Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Last to Die” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Last to Die

Kelly Garrett (Goodreads Author)

3.06 · Rating details · 999 ratings · 197 reviews

It all started out as a game.

Just a way to have fun. We figured as long as we had rules, it wouldn't be a problem.

RULE #1: Only break into one another's houses.

RULE #2: Only take stuff that can be replaced.

It worked for a while. Whoever's turn it was to break in got a rush, and the rest of us laughed over the trophies they brought back. But then someone went too far. Lives ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 157 pages

Published April 4th 2017 by Poisoned Pen Press

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Last to Die, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.06 ·

Rating details

· 999 ratings · 197 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Last to Die

Oct 01, 2019 Chelsea Humphrey rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, from-publisher

While experienced readers may find the conclusion predictable, this was still a solid debut from an author that I look forward to following in the future. Teens may find the characters more relatable than I did, although I think this is a fun, light mystery for all ages! If you're searching for a YA caper that feels modern with a captivating cover-look no further.

*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy via NetGalley. ...more

flag 56 likes · Like · see review

Apr 04, 2017 Sarah Joint rated it really liked it

A 3.5 rounded up to a 4. It's a strong start for a debut novel, and I'm excited to see what the author comes up with next. There were a couple of things that kept me from a higher rating: I occasionally had a hard time keeping track of the characters and their motivations, particularly in the beginning. And I didn't completely buy the ending. It's still a nice quick read that I enjoyed. Good for YA readers, particularly those that love a little mystery.

Teenager Harper and her friends have a stra ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Nov 12, 2019 JenacideByBibliophile rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-ya, mystery-thriller-ya, coming-of-age, murder, fiction-ya-teen

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, via Netgalley and Edelweiss+ for an honest review.

Opinion:

Burglaries, Teen Angst, Competition and Murder?!

description

Why, it’s positively sinful!

Harper and her friends have spent the last weeks of their summer doing what regular teens do. Drinking, beach days, trips to the mall, a smattering of experimental drugs and a casual burglary or two. With strict rules to only steal replaceable items from each of their houses, marking their ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Sep 01, 2020 Audrey rated it it was ok · review of another edition

So the premise of the book totally had me in a pseudo-Bling Ring kind of way:

A group of teens who are seemingly rich and privileged, but become bored with just drinking and recreational drugs for a good time, devise a "game" where they break into people's houses for the thrill of it. There are a bunch of rules they have to follow and they up the ante to keep things interesting....

....And then someone dies!

Sign. Me. Up.

Unfortunately, that's about the time the book fell flat on its face. And give So the premise of the book totally had me in a pseudo-Bling Ring kind of way:

A group of teens who are seemingly rich and privileged, but become bored with just drinking and recreational drugs for a good time, devise a "game" where they break into people's houses for the thrill of it. There are a bunch of rules they have to follow and they up the ante to keep things interesting....

....And then someone dies!

Sign. Me. Up.

Unfortunately, that's about the time the book fell flat on its face. And given that the book is ~240 pages the flat fall happened fast. From the time of the death (Murder? Accident?), our main character Harper is convinced one of her friends is behind it and the whole (short) book was her just saying "It was X", "X did this", "I'll get X". Ummmm....go tell the cops. Why are you even friends with these people? This friend group barely seems to even like one another. And also no one seems remotely upset over one of their friends dying.

I was intrigued enough to see what was going to happen next because surely it was going to get better, right? WRONG. No tension. Fairly flat characters. Questionable parents. Cliche moments.

Points for the idea, but this book was a hard no for me.

And that ending. (view spoiler)

Hate to say it, but wouldn't waste your time with this one. There are far more compelling YA thrillers out there to check out. ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Apr 02, 2018 Kelly Brigid ♡ rated it it was ok

Shelves: arc, mystery, young-adult

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I went into this book with fairly high expectations. The synopsis of it intrigued me, but I'm sad to say that I was left feeling disappointed. This book had such great potential, but it unfortunately couldn't pull through. Although this book is a light murder mystery, there was hardly any suspense at all. People's houses are broken into, friends are murdered, yet, there wasn't any tension. Everything was regard I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I went into this book with fairly high expectations. The synopsis of it intrigued me, but I'm sad to say that I was left feeling disappointed. This book had such great potential, but it unfortunately couldn't pull through. Although this book is a light murder mystery, there was hardly any suspense at all. People's houses are broken into, friends are murdered, yet, there wasn't any tension. Everything was regarded in a "what's done is done" manner, and the friend group moves on, without dwelling long on the matter.

One of the reasons I didn't enjoy this novel, was because I wasn't a fan of the protagonist, Harper. I understand that her moral compass isn't exactly straight, but lacks all emotion and empathy. Her close friends die, and she replies to their fate with sarcastic remarks? I also didn't feel as if she had a genuine connection with any of the other characters, except her younger sister. There was multiple opportunities for her to form deeper bonds with her boyfriend, Gin, and brother, Daniel, but she chooses to ignore these moments. The dialogue between the characters wasn't very unique, and all of the friends were cliche, cookie-cutter teenagers. They didn't have any depth or layers to them, which was unfortunate. While this book deals with break-ins, we hardly every see any actual burglaries, which was disheartening. Also, it was hard for me to believe that no one connected all the burglaries back to the teenagers. It's well known that most of them are close friends, yet they didn't find it the least bit odd that all of their houses were robbed?

The mystery was very predictable, but it was still entertaining enough, watching it unfold. There was great potential with the story, but I didn't enjoy the bland characters or their unrealistic actions and decisions. I did really liked how the story never dragged on; the whole book is barely 150 pages, so the pacing remained consistent. Overall, I wasn't very impressed by the execution of this novel, but it still had a few redeeming qualities and is an easy read to fly through in a few hours! ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Jan 21, 2020 Beth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2020, 2019-release, mystery, young-adult, young-adult-fiction, xx-blue-50

* I received an arc of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review *

The mystery was intriguing to keep reading but wasn’t anything to particularly write home about. It was pretty easy to find out who was behind everything even though there were plenty of red herrings.

I loved the setting of this book. A good isolated location with a small amount of characters. Unfortunately I didn’t really like any of the characters enough to care about what happened to them.

I do think this was a stro ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Oct 18, 2019 Jennifer rated it liked it · review of another edition

I am getting really tired of books with non-endings. Seriously?

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Apr 03, 2017 J. Taylor rated it it was ok

I received this book from the publishers through Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

2.5 While I liked this book fine I wasn't overly impressed with it. Harper, the main character narrator, was very cold, like her friends are dying around her and she reacts to their death in the coldest manner. There should be a hell of a lot emotion, yet Harper barely reacted. This book is a mystery, yet the characters didn't really think hard about looking for clues, they just had this one suspicion and I received this book from the publishers through Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

2.5 While I liked this book fine I wasn't overly impressed with it. Harper, the main character narrator, was very cold, like her friends are dying around her and she reacts to their death in the coldest manner. There should be a hell of a lot emotion, yet Harper barely reacted. This book is a mystery, yet the characters didn't really think hard about looking for clues, they just had this one suspicion and barely did anything with that either. Did it keep me changing the pages? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Yes.

This book is about a group of friends who break into each others houses for fun. When the ring leader of the group Alex decides to go after bigger and greater things like other people's houses and stealing higher valued objects, one of the group members ends up dead of an expected overdose, or was it murder?

With this novel, I really expected more. It felt like there was this baseline and then not much was built on it. Like the brother in rehab whenever he came home, he was just there and then gone, not much was put into his character. The parents were very one dimensional, they were just the asshole father and the mother who loves her alcohol too much. Harper was very closed off and cold, and it was hard to like her. The friends weren't layered enough either. Like I said with the baseline, there was this potential to be built on it but it never was.

What was good about this novel was that I really enjoyed it. There wasn't a point where I was at all disinterested or found it unlikable. It's easy to devour as it's so short and set at a decent pace, meaning that there weren't any lags and was a breeze to get through. The sister bond was really well done. The boyfriend was cute.

So what I thought on the mystery. Be aware that it's a very light mystery in that there's not a lot of urgency and panic about being the next victim, and the characters don't really think hard about it, they are just like oh it's that guy and that's that. (view spoiler) ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 17, 2020 ☀︎El In Oz☀︎ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: least-favourite, disappointing, 2-star, ya, mystery, ya-mystery

2/5
that ending was awful. why tf would she go to jail? after killing in self defense, killing a murderer? after he essentially tried to kill her? sorry but that's not how it works. I liked Harper a lot as the MC and that ending I will pretend does not exist. awful. other than that this book i felt was too short to be a good mystery. ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Oct 06, 2019 Lindsay♫SingerOfStories♫ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-reads

I read this book as an ARC provided to me by Edelweiss and the publisher -- all opinions are my own.
This book is set to publish on November 5th, 2019.

Harper and her friends are basically an average group of teenagers until one day they decide to take a little risk. One friend in their group--Paisley--is going out of town for vacation so the rest of the group decides to try their hands at burglarizing her house. They set a list of rules: only steal things that can be replaced (i.e. no precious fa I read this book as an ARC provided to me by Edelweiss and the publisher -- all opinions are my own.
This book is set to publish on November 5th, 2019.

Harper and her friends are basically an average group of teenagers until one day they decide to take a little risk. One friend in their group--Paisley--is going out of town for vacation so the rest of the group decides to try their hands at burglarizing her house. They set a list of rules: only steal things that can be replaced (i.e. no precious family heirlooms), don't completely trash the place, things like that. Eventually they hit everyone's house within their group. They thing the fun and games are over until someone suggests they branch outside of themselves. Now the stakes are raised.

I won't talk plot much more than that for fear of spoiling the book if you decide to read this one. Here are my opinions: I picked the book up because I thought the cover looked dark and creepy, the synopsis looked unique, and it sounded like a mystery/thriller. What I took away from the book was the most angsty main character I have ever encountered, no darkness or creep factor (maybe one scene and it wasn't the ending or with the ultimate bad guy/killer, I actually figured this one out early on and I never figure books out (and I mean, literally--this is the first book EVER!!)!! And on top of that, my logic for choosing who I chose to be the killer wasn't even the person's logic! Or at least, they didn't mention it. Harper tried to use it against him/her (as in, she probably figured it out, but the killer had no reaction. So like, what??!!

In the book's defense though, it did keep me reading. It was short and quick so I did want to find out how the title tied in with the story and how the book played out. Its terribly tragic to have a chain of teenagers dying in books. AND Harper's little sister, Maggie, is deaf and I thought she was a really strong side character. All of the main characters acknowledge her fairly and take great care of her so I loved seeing that as well. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 05, 2017 PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps rated it really liked it

Thank you to Poison Pen and NetGalley for allowing me to review this complimentary ARC copy of LAST TO DIE in exchange for my honest review.

Harper and her wealthy friends rob each others' homes for fun, following careful rules. Steal nothing that can't be replaced, and nothing personal. When two in their group die under separate, mysterious circumstances, she wonders whether someone is targeting them and if so, is that individual one of their own.

Kelly Garrett created an imperfect, not always li ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 05, 2019 amanda rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-reviews

This was a fine debut but not particularly original or heart-stopping. I was disappointed in a lot of the misogynistic language in the beginning and I'll be honest I had to force myself to continue. I don't think we should encourage that especially if this is geared towards teens, Saying that drinking makes a teen aged girl easy isn't a nice message.

The protagonist sucked point blank. She was crude to the point of being flat out unlikable and made me not care about the story line altogether. Th ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 29, 2016 A.V. Geiger rated it it was amazing

This YA mystery is completely binge-able. I received an ARC, and I devoured the whole thing in one gulp. The story follows a group of six bored high-schoolers who rebel against their wealthy parents by robbing each other's homes. The narrator is Harper, a tough, edgy bad-girl. She's not entirely likable at the beginning (and she's not supposed to be), but she has her reasons for acting the way she does. As things go awry and the tension builds, her character is forced to grow and confront her ow ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2020 Jessica Torres rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Hmmm when I started this book I was enjoying it a lot, but then nothing happens. It has no sense. Harper was such a Brat, her friends die and she’s just saying jokes and things. My favorite character was Gin, he always was so sweet to Harper and Kind to Maggie.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2020 Lost in Book Land rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Welcome Back!

This is such an exciting time here on the blog! I spent a lot of time this past weekend making a ton of updates and changes to the blog and I am loving how everything is turning out so far. I have a bunch more changes planned and I intend to keep rolling them out as the week goes on. I am excited to see how the final product looks as I finish bringing the changes to the site in the near future! If you see any new features you like (or any you would like to see) definitely let me kn Welcome Back!

This is such an exciting time here on the blog! I spent a lot of time this past weekend making a ton of updates and changes to the blog and I am loving how everything is turning out so far. I have a bunch more changes planned and I intend to keep rolling them out as the week goes on. I am excited to see how the final product looks as I finish bringing the changes to the site in the near future! If you see any new features you like (or any you would like to see) definitely let me know in a comment. While I was working on all of these changes, I was of course listening to an audiobook! I saw this audiobook on my Hoopla and decided to jump on the chance to listen to it, it was only about four hours (meaning I could finish this in one sitting, which is a huge plus for me)!

SPOILERS AHEAD

A group of high schoolers decides the play a game, but this is not your normal game. They decide to break into each other's houses when their families are away. There are only a few rules to the game. Only break into people's homes who are in the group, only 1-2 people at a time will participate in the break-in, and they will only take things that can be easily replaced. The game worked out for a while until one robbery goes wrong and a pair almost gets caught. After this mishap, most of the people in the group decide to stop playing the game. However, one member refuses to let the game come to an end.

I was really interested in reading this book. I thought the plot sounded super interesting and that when things started to go wrong we might even dive into thriller type territory. However, things fell a little flat for me in that aspect. I felt like we spent a lot of time building up to the robbery that went wrong and then we had very little time on the action of the plot. Something I did enjoy about this book, was the main group of characters. My favorite characters were the narrator as well as her sister (I honestly wish we got more time with both of them and that the plot had been extended a bit, maybe we got more time with the action). If you are interested in giving this book a try for yourself check out your Hoopla or Libby app through your library!

Goodreads Rating: 2 stars

**Thank you to the publisher for the Netgalley copy ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 12, 2020 Courtney McGhee rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: thrillers

Such a disappointment. I won’t give away any spoilers, but this book just wasn’t very good. The plot, the characters, the ending. None of it was satisfying.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 09, 2020 Cassie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book is just...not good. I was really looking forward to reading this one because the concept is very original: a group of friends agreeing to break into each others' houses for fun, but gets taken too far. I received this book for Christmas as it's not available through my library system, and I brought it with my on my plane ride to Japan as I'm resolving to read more books I own this year. To say I was disappointed is an under-statement. The characters lack depth and are frankly written.. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 12, 2016 Sheryl Scarborough rated it it was amazing

What can go wrong when group of bored, rich kids decide to liven things up by stealing from each other's homes while their families are on vacation? Take an interesting cross-section of bright, but bored high school-aged characters, add in parents in various stages of "don't get it." Apply the pressure of self-destructive competition and then start killing them off one at a time. What you get is The Last to Die by Kelly Garrett. The I-didn't-see-it-coming ending is truly the best part, but getti ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2019 Jill Bautista rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I honestly have no idea where the plot of the book went, or why the characters were the way they were. Harper has an attitude because of her family situation, but other than that I don't see anything else. As for the character's actions, it just fell flat of the reasoning of why, and the ending of the book really did seem like there was more to the book, but it just ended. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2020 Tiffany Lloyd rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow!!! I could not put this book down. Different than what I was expecting but really good. The main character harper is an ass didn't care for her. But it turned out to be a great book ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2020 Kelsey Lewandowski rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I really hated the ending of this book. It was rushed and felt very forced. There was a good opportunity to have a massive twist but it was totally missed. Not much build into the mystery either. All in all a miss for me. On the plus side, it was a quick and easy read. Great for the beach!

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 05, 2020 Lauren rated it liked it · review of another edition

I found it hard to connect with the characters. The ending wasn’t satisfying for me, and I didn’t feel like there were plot twists which the summary promised. It was just okay.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2020 Callie F. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my mom took me to Target to get a few books. She’d figured we’d be stuck at home for a while, and that was before I had a job, so I knew I’d be sitting around doing nothing all day. While browsing through the shelves, I picked out a book I had been wanting to read for a while. I was only planning on buying the one book, but my mom suggested I should get another one. That’s when I saw The Last to Die. I’m a sucker for mystery books, so the title roped m
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my mom took me to Target to get a few books. She’d figured we’d be stuck at home for a while, and that was before I had a job, so I knew I’d be sitting around doing nothing all day. While browsing through the shelves, I picked out a book I had been wanting to read for a while. I was only planning on buying the one book, but my mom suggested I should get another one. That’s when I saw The Last to Die. I’m a sucker for mystery books, so the title roped me in from the beginning. And I’m so glad it did.

The Last to Die is a book about a group of six friends, who come up with a plan to break into each other’s houses as a joke. The only rules were to only break into one another’s houses, and to only take things that could be replaced. Once each of the six houses had been broken into, one of them suggests that they take it to another level, and break into someone else’s house, someone who has no knowledge of the game. But after that night, one of the friends ends up dead. She dies from an overdose, and her death is ruled an accident. Except her friends know her better than that, and they know she wasn’t the type to accidentally overdose. Between trying to figure out what really happened, while still trying to keep their whole game a secret, the five remaining friends start to turn on each other. Are they right in accusing each other, or is this a time when they should have each other’s backs?

My favorite part about this book was the ending. Easily. It’s not easy to talk about the ending of the story and not spoil it, but this one needs to be talked about. It was so expected, yet unexpected at the same time, the best kind of ending. For the last thirty or so pages, it felt like there was a new twist on each page. It was almost like you could see what direction the book was going in, and how it was going to end, but then comes another twist and everything changes. Overall, this was one of the best endings I’ve read in a story like this.

The only thing that didn’t work was how I found this book somewhat hard to follow. It might’ve been because it was spread out over the span of three months, or that I’ve had a lot on my mind, but I definitely struggled with following it. At first, I found it difficult to learn who each of the characters were and their relationships to each other. Once I got that down, I had a hard time following the plot and what was going on, especially with all the twists. Other than that, I loved this book.

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely give it a 10/10. It had the perfect balance of predictability and twists. I love mystery type books, especially ones that are set around high schoolers or teenagers in general. I will be recommending this book to anyone who needs a good recommendation!
...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 05, 2017 Rachel Mitchell rated it it was amazing

A quick summary before things get a little more spoiler-y.

*I loved this book
*I read it in a night- super bingable!
*I loved that it included a deaf character and EXTENSIVE talk about ASL, learning to sign, her life at school vs. home. etc.
*This book is about complicated teens. They aren't nice, and I think that comes across as cold or bratty to some, but I thought it was incredibly realistic. Fans of "The Female of the Species" and "The Secret History" will love this book.

*on to more detail belo A quick summary before things get a little more spoiler-y.

*I loved this book
*I read it in a night- super bingable!
*I loved that it included a deaf character and EXTENSIVE talk about ASL, learning to sign, her life at school vs. home. etc.
*This book is about complicated teens. They aren't nice, and I think that comes across as cold or bratty to some, but I thought it was incredibly realistic. Fans of "The Female of the Species" and "The Secret History" will love this book.

*on to more detail below!*

If you're looking for a soft, docile book about teenage problems, this isn't the book for you. Harper is a girl that is already totally confident in herself. She does bad thing and speaks her mind, because she doesn't see the point in acting like everyone else. Ruled mostly by her own wants (and a little by loyalty to her boyfriend and her deaf sister Maggie) she takes the normal angsty high school narrative and elaborates on it as a shark, noticing everything and not worrying too much if she has to get her hands dirty.

Harper's group of friends are all rich, and decide that stealing from each other's houses is a fun way to pass the time. These are not simply drunken blunders into someone's house. They are meticulous and it is shown how much they plan what happens, and the effects on a friendship when someone breaks the rules. You wonder if they even like each other a lot of the time! I loved reading about Harper's friends. It really shows that friendship can be complicated and even bad for you at times.

Harper's home life consists of an alcoholic mother, a brother in rehab, and a father who is constantly at the office and can't be bothered to learn ASL well enough to communicate with his other daughter. All of the teenagers have a lot of scorn for their parents and their super rich problems, but exposure to another girl in their class shows Harper that her way of living isn't the norm. This really humanized her for me, and the book plays a lot on how much guilt is enough to make someone stop what they want to do.

The mystery itself was great. The story clearly leads one way, but the twist was entirely unexpected (no major spoilers!). In the end, there was punishment for the groups actions. It wasn't a book that could end in hugs and smiles, but I still felt satisfied finishing it.

Overall, I really enjoyed it! There were some pacing problems (I would have liked if the end hadn't jumped so far in time- you'll see when you read it) but other than that it was well thought out. I like strong and selfish characters and there were certainly a lot of those in this book. Five stars! ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 11, 2020 Tiffany Martin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Harper and her group of extremely wealthy friends partake in a dangerous game of breaking and entering into each other's homes, for "fun", as well as the houses of some of their other peers. And while they have ground rules, they are still committing major crimes. However, when one of them ends up dead, Harper is worried it is a murder and not the apparent suicide everyone says it is...and she suspects one of their group is the killer.

This was a really enjoyable mystery/thriller type read! It is ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2020 WS_BOOKCLUB rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, mystery

This was an oh dear book for me. The premise – a small group of friends, and the murderer is one of them – seemed interesting, but it lacked something in the execution. I’ll try to put my issues with this book into words, but please bear with me. My train of thought often jumps its track.
I will say that the author made a gutsy choice: not a single character is remotely likeable. I’m pretty sure that was deliberate. It was tough to read a book filled with horrible people, though. The closest thin This was an oh dear book for me. The premise – a small group of friends, and the murderer is one of them – seemed interesting, but it lacked something in the execution. I’ll try to put my issues with this book into words, but please bear with me. My train of thought often jumps its track.
I will say that the author made a gutsy choice: not a single character is remotely likeable. I’m pretty sure that was deliberate. It was tough to read a book filled with horrible people, though. The closest thing to a decent character is the main character’s sister, Maggie. Unfortunately, she was side character who wasn’t in the book nearly enough to balance the feeling of ick the other characters ooze.
As horrible as the characters all are, the main character is the absolute worst. Her internal dialogue is filled with scathing insults of her “friends,” she starts fights, frequently thinks about ways she can make people mad, and is flat-out horrible. One line in the book reads, “Nah, she wouldn’t kill herself. No way. She’d find some other way to get revenge.” How flipping awful is that? I think that line was the breaking point for me. I can’t stand when books imply suicide-as-revenge. That trope needs to go. I kept reading in the hope that one of the characters would grow a moral compass, but it never fully happened.
In this book, a group of privileged, bored teens take turns breaking into each other’s houses on a dare. They steal from their rich parents and get a rush out of it. Eventually, that starts to bore them too, so they decide to steal from someone outside their clique. That leads to murder, and suddenly anyone in the group could be next. The final motive felt a little forced to me. I couldn’t figure out what the impetus was, everything switched up so quickly.
I will say that the author’s idea was an interesting one. It just really didn’t work for me. As much as I can understand why this book might be enjoyable for many people, there were too many things that rankled at me. I won’t go out of my way to read anything else by this author, although I wish her the best of luck with this book and her writing career.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.hom... ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 14, 2017 Heaven rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, netgalley, ebooks

First off, thank you Netgalley and the awesome publishers for my copy of this new YA thriller.

I was hooked from the beginning. A bunch of rich teenagers get bored and decide to rob each others houses, what a wonderful idea, nothing could go wrong(insert eye roll).

The story is told in Harper's POV and I must admit I had a love hate relationship with. Yes, her character was sarcastic and at times extremely annoying but I believe the author really captured the way teenagers can be.

I think this is ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 06, 2020 Dawnny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-publishers

It started as a game. Some games should never be played. Six friends decide it would be fun to rob each other's homes, only taking items that are replaceable and their personal bedrooms are definitely off limits. They steal the items and then sell them at the pawn shop. All fun and games until one ends up dead,then another. A criminal minded teen drama. A game with serious consequences. It was pretty good a few good twist.

Thank you
Source Books Fire

Dawnny Ruby
Novels N Latte Review
Hudson Valley ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 07, 2020 Megan Leprich rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 4-star-review

About the only thing that I liked about this book was the storyline and the main character Harper. It wasn’t a bad book persay, just not full of any suspense or twists in my opinion. I wasn’t really shocked by the big plot twist at the end but I did really enjoy the authors writing. Harpers character was amazing and I couldn’t get enough of her. The ending of this book absolutely killed me though, what the hell was that?

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 11, 2020 Candice rated it liked it · review of another edition

I actually quite enjoyed this book - it is quick paced, intriguing and definitely has some great twists that felt like they popped out of nowhere to take my completely by surprise. I enjoyed the cast of mostly unlikable characters (they are my favorite), even though on occasion, it felt like they might have played better as adults than high school students.

One that you can fly through in an afternoon, as it is the perfect kind of binge read to spend a day with.op

flag 1 like · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
YA Readers and More!: The Last to Die (eveonne & laura)	3	3	Feb 21, 2021 09:57AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Mystery

40 users

Young Adult

30 users

Thriller

24 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

6 users

Mystery > Crime

4 users

Horror

4 users

Suspense

4 users

Fiction

4 users

Thriller > Psychological Thriller

3 users

Young Adult > Teen

3 users

See top shelves…

About Kelly Garrett

Kelly Garrett

37 followers

Kelly Garrett is a writer based in Portland, Oregon, and a 2020 Oregon Literary Fellowship Recipient. Her YA mystery THE LAST TO DIE (Poisoned Pen Press, 2017) was a 2018 Oregon Book Awards finalist and was reissued by Sourcebooks Fire in November 2019.

Kelly also writes under the pen name Emmeline Duncan. The first novel in her Ground Rules series, FRESH BREWED MURDER, comes out on March 30, 2021 ...more