By Dominique Tassell
Five Little Liars by Amanda K. Morgan follows five teens in summer school for various reasons, but nothing ruins summer like a secret…especially when that secret is a dead teacher.
Ivy is the fallen Queen Bee, Tyler is the bad boy who’s run out of second chances, Kinley is the perfect student who’d do anything to stay that way, Mattie’s only meant to be here for the summer, and Cade will do anything to protect himself.
With the police digging, the group needs to work together but seems destined to fall apart.
This novel was an easy weekend read but admittedly left a fair bit to be desired.
At times the plot, and the characters’ choices, seem a little out of the realms of reality.
Some elements of the book were a bit predictable and honestly, the cast of characters was overall pretty unlikeable.
The dynamics between the characters, who are all thrown together without knowing each other very well, didn’t totally make sense at times and as a reader, their connections when they buddied up weren’t fully explained.
I wouldn’t say this is a bad book but as a fan of books in the teen crime mystery slash thriller space, I’d say there are plenty of other books I’d recommend before I recommended this novel.
The first cab off the ranks is Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard, which follows the lives of four teenage girls following the disappearance of their friend, Alison DiLaurentis.
If you think you know the plot of the books because you’ve watched the TV series, trust me you don’t. The novels have a different, and much better, plot line in my humble opinion.
Karen M. McManus in general is a writer I’d recommend to readers looking for novels in this genre, but One Of Us Is Lying and Two Can Keep A Secret are two I’d put at the top of the list.
Now a TV series, One Of Us Is Lying follows a group of students who risk losing it all after their classmate dies in detention.
Two Can Keep A Secret centres on the town of Ellery, and the mysteries never solved there. Ellery’s aunt went missing there at age seventeen and only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now, Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.
Last on the list of recommendations for books in the teen crime mystery slash thriller space is They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman.
Set to be made into a TV series starring Sydney Sweeney and Halsey, this novel follows Jill as she recovers from the murder of her friend, Shaila, three years ago. Shaila’s boyfriend confessed to the crime, but now someone is texting Jill proclaiming his innocence.
All books discussed are available at Southern Downs Regional Council libraries.
