This Book Kills by Ravena Guron is a great mystery story set at an elite boarding school. The story is written from the perspective of Jess, one of the students at the school whose life is turned upside down when Hugh, her best friend’s boyfriend, is murdered and it seems that the killer was inspired by a story that Jess co-wrote for school. When it becomes clear that neither the police nor a private detective hired by Hugh’s family are going to solve the case, Jess joins together with a few other students to investigate the case themselves.

The actual murder-mystery is great, there’s a ton of clues so you can figure it out for yourself. I didn’t quite solve it by the time of the big reveal, but I had plenty of theories floating about. The actual resolution makes a lot of sense, and doesn’t come as too big of a surprise. It’s very gripping and I ended up reading the whole book quite quickly as I wanted to know who did it.

Jess is a great character, and feels very realistic. The only reason she’s at the school is due to a scholarship, which is in danger due to the murder. Her personality shines through the narration and I found it very easy to get inside her head as the story progressed. She’s was born in England, but from an Indian family, and doesn’t really feels like she fits in. It’s an interesting dynamic to her character and I think that side of her is really well written. The rest of the characters are well written as well, especially since for most of the story you don’t know if you can trust them as well.

My only the gripe with the story is that despite Jess getting death threats from the murderer, her mother doesn’t pull her out of the school. Instead, Jess always manages to calm her down over the phone. The school are trying to save their reputation, but none of the students get pulled out by their parents, even after other students are attacked. As the story moved on, this became more of an issue.

Despite that, I did really enjoy this book and I would recommend it. Very easy reading with a killer mystery. When I finished the book I was a little sad to say goodbye to the characters, but I will definitely look forward to whatever’s next from Ravena Guron.

This Book Kills will be released on the 5th January 2023

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post: