By Karen M. McManus

“Overall I really enjoyed this thriller. It definitely had a slow build-up, but it was worth it for McManus’s signature twists at the end. The familial and historical side of the adventure brought a really unique piece to the author’s familiar style. I’d recommend it to fans of other YA murder mysteries.”

Summary

Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story are cousins, but they barely know each other, and they’ve never even met their grandmother. Rich and reclusive, she disinherited their parents before they were born. So when they each receive a letter inviting them to work at her island resort for the summer, they’re surprised… and curious.

Their parents are all clear on one point—not going is not an option. This could be the opportunity to get back into Grandmother’s good graces. But when the cousins arrive on the island, it’s immediately clear that she has different plans for them. And the longer they stay, the more they realize how mysterious—and dark—their family’s past is.

The entire Story family has secrets. Whatever pulled them apart years ago isn’t over—and this summer, the cousins will learn everything.

My Thoughts

Another Karen M. McManus! This one was a pleasant surprise. I read You’ll Be The Death of Me the day before this one, so I was definitely expecting a similar plot/characters/everything. This was definitely a departure from her usual though. 

The premise really drew me in, I was excited to know why the family was disinherited, why the cousins were coming back, and discover the historical side of the mystery. This anticipation kept up throughout the book, even though the beginning was slightly slow. 

The characters were probably the weakest point. None of them felt flawed in any way. All of them had “the Story looks” even if one of them wasn’t even related (apparently he even looked like a J. Crew model). They all were apparently so impressive that they just had to come meet Mildred, and they were all so precocious that they were able to solve a three-decades old mystery. I never really felt attached to any of them, and consequently did not really care about whether or no they were in danger or if they would succeed in getting “re-inherited.” Some of them were very inconsistent, too. Jonah, for example, started out terribly rude and constantly acted as if he was too good for everything, but he quickly became a normal, non-vengeful person as the story went on. The could’ve just been his character arc, or maybe he was just pretending to be rude (for reasons you’ll find out), but it really felt like his personality and I was confused when it changed so quickly. 

Honestly, their relationships with each other were weird too. I’m not going to address the main romance plot in the book (too many spoilers involved with that) but I will say that even though it was revealed to be okay, I was not comfortable with it. I can’t really say anything else, but just… try not to be too confused when you read it. 🙂

I really enjoyed the family history aspect of the novel. It was interesting to watch the Story’s past unfold piece by piece, and I was definitely shocked at a few points in the timeline. I did get a little confused by the character names throughout (all of the A names got mixed together fast) but the dynamics between each and the dramatic irony of knowing how the Story sibling’s lives turn out brought a lot of dimension to the plot. 

I was definitely not a fan of how nonchalantly it portrayed some really controversial and sad stuff. It would be a spoiler to truly address it, of course, but watch out for that. If you’ve read my You’ll Be the Death of Me review, it seems McManus needs to pay a little more attention to topics that could be anxiety-triggering to some readers. 

Overall I really enjoyed this thriller. It definitely had a slow build-up, but it was worth it for McManus’s signature twists at the end. The familial and historical side of the adventure brought a really unique piece to the author’s familiar style. I’d recommend it to fans of other YA murder mysteries.