanted to check and I wanted it to be done a little better, also maybe change it up a bit. I feel like Tripp's lack of funds/hope for getting a scholarship plot just gets dropped other than he didn't get it and Brynn goes from journalism and the Motive internship being her everything to quitting for Tripp's trust, with no follow up on that, to pretty much solving the case or giving them juicy enough info that they want her to come back which she declines, but then decides she will, it's just too wishy washy. I don't mind the plot of her recognizing how dangerous what she's doing is and being horrified of the repercussions her actions have wrought, but similarly to the romance I don't think it was built up enough, it just was all of a sudden debilitating to her, but she gets over it as soon as her uncle is cool, like it was too quick of emotional shifts.
All in all though I had fun, not perfect, but still quite an enjoyable ride. I really like McManus's thrillers, they're never SO obvious that it's frustrating and there's always a ton of twists to keep me on my toes. I think these are two of her better characters, and honestly it was nice to just have a dual POV, I think it kept the flow of events a lot cleaner and allowed them both to equally shine, problems I've had with some of her other books. But I would've added 50 or so more pages to flesh it out a bit more and not have to rush to the finish line for the sake of drama.