YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME

Three estranged friends ditch school and end up involved in a murder.

In sixth grade, Cal O’Shea-Wallace, Ivy Sterling-Shepard, and Mateo Wojcik skipped school, enjoying a day so fabulous that it sealed their friendship for the rest of middle school. Since entering Carlton High, the three have barely spoken to each other—until one particularly rough day during senior year when they run into each other and spontaneously decide to do it again. Overachiever Ivy just lost the student council election, Cal got stood up by his maybe-girlfriend, and Mateo is simply tired from working two jobs to help his family. A drive into Boston is just the thing. The adventure takes a turn for the worse, however, when they accidently find the body of Brian Mahoney, who ran against Ivy for class president and won, and the media targets her as the culprit. But the three former friends are keeping secrets from one another, and what appears to be simply bad luck is actually part of something larger and more dangerous. With its fast-paced, twisty narrative and McManus’ hallmark perspective shifts between the three protagonists, this thriller is both a fun homage to Ferris Bueller’s Day Offand an exploration of how secrets and bad choices can escalate and bring harmful consequences. Most characters are White; Mateo is Puerto Rican and Polish, and Cal has two dads.

A master of the teen thriller delivers again.