THE PLOT: ‘This Book Kills’ by Ravena Guron is a young-adult mystery set in an elite boarding school. Jess Choudhary’s scholarship to the prestigious Heybuckle School means she has to keep her record clean. An Indian girl from a North London council estate, she has to work twice as hard as her posh classmates. But when Hugh Henry Van Boren, one of the most popular and richest kids, is murdered, Jess finds herself at the centre of the investigation. Somehow, Hugh died in the exact same way as a character in a story Jess wrote and there’s an anonymous text thanking her for the inspiration. With time running out, Jess has to solve the mystery before she’s killed too.

SUMMARY:  This book was fine. I read it in 48 hours, the narrator had a strong voice, and I love the representation of a main character from Indian heritage. However, most of the characters were cartoonish and underdeveloped, it was very predictable and I guessed the murderer around half-way through. Is it a bad book? No. Will I remember it? Also, no. This book would be great for those who are big fans of YA boarding school stories. But for my tastes, I needed another layer to the story to make this book stand out in a crowded market place. It’s harsh, but I’ve read better versions of this book, so I can only give it three stars.

GOOD BITS: The main character tells her story in first-person past-tense, which allows the author to create a strong voice and a conversational tone. This quickly draws the reader in, while maintaining a sense of mystery about what our main character might be withholding or missing. I liked how the plot didn’t drag things out for too long (e.g., revealing the link between the short story and Jess early). Additionally, I liked Jess’s friendship with Summer and the romantic subplot with Arthur was well-executed and believable.  

NOT SO GOOD BITS: This is highly subjective but I think this book would be more original if it leaned into its Britishness. It feels like it’s trying to appeal to a U.S. market, but this makes it too bland. On a low level, there were simple things that felt too American (e.g. using the spelling ‘Heybuckle’ instead of ‘Haybuckle’ or ‘The Regia club’ instead ‘The Regiae’). For the big picture, they could have leaned into setting (e.g., an old Scottish castle for the school) and the aristocratic background of many students (e.g., drawing on the subtle snidey distinctions in class). Finally, the motivation for the murders was a tad ridiculous.

OVERALL: I’d recommend this book to fans of ‘Promise Boys’ by Nick Brooks, ‘Ace of Spades’ by Faridah Abike Iyimide, ‘Their Vicious Games’ by Joelle Wellington, and ‘Everyone’s Thinking it’ by Aleema Omotomi. However, I think these books have more unique spins on this same premise.

Thank you to Usborne for my #gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.