Abigail Haas

For fans of the New York Times bestseller One of Us Is Lying comes a page-turning crime novel with a shocking twist, inspired by the Amanda Knox and Natalee Holloway cases. Friends for life. Or death. Spring break. Aruba. Swimming, sunshine, and golden beaches. It was supposed to be the best time of Anna’s life. Paradise. But then the unthinkable happens. Anna’s best friend is found brutally murdered. And when the local police begin to investigate the gruesome crime, suspicion falls on one person—Anna. They think she’s dangerous, and they’re determined to prove her guilt. With the police and media sparking a witch-hunt against her, Anna is running out of time to prove her innocence. But as she digs deeper into her friend’s final moments, she finds a tangled web of secrets, lies and betrayal. Will she clear her name in time? And when the truth is finally revealed, it’s more shocking than anyone could have imagined...

I'll Never Tell

Kayce Champion 

** spoiler alert **
           Let me just tell you...I finished this book in a few hours. I couldn't put it down once I got into it. I was expecting this story to disappoint me, and at times, I was preparing for the inevitable pit of feeling upset if Anna got convicted of Elise's death. Then not only that BUT THE ENDING.

I am going to have to break this down in pieces because I am still trying to gather my senses. This book was previously titled Dangerous Girls and so when looking up more info behind it, I struggled for a minute because of the new title. Anyway...the story begins with a transcript of people calling the police after they find their friend dead. She was murdered. Then it cutes to the trip to Aruba for spring break. It's at the peak of the trip, all of the friends hanging out together and having a grand ol' time, enjoying the freedoms that Aruba has to offer. Everything seems good between the friends, nothing to point out, but knowing how the story is going, it is safe to say one of the friends is up to no good.

The book is broken into different phases of time from the trial of Elise's murder with Anna as the main and only suspect to flashbacks of the past before the trip and of course, moments on their spring break trip. The story is in first-person perspective so everything is to be understood in the rose-tinted glasses of a character. She describes Elise in a way that makes her seem closer than a best friend, like a soulmate. The moments where they become friends and grow closer up until the trip solidify an unbreakable bond. That is until more truths come out.

The Elise and Tate affair was something I called out from the beginning. At first I was disappointed. But then I thought, maybe the author intended to do that. That we would not be trying to decipher if something was going on between Tate and Elise but rather if Anna knew about it and if she did anything. Throughout the story, Anna claims she was unaware. However, through the story, small tidbits, such as Tate giving Anna the wrong necklace (giving her the one that belongs to Elise) as well as the commentary that Elise gives about Tate cheating on her, it seems Anna was playing dumb for the book. 

Let's talk about Mel. The character that obsesses with Elise and despises Anna for being closer to Elise than she can be. I wish there was more added about her, but seeing as it is from the perspective of Anna it makes sense that her along with Chelsea do not appear as often because this is not a story about betrayal from Elise by sleeping with Tate but rather a competition of love between Anna and Elise.

When Anna says "I win" at the end while holding Elise's necklace I was immediately taken aback. I had been convinced by Anna that she didn't do it. But that's the magic of storytelling. It was a story. Anna was not the only flawed character here. Dekker wanted to pin her and even if he was right, he mishandled and withheld evidence to prove it. He was outsmarted by a teenage girl. He had all the dots lined up and couldn't connect it. 

I don't think Anna really loved Tate, because I think, the story fixates on death and people leaving her. If she really loved Tate I think the story would be much different. To me, it's about how much did Anna and Elise love each other. Elise didn't want to share Anna. She proved that Tate wasn't worthy of Anna and she loved Anna so much she wanted to understand her, reason why Anna would want someone like Tate over her. She seemed to want more from Anna. Anna, on the other hand, when having the hindsight, didn't grieve her mother over loss, but rather because she "left her" and in some ways, sees her not wanting to do chemo as selfish. When I look back at that, that tells me Anna is twisted in a very dark way. Not just with her mother but with Elise and Tate. She didn't want Elise to leave her and so killing her was the way to go. To preserve herself as the last person with Elise. 

I also read someone mention the bet in the book where Elise tells Anna that Tate would break her heart to which Anna responds that she might be the one to break his. Elise responds that Anna doesn't have it in her to which Anna says, "wanna bet?" What if Tate was in love with Elise and that was the way she won this loosely placed bet. That could be another perspective to take.

All in all, I couldn't put this book down once I started. I think it is going to be a book I think about for a long while.

mia ¿

** spoiler alert **
           sorry but what the hell was this??????? i never read thrillers so maybe i was just unobservant throughout the whole book but the truth is never revealed? and that wouldn't be an issue except it specifically says in the summary that the truth eventually comes out.... again maybe i'm stupid but the truth did not come out, at least not clearly.

let me try to explain why i thought this book would have a more clear ending and the mystery would be wrapped up nicely. it's literally a court drama, so it feels like one long tv episode. and at the end of those episodes, after hearing all the evidence and conflicting accounts, the way the actual crime was committed is revealed. this book didn't even try to put the pieces together and say who was guilty. this book was a murder mystery that just refused to tell the reader who the killer was.

this book has also been called a thriller, so let's look at it as a thriller. i haven't read many but i'm pretty sure they're supposed to make you question everything you're reading and feel on edge for the entire book. this did not do that. i did not even begin to question anna and if she committed the crime until the second to last chapter. i know the lawyer gave her motive but that doesn't work for a thriller. anna herself needed to be saying some questionable things for me to suspect her, and she didn't until the very end. the end was the only thriller-like part of this book and that made me angry. it seemed like the author was trying to trick the reader into thinking she had placed clues of anna's guilt all along and i just was not here for it. you can't write a thriller as a murder mystery up until the very end, and then not reveal the killer since it's more creepy and unsettling that way. the ending was extremely unsatisfying because it was a thriller ending for a mystery book. it really made me feel like i wasted my time.

also, besides the problem with genre, this book just felt very cliche. the characters were all typical rich kids who were annoying and petty and gossipy. besides the main 3, no one else was fleshed out so all the side characters felt pointless. melanie was also cliche for being the clingy friend. there were really no interesting dynamics here. and the weird romantic side to anna and elise's friendship felt lazy and completely pointless. you could tell they were really close best friends so there was no need to make them kiss each other???? it was stupid and not creative.

again maybe i'm missing something, but final thoughts:
the flashbacks were boring cuz the relationships were cliche and not interesting
the court drama was kinda interesting but ultimately unsatisfying because the truth was never revealed
the thriller style ending came out of nowhere and felt like a trick on the reader to think back on the rest of the book and question anna, even though there wasn't a good precedent for that

this sucked but i'm glad i didn't have to buy it

Megan Leprich

Well that was definitely a whirlwind. This book had so many plot twists that I didn’t see coming and the ending left me reeling and rereading to make sure I had it right. The book sets you up to where you think you know who the killer is but then you’re second guessing yourself about three quarters of the way through. 

I loved the mixed media in this book, the author incorporated text messages, police reports, and interviews that added so much to the story. 

This was definitely a crazy book that I highly recommend if you’re into plot twists and suspense.

I'll Never Tell

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