Review: The Dead Kids Club

'' We grow up surrounded by people paid to lie to us until we become paid liars ourselves. ''

★★★★★

From Goodreads:
Her boring life is about to get a killer upgrade.

In her small town of Cold Meadow, Virginia, life seems to be going exactly the way Danielle Donovan wants. She’s captain of her cheerleading team, getting ready to head off to college on the sunny west coast, and she is the most adored girl in her school. Suddenly, Dani’s life is thrown off course when her friend, the resident trouble magnet Scotia, turns up missing after a party thrown at Dani’s house. With the police sniffing around and rumors spreading faster than they can be contained, Dani and her tight-knit group of friends soon find themselves as suspects in Scotia’s disappearance. Though Dani swears she is innocent, she starts to question the possibility of those closest to her being guilty. From her laid-back best friend Gage Mitchell to the human firecracker also known as Frankie Carson, Dani is forced to question everything she knows about her life and those she loves if she wants to ever see Scotia again, and more importantly, avoid being the latest missing person.

The Dead Kids Club is a roller coaster of twists with the intensity of Gone Girl and the comedic edge of Heathers that will keep readers guessing until the very last page.

I cannot even begin to express how much I loved this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page until the last one, and it still has me in its grip, a few weeks later.

The beauty of The Dead Kids Club comes from all the elements in the book. The characters are shrouded in mystery, you never know who is on whose side. They're all in the same boat, except they are not. The plot will keep you guessing, it keeps twisting and twisting until your head is too messed up to realise what is real and what not. One of the best... No, actually, it is the best murder mystery I have read so far in my life.

'' I promise I'm not a murderer. ''

One day Danielle is called into questioning because a girl who is missing was last seen at a party in Dani's house. They don't know it yet, but she isn't the only one who is going to be missing. The plot takes you inside the school's elite group of friends. The ones we read in books, the kings and queens of high school. Not all is well in the kingdom, though. There are cracks between the friends, and at times they could more be called enemies than friends. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right?

The characters were written as if they were real as if all of this had already happened somewhere. Told from Danielle's point of view, you only know what she knows, so the play in the background is one large mystery. There are clues and hints written in, the other characters will tell you things, it's up to you whether you believe them or not. This was something I loved in the book. You can guess, but can you guess right? And after all, it's just guessing, not the absolute truth, it might not be the right answer.

'' ''I think if you want to grieve, that's okay. And if you don't, that's okay, too. It's not like there's a manual for what to do when a serial killer starts targeting you and your friends.'' ''

One by one, your list of suspects gets shorter. People either proving to be innocent or turning out cold. The anticipation in the air is so thick you can almost cut it with a knife.

And the ending. My dears, get ready because it's going to blow your mind. The lies told to you in the book, are going make sense. I just have one thing left to say here: Go. Get the book. Get The Dead Kids Club and read it. I promise you won't regret it.

'' And as you know, I, Danielle Marie Donovan, am not a liar. ''