This Book Kills is a young adult mystery that tries to cram a few too many subplots into one book.
Jess is one of only two scholarship students at the prestigious British prep school Heybucket. She is constantly worried about losing her scholarship and embarrassing her ethnic Indian parents. Meanwhile, her best friend Clem (short for Clementine-Tangerine) is glad to be away from her parents, who have always been more concerned with their business than with her.
When Clem’s boyfriend, Hugh, is found murdered on school grounds, suspicion falls on Hugh’s ex-girlfriend, Millie. After all, she had just threatened to kill him for cheating on her with Clem. However, Jess soon receives a text thanking her for helping with Hugh’s murder. It seems that the absurd murder scene is straight out of a short story that Jess wrote. There is also a side plot about a secret society at the school that bullies the students. And, of course, the police are totally incompetent and basically do nothing throughout the book.
I realize that This Book Kills is marketed for young adults but some of the many subplots seemed to be to cribbed from other, better, books. The poor scholarship student angle has been done to death in classic literature. Secrets societies at prestigious prep schools are no surprise either. Overall, this book is recommended only for preteens who haven’t had much reading experience. 3 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an advanced review copy.