I was a bit dubious about the first-person narrative when I first started this story but, despite main character Jess herself admitting its limitations when it comes to a murder mystery, the author pulls it off really well and it actually does work.

The plot is good fun, with the mixture of private school shadowy shenanigans reminding me of the old Nightmare Hall series by Diane Hoh (I loved my Point Horror as a teen!).

As an adult, I have to admit that the plot is pretty far-fetched – to give an non-spoilery example, why on earth would an adult, male, private detective confide his entire case to the teenage girl he is interviewing as a suspect?! – but it was still an entertaining read if you can suspend your disbelief and just go with it.

The writing is witty and dry and explores some big issues about privilege and misogyny under the cloak of the mystery plot.

I did work out some of what was going on early – I am a little older than the target audience! – but was still hooked enough to keep reading right to the end. As an adult reader, I found it a bit silly but fun, but I am pretty sure that as a teen I would have loved it!

What an amazing book! I Really enjoy a YA mystery book and this one did not disappoint if you are a fan of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson then you'd love this one.

I really enjoyed the characters, I really thought each one had a great story to tell. I loved finding out the background information for each character to learn a little bit about each of them.

Was so addictive, and couldn't put it down!

This book kills is a brilliant young adult thriller that gripped me so much I couldn't put it down. At Jess' boarding school, one of her classmates is found dead, and that's after she has written a short story in which the victim died just like her classmate. Except Jess didn't kill him, did she? When she gets a thank you note from the killer, she knows she's moved to the top of the hit list.

I really liked the boarding school setting and could picture the whole place as if it were a movie. I felt the same way about the plot and the many characters who all have their rough edges. Starting with the shy protagonist Jess, who could convince me from the beginning. She is different from the other students of the boarding school, which is not only shown by her skin color but also by her origin from a poor family. She has difficulties to fit in at the boarding school which is not exactly improved by the murder. Nevertheless, it helps her to become braver and more self-confident and to make new friends, for example Tommy, who she has had a crush on for a long time.

Some of the storylines were very familiar, even though I couldn't place them in another book, but others were completely new and literally swept me off my feet. I never would have figured out who the real killer was. The mystery was a lot of fun and the suspense kept rising. I'll definitely read the book a second time to see if I can spot the hidden clues the second time around.

If you love Murder Mystery stories for young adults, you will find a highlight in This Book Kills as I did. In between the thriller elements, important themes are covered and there is no shortage of fun.


German:
This book kills ist ein genialer Jugendthriller, der mich so gepackt hat, dass ich ihn nicht mehr aus der Hand legen konnte. An Jess’ Internat wird einer ihrer Mitschüler tot aufgefunden, und dass nachdem sie eine Kurzgeschichte geschrieben hat, in der das Opfer genauso starb wie ihr Mitschüler. Nur, dass Jess ihn nicht getötet hat, oder? Als sie dann eine Dankesnachricht vom Täter bekommt, weiss sie, dass sie auf der Abschussliste ganz nach oben gerutscht ist.

Das Internatsetting hat mir unglaublich gut gefallen und ich konnte mir das ganze Gelände wie in einem Film vorstellen, genauso ging es mir auch mit der Handlung und den vielen Charakteren, die alle ihre Ecken und Kanten haben. Angefangen bei der schüchternen Protagonistin Jess, die mich von Anfang an von sich überzeugen konnte. Sie ist anders als die anderen Schüler des Internats, was sich nicht nur durch ihre Hautfarbe zeigt, sondern auch durch ihre Herkunft aus einer nicht wohlhabenden Familie. So hat sie schon von Anfang an Schwierigkeiten im Internat Fuss zu fassen, was sich durch den Mord nicht gerade bessert. Und trotzdem verhilft ihr der, mutiger und selbstbewusster zu werden und neue Freunde zu finden. Allen voran Tommy, in den sie schon lange verknallt ist.

Einige Handlungsstränge kamen mir sehr bekannt vor, auch wenn ich sie nicht zu einem anderen Buch zuordnen konnte, andere jedoch waren komplett neu und rissen mich wortwörtlich vom Hocker. Nie wäre ich dahinter gekommen, wer der wahre Mörder ist, auch wenn das Rätseln einen Riesenspass gemacht hat und die Spannung stetig angestiegen ist. Ich werde das Buch bestimmt noch ein zweites Mal lesen, um zu sehen, ob ich die versteckten Hinweisen beim zweiten Mal entdecke.

Wer Murder Mystery Geschichten für Jugendliche liebt, der wird in This Book kills ein Highlight finden, so wie ich es getan habe. Zwischen den Thrillerelementen werden wichtige Themen behandelt und auch der Spass kommt nicht zu kurz.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Ok this book was definitely something. I loved how it had the elite school setting, with all the secrets. Jess was a great character, and i loved her development throughout the book. The structure of the book was good, and i like that it discussed race and social class. The mystery itself was very interesting, and kept me gripped. I will say, i guessed some of the plot twists but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment. The main plot twist shocked me though, so that’s testament to the authors great writing. I would definitely recommend this if you want a fast paced thriller, i really enjoyed my time reading it. And stayed up until 3am finishing the book!!
(*3.5)

This book was insane. I was hooked immediately and had a constant changing list of who I thought was the murderer the whole time. I was kept guessing right until the end. Don’t get me wrong I had my suspicions and one of them turned out to be correct, but there were so many other possibilities that I didn’t know what or who to believe.

This Book Kills is set in an elite boarding school where Jess is a scholarship student, so doesn’t feel like she always fits in. When Hugh is killed using the same method that was detailed in a short story she was writing with Summer for a class assignment, Jess tries to think nothing of it, until she receives a text thanking her for the inspiration. She is then determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and figure out who killed Hugh before she ends up dead herself.

My head was working in overdrive trying to figure out the murderer at the same time as Jess and I had suspects but they’d be proved wrong just as I thought it was definitely them, or there would be another red herring waiting for me just around the corner. I did suspect the murderer early on but didn’t think it was actually them until very close to the end, and I feel bad for suspecting others!

All I can say is please read this book if you love YA murder mystery and thrillers cause I was hooked and could not put this down.

When Hugh Henry Van Boren, the richest most popular student at Heybuckle boarding school, is found dead everyone is left shocked and wondering who the murderer could be. Especially Jess a scholarship student because her short story was the inspiration for his murder. When the other scholarship student Summer and Jess both start receiving death threats they decide to team up to find out who the killer is before they both lose their scholarships and get kicked out of school.

This was a very good ya thriller. Scattered with red herrings to keep you guessing it will keep you up all night wanting to find out the truth. Only disappointment was I figured out who the murderer was before it was revealed but I read a lot of thrillers.
Highly recommend and will definitely read more by Ravena Guron.

What a stunning story. It kept me hooked and I really enjoyed all the twists and uncertainties. A fantastic read for the 14+ age range.

What a great mystery young adult book, the narrator was amazing and made me feel completely invested in the characters! The characters were well developed and made the story. Lots of twists and red herrings. A great book for any young person looking to
try and mystery book.

This Book Kills by Ravena Guron follows Jess, a scholarship student at an exclusive boarding school only for the elite. The thing is, Jess might have played a part in the murder of one of the boarding school's most popular students.

First of all, can we appreciate how gripping the synopsis is. It's been a longgg while since I was ever interested in a YA (Young Adult) mystery book. I mostly read thrillers and mystery novels that deal with more adult themes, so the fact that I was instantly captivated by the synopsis of this YA mystery book was definitely a welcomed surprise. I love the idea that our protagonist is unknowingly involved in the murder mystery because it sets the character up to different conflicts– for example, being an unreliable narrator. I also enjoyed the fact that opening of the story is being told through Jess' journal– it's written in first person as she is recalling the events that took place in a journal to the reader. Our eyes into solving the mystery are through Jess' point of view.

Speaking of the mystery. This one was such a good mystery. It could be that I'm a bit rusty in my mystery-solving skills, but I genuinely did not expect a lot of the plot twists in this book. Even though I guessed the identity of the murderer before the big reveal, I was still fairly surprised by a lot of the revelations. The author added quite a few red herrings throughout the book that almost steered me off the right path, and added quite a few memorable clues that by the end of the book I found myself looking back at some of the subtle details and thinking "damn, I should've seen this one coming". There are some mystery books that are written as if the author is trying so hard to leave the reveal until the very end, purposely adding too many red herrings, or clues that barely make sense. This book, however, is written in a way that encourages readers to try and solve the murder mystery with the protagonist. It's well-written, engaging, and had me in it's grip from the very first page.

But you know what I love the most about this book: everything makes sense.

I've read enough murder mysteries books that I've been a victim of outrageous plots and endings that make no sense whatsoever. The motive is stupid, it's revealed that the murderer is a not even a secondary character but a background character that interacted with the protagonist once throughout the entire book. This Book kills, however, makes sense. By the end of the book, the clues became clearer, the motive made sense, and the muderer was an actual character in the book that we are familiar with . Whether I figure out who the suspect is or not does not affect how I rate a book; what matters more to me is whether it all makes sense in the end.

This book is a perfect example of how to write a good, solid YA mystery. It will instantly enthral you until the only thing you can focus on is finding who the suspect is and solving the mystery.

The characters were all enjoyable to read about. Jess was a great protagonist. She's diligent, easy to like, and such a breath of fresh air amongst the elitist mentality that some of the other characters seem to hold. We get such a great cast of diverse characters that we get follow along throughout the book. I love that each character has their own little moment to shine (and becomes a suspect ) at one point in the story. I appreciated the conversations relating to privilege and classism. Despite being a small topic in the book, it's still there.

There's a point in the book, before the big reveal, where readers are encouraged to make their predictions–even leaving a few pages blank to write down notes for suspect names and motives– and to have a final suspect in mind. For me, I love creating my own theories and predictions whenever I read books in this genre, so I love that this book encourages readers to interact with the literature and to do more than just read. I really, really enjoyed that little element.

To conclude, I am so thankful to NetGalley and (even though I am a couple of months late to reading this book) for providing me with an eARC of this fantastic book. I would highly recommend this book for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen M. McManus, or those looking for a solid YA murder mystery.

4 stars.

I can't believe I didn't read this book earlier - it's absolutely amazing! Although I haven't read many YA Murder Mystery books, I do enjoy a good murder mystery, and this book definitely ranks highly. The writing is fantastic and had me captivated right from the beginning. The protagonist, Jess, is a charming and relatable character who I found myself rooting for. I felt like I was racing against time with her to solve the murder before she became the next victim.

The story is full of surprises, including scandals, corruption, and red herrings, but it also features heart-warming moments of new friendships and character development. The characters are all brilliant, and I appreciate how the story showcases the various facets of their personalities depending on their company, which is a key element in unravelling the mystery.

One unique aspect of this book is the opportunity to make your own guess about who the killer is just before the reveal. The author provides a space for readers to write down their thoughts and even includes a QR code to refresh their memory of key points. This feature made the reading experience even more immersive and made me feel like a real amateur sleuth.

Overall, I highly recommend this book and plan on buying a physical copy for myself. Thank you to NetGalley and Usborne Publishing for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Perfect YA murder mystery. Just enough realism to keep it on the right side of feasible, I loved the main character, Jess and the development of her friendships throughout the story. Great twists and turns and the final reveal was a satisfying 'Ta da' moment. Looking forward to reading more from Ravena.

This Book Kills is a YA murder mystery set at a private boarding school for the rich and elite. Jess is a scholarship student from a less affluent area of London who finds herself at the centre of a murder mystery attempting to save her from losing her scholarship.

I’m a massive fan of a good mystery thriller, so this was an extremely tame and light version of what I am used to. Nevertheless, for a YA thriller, it was pretty good and I would recommend it to teens interested in exploring the murder mystery/thriller genre.

The plot was good and the character development and dialogue were well-written in a unique style. The writer attempted to highlight some bigger issues (e.g. racism, bullying, sexism), which maybe could have been better addressed, but the focus was kept on the murder mystery.

The ending was easily guessed, but maybe not to a novice murder-mystery reader, and it felt very YA (I don’t want to give it away but when you read it you will understand).

Thank you to NetGalley, Usborne Publishing AND Ravena Guron for this book.

Loved this one! A great twisty teen read that’s not too dark for the younger end of the teen / YA spectrum.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I really enjoyed This Book Kills. Watch out, Karen McManus, because Guron is on your heels! The plot was satisfyingly twisty but also, once you knew the killer, the seeds had been planted right from the start. I often figure out these kinds of things quite early but Guron kept me guessing until almost the end. I also really loved the interactive element of pausing the story to ask the reader who they think it is. I would say though that just once I'd like to see once of these novels based on normal teens and not ones with ridiculous privilege...!

Thanks #Netgalley and author @ravenaguron for my e-arc copy of #ThisBookKills in exchange for my honest review.

Loving thrillers, I was really intrigued of the concept of this one. Especially as it was a debut. I couldn’t wait to start reading.

I was not disappointed, I found it fit really well into the YA genre. It was an easy read, with the main character comparable to the likes of the well known fictitious, Nancy Drew book character.

I found the pace of this novel to be brilliant with just the right amount of twists and turns.

I can’t wait to read more from this author in the future and am intrigued to see her development, and award it four of the five stars.

I am truly loving ya thrillers at the moment! This is the story of Jess, who begins this book by telling us who the murderer of ever popular, very rich Hugh, is, only it was never going to be that easy, was it? We follow a huge rage of people in a very rich boarding school where Jess is a scholarship student, and are sent all around as we try to figure out who the murderer is, as other murders happen and tick other people off the list! There’s a nice touch that you can scan a code near the end of the book and play detective. Of course this caught me unaware and being sick in bed without a phone I couldn’t do this but I did guess the killer. (I lie, the killer was in my head at one point then I discounted them lol!!) With threatening text messages and notes adding to the attempts to throw us off, and the dodgiest school illuminati type set-up-I was so invested and am definitely recommending!
Very enjoyable. Thanks so much to the publisher for the book in return for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5

This is such a popular genre for my students right now and I have no doubt this will be another smash with them. A cosy mystery with all the Agatha Christie vibes - great read!

In the author’s bio, she comments on having discovered Agatha Christie in her teens, and you can see that reflected in this book. The ‘cosy crime’ vibe that makes Christie so popular is well captured, and turned into a young adult novel, perfect for those first entering the murder mystery department as well as long standing sleuths.

Jess is a very likable character, and I felt a lot in common with her. I am white, however I was also a scholarship student at a major private school, and the pressures to do and be everything perfect was huge. I could relate hugely to that aspect of her struggles, and it was a total throw back to being a teenager all over again (although thankfully there were no murders to solve in my year!). In this case, it puts her at both an advantage and disadvantage for investigating: it works in her favour as she can exist in the back ground, but puts her at a loss trying to get other students to speak to her.

The dynamics that shift and change throughout the pages, with the discoveries made and suspicions growing are fascinating, and well plotted. The characters feel real, as do the ways in which they behave and react, in all their eccentricities and flaws. Guron’s clever writing makes this an accessible, intriguing mystery, leaving you to wonder at the darker side of academia, and what exactly people might be willing to kill for.

Overall, this was an easy, enjoyable read, and one that will certainly go down on the list of books – and authors – to watch when it comes to young adult mysteries. A very welcome addition to the shelves, and I look forward to what the author produces next.

*4.5 Stars*

Jess Choudhary is one of the two students of her year with a scholarship, she's always felt like an outsider but, at least, she has her best friend, Clem.
When the richest and most popular guy in their year, Hugh Henry Van Boren, gets murdered and Jess's story is used as inspiration for it, she has to do whatever she can to find out what happened. Especially since Hugh was Clem's boyfriend and death threats are coming Jess's way…

What's better than a boarding school story? A murder mystery in a boarding school of course!!
I really liked that story. I really do enjoy books set in boarding schools and this one was a good one. It did take me some time to fully get immersed in it but once I was in, I was IN. I finished it at like 4am, I could not stop reading. I just had to know and that's the sign of a good mystery. I kept guessing at it, but I wasn't sure until the actual reveal. I also loved how the main character was layered and so interesting from the very first chapter. She also grew a lot throughout the book and I loved that.
The book also talked a lot about racism, social status and how we should eat the rich (not really but kinda) and I loved that. It truly brought yet another layer to this.
To summarize, this had a very good plot, a great main character, interesting secondary characters and great multiple intrigues. I really loved it and I think you would too.