Information:
- Author: Trish Lundy
- Genre: Thriller, Contemporary
- Page Count: 376
- Year Published: 2024
Read This if You Like:
- YA Thrillers
- High School Stories
- Mysterious Boyfriends
- Lots of social commentary
- Soccer
- Main Characters with Dark Pasts
- Awkward Parenting Dynamics
- Good Old Blood on the Cover
Synopsis:
Lauren O'Brian has just moved to Happy Valley, Pennsylvania, and her life could not be any more complicated: her mom has gotten into a new relationship that is upending every aspect of Lauren's life, she's having trouble being accepted by the members of the school soccer team, and of course she's trying to make sure no one finds out about her nefarious actions she committed before she moved, turning her into a social pariah. One of the only things she can depend on is her new relationship with local rich boy Robbie Crestmont- but then Lauren learns of Robbie and his brother, Trevor's own dark secrets- mainly, that both of their girlfriends in the past 2 years ended up dead in suspicious circumstances, and naturally Lauren finds a piece of evidence at the Crestmont's families beach house that may finally prove that Robbie is truly a murderer. And if things couldn't become more complicated, not only does Lauren have to decide if she should truly end things with Robbie, but word of Lauren's past is starting to get spread around, and more events are occuring that prove there may be more to the case of the Crestmont's brothers dead girlfriends- and Lauren may be next.
Review/Opinions:
I was really stuck on how to start this review, so I really hope this ends up being a good intro:
I feel like ever since A Good Girl's Guide to Murder became the most popular YA thriller due to BookTok, there's been not only a rise in YA thrillers and murder mysteries overall, but especially in these kind of high school thrillers with a heavy focus on more true-crime like elements, social commentary, character's relationships, and edgier elements overall. I have read AGGGTM, and honestly found it a little overhyped and haven't finished the series (sorry), and I typically prefer the less dark, true-crime like thrillers, I believe that there are a few standout ones every once in a while. And I'm unsure if The One That Got Away With Murder is in that category. Now, I think overall it was a decent thriller, but the first main issue I had overall is that it doesn't really stick out much in the YA thriller scene- sure, probably an individual reader will remember it clearly, but overall it feels like it doesn't do anything new that will make it become the next breakout hit. And then there are my personal critiques of this work.
The main thing that I enjoyed about this book is that the actual mystery and thriller elements were done well. I absolutely love a main character with dark secrets, and Lauren fulfills that desire well, with the book slowly revealing what she actually did and her motives behind it quite smoothly. And there were plenty of plot twists- nothing really gasp-worthy, but certainly stuff I couldn't guess. And the pacing was pretty good too, with a minor or major twist occurring every 2 or so chapters. But I feel like there was a scene that would've made a good ending but it wasn't an ending- I genuinely thought this scene was the climax, but then I was like oh wait. There's still 100 pages left. , and realized it was just one big red herring. Plus, the main dramatic event here fell really flat because it went by too fast with limited description. Another thing I disliked was the sudden perspective change- the book was all in Lauren's first person perspective until there were two chapters from the villain's perspective in third person- which wouldn't have mattered if it haven't come completely unannounced so late into the book and if it didn't seem like a cringy villain monologue. But other than these nitpicks, I think the thriller elements were fun overall.
However, the same cannot be said about most of the characters. For starters, I was not a fan of the romance in this novel. I can't tell you how it ends up because it's technically one big spoiler that makes it really easy to find out what happens, but not only did Lauren and the love interest have no chemistry, but it also was a really stupid and illogical choice for Lauren to end up with. And I really don't care if my books have sex scenes or not, but starting the novel immediately with the book's only sex scene when we know nothing about the characters was& an interesting move. In addition, I don't like novels where the main characters get so much hate for their actions and just can't catch a break. Lauren was disliked by 90% of the teen characters in this book, and it got exhausting to read through her woes and the constant disapproval she received. But at the same time it was verified& because Lauren made some really irrational decisions at some points. However, I did enjoy how the novel highlighted Lauren's mom's new relationship and how it personally affected Lauren. Sure, there were some parts where I felt like Lauren and her mom's bickering were unnecessary because they already talked things through, but credit to the novel for focusing on a plotline of complicated families that isn't really explored in YA.
But overall, my least favorite part of this novel is how much social commentary it tried to shove into the story. Now, even as a person who primarily reads for fun rather than impact, I don't hate social commentary in YA. But I believe that for me to like social commentary, it needs to be done extremely well in a way that it doesn't take over the actual plot or only feels like the author is including it just to appear relevant. The main issue here was that the novel juggled a bunch of different themes and none of them really stood out as good social commentary. First, there's the commentary on consent and exploitation in relationships- which doesn't really get brought until the last chapter just to provide some last-minute motives for Lauren's character (but not in a way that encourages the negative stuff, thankfully.) Then there's the drug abuse themes, but every time this comes up, it's treated as a scandal or plot twist, which definitely is not how to make proper commentary on this, and there wasn't even anything that actually corresponded with the issues of drug use. Slightly better were the themes of memorializing loss, which I think should be explored more in murder mysteries, but even then every scene related to this just felt like filler for lame emotional impact. And even then, it feels like the commentary was shallow in some parts- eating disorders were mentioned in one or two lines but then completely ignored, which I found odd for a book that was focused on commenting on every single issue brought up. I feel like the author should've focused on one theme and fully researched and developed it throughout the story, instead of trying to juggle so many ideas that ended up falling flat. And the story overall was focused mainly on the thriller elements with the commentary not connecting to it at all, so it could've not existed and nothing would change.
Overall, I feel like this is a decent example of an average YA thriller- the 4 day reading experience I had for this was fine, but it's not going to be one of those novels I think about often. And between the issues like the less-than-desirable romance, the unlikable characterization, and the amount of social commentary that went nowhere, it's definitely not the phenomenon that novels like A Good Girl's Guide to Murder are. But I enjoyed the thriller elements and some of the lesser-explored themes, and would probably read whatever the author writes next- I just hope there's a teensy bit of improvement.