LIVE YOUR BEST LIE

The suspects are photogenic, but don’t let that fool you—some are rotten to the core.

Summer is the #PerfectlyImperfect influencer; every part of the 16-year-old Angeleno’s online life is cultivated and calculated. But everything goes out the window when her Halloween party takes a few unexpected turns. The make-believe of a murder-mystery party becomes all too real when Summer winds up dead. With her highly publicized tell-all book contract, there’s no shortage of suspects—it seems like everyone has a motive for wanting to keep secrets from coming to light, including ex-boyfriend Adam, best friend Grace, stalker Cora, and rival influencer Avalon. Whose secret is worthy of murder? The combination of flashbacks, Instagram posts, and police transcripts woven into the third-person narrative from multiple perspectives gives the book a pleasingly varied feel. Summer’s older social media posts must be reexamined in a new light whenever secrets are revealed. This passive-aggressive influencer wants to watch the world burn, and she drops hints about her revealing memoir in posts scheduled in advance of her death. The racially diverse cast members act like true teenagers, making mistakes like withholding information and playing detective. In the end, public perception is what matters most, and they will need to play their cards right to come out looking innocent despite suspicion thrown on them by entries from Summer’s account. Fans of Pretty Little Liars will devour this series opener.

A debut that keeps throwing curveballs with lies to piece together and mysteries to unravel.