Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day.

Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out--he's been working two jobs since his family's business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up.... again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They'll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they've barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say...

Until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school--and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it's about to get worse.

It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they're all hiding something.

Now they're all wondering--could it be that their chance reconnection wasn't by chance after all?

From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It's Ferris Bueller's Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly--and fatally--wrong.

Reader Reviews

Chelsea Humphrey

(3/5)

145

Nov 21, 2024

"It takes less than 15 minutes for me to realize this was a huge mistake."My relationship with Karen McManus's books remains intact; I seem to enjoy her series more than her stand alone novels, although I might be getting to the point where I need a little more than the same formula from her from here on out. Don't get me wrong, I love a good YA mystery as much as the next person, but eventually we have to switch up the characters and their actions at exact moments in each book for things to fee...

☀︎El In Oz☀︎

3.5/5This book definitely is Karen M McManus’ worst. It’s not necessarily a bad book, it just lacks the usual suspense, romance, and well developed characters her other books have. And I think it’s pretty obvious why that’s the case.This book takes place over the course of a single day. One. The last chapters take place after of course but most of this book is an hour by hour account of what happens. And at first I thought this would make for a high stake and quickly paced plot, but it was reall...

Rachel Reads Ravenously

3 stars I don’t know what it is about Karen M McManus, but I’ll read any book she writes. Even though I think at this point, I’ve disliked more than I’ve enjoyed by her.Three former friends randomly decide to skip school one day, each of them not wanting to face what the school day has to offer. While out, they spot another student skipping school and follow him into an abandoned building, and then shortly discover his dead body. Now faced with being a the wrong place wrong time, they scramble

Blake

(5/5)

Inject this straight into my eyeballs please

C.G. Drews

I really enjoy a good McManus thriller (my favourites beingTwo Can Keep a Secret and The Cousins. I whipped through this one in a day and definitely enjoyed the chaos element. The three main characters manage to make a huge mess, confess their worse secrets, and stumble into a drug ring ALL because they decided to skip school for one day. Stay in school, kids. But the ending was so easy and the villains super incompetent, so I kind of ended feeling flat.Ivy, Cal and Mateo, who used to be friends...

Eva Sharma

There's a cover and a blurb!!I put this on my TBR before the synopsis was even there because it's McManus. It can't go wrong, none of her books ever do! (I refuse to count The Cousins as one of her books.) The cover is amazing and the title is too, just like all her other books (again, discounting The Cousins).

liv

962

might as well give karen m.mcmanus my card details cause she knows i’m buying every book she publishes

Tucker (TuckerTheReader)

583

daph pink ♡

(2/5)

475

I believe now is the time for Karen to consider a different plot or type of character, and to abandon the obvious clichés in favour of a more original and engaging plot..

megs_bookrack

302

**3.5-stars**After high-strung teenager, Ivy, loses the student council election at Carlton High to the class clown, Boney Mahoney, she's horrified. How could this happen?!The following day, Boney is supposed to be giving a speech addressing the school, thanking them for his victory. Ughhhh, Ivy can't face that.Luckily, that morning she runs into her two estranged best friends, Cal and Mateo, in the parking lot before class and the three decide to skip school together and head into Boston for th...

paige

(4/5)

YOOOO DO I SMELL A SEQUEL???

Baba

Ivy (rich parents, but living in the shadow of all-round genius younger brother), Cal (an outlier with very few friends if any) and Mateo (dark and brooding, but now working three jobs to help support his ill single mother, who recently loss her business) used to be best friends in their very early teens, and recall their highlight, the greatest day ever when they skipped school together. Circumstances pull these three together on a skip school day again, only this day ends in murder, with one o...

Avani ✨

Karen M McManus, known for her thrilling murder mystery plots and excellent choice of characters amongst them, You'll Be The Death of Me is another well plotted book by the author.Our three main characters - Ivy, Mateo, Cal find themselves stuck between the murder of a fourth high school student who, they three know at individual level. Although the plot was very well articulated, I felt the characters could have been better.In terms of plot and characters, I would also want the author to experi...

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You'll Be the Death of Me

You'll Be the Death of Me

You'll Be the Death of Me

More books from Karen M. McManus

One of Us Is Next

One of Us Is Lying

Two Can Keep a Secret

The Cousins

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Um de Nós Está de Volta (Um de Nós, #3)

Reader Reviews