The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz

Pages: 400 

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books 

Released: 2nd of March 2023 

Four students. A fatal car crash. Three come out alive – and they will do anything to bury the truth.

One of them was driving.

One of them was high.

One of them screamed.

And one of them died.

When one of their own is tragically killed in a car crash, Argyle Prep is full of questions. Who was at the wheel? And more importantly, who was at fault?

But in a place ruled by pedigree and privilege, the answers can only come at a price.

Set against the glitz and glamour of an elite LA private school The Headmaster's List , Melissa de la Cruz's first YA thriller, is an addictive whodunit perfect for fans of Gossip Girl and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder 

What I Have to Say 

Mysterious, privilege and full of gossip, this book delivered on all fronts. The mystery was intriguing enough to keep me reading and I was interested in the characters and their lives. I really warmed to Spencer quickly and wanted her to succeed in getting to the bottom of the accident. 

It was really wonderful to see a service dog! Service dogs work really hard and can be useful plot devices but I rarely see them in books! I think this is only the second book I've read where the character has a service animal! So that was really good to see, 

 I guessed a couple of the plot points which made me feel really clever but I always question whether that means that they were obvious because I am not good at guessing plot points usually! But I do think in this case that I just picked up on one or two clues in the text. Maybe I'm just getting better at guessing! 

If you, like me, eat up books about terrible things happening to privileged teenagers, this might be the book for you. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Macmillan and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

 

The Rumour by Lesley Kara

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 320

Publisher: Bantam Press 

Released: 27th of December 2018 

When single mum Joanna hears a rumour at the school gates, she never intends to pass it on. But one casual comment leads to another and now there’s no going back . . .

Rumour has it that a notorious child killer is living under a new identity, in their sleepy little town of Flinstead-on-Sea.

Sally McGowan was just ten years old when she stabbed little Robbie Harris to death forty-eight years ago – no photos of her exist since her release as a young woman.

So who is the supposedly reformed killer who now lives among them? How dangerous can one rumour become? And how far will Joanna go to protect her loved ones from harm, when she realizes what it is she’s unleashed?

What I Have to Say 

A gripping thriller, perfect for anyone wanting to see a real modern day witch hunt. Set in a small town, it showed the way that rumour can spread and how damaging it can be to small town life and anyone caught in the way, innocent or guilty. To me, it also showed how unforgiving people can be, how people can have their lives ruined forever by things they do when they're children. It raises the moral question of whether someone should be forgiven for such actions and how much penance and rehabilitation they would have to do to get to a point where they aren't waiting for their past to catch up with them. 

It was interesting to see how the rumour spread and Joanna's part of it. How her need to be accepted by the other mothers and therefore get her son more integrated into the school. Her actions of spreading what she felt at the time was a piece of harmless gossip and how it escalated was so interesting to see and really puts across the message that you should be careful what you say. 

The ending was perfect. I didn't see it coming at all and it was so gripping. I enjoyed it completely. 

Want a gripping thriller to curl up with in these cold winter nights, this is a great choice. 

My thanks goes to Netgalley and Bantam Press for providing me with this copy for review.