Yet again I have picked up a book from the bookstore not realizing it’s part of an epic saga of woe and betrayals. After the first few flashbacks in the early chapters, I started getting a hint that these characters really knew each other and had already had beef big enough to involve a trial, expensive lawyers and a murder accusation.

Next November, it will be two years since that awful night in the woods. A lot of good things have happened since then: I moved in with my sister, I made new friends, and I graduated high school. I took some time off so I could figure out what I wanted to do with my life, and I’ve decided it’s going to involve teaching.

It’s a high-school murder with a Scooby-Doo gang and I really wish I read the other two books before this as this one, on its own, was dire.

I take one last look at our happy faces, then drop the photo into the fire. “Good-bye, Jake,” I say as the edges blacken and curl. “I hope you’re at peace.”

The Plot

It’s been almost two years since Simon died in detention, and the aftermath has been hard to shake. First the Bayview Four had to prove they weren’t killers. Then a new generation outwitted a vengeful copycat. Now the entire Bayview Crew is back home for the summer, and everyone is trying to move on.

Only, this is Bayview, and life is never that simple.

At first the mysterious billboard seems like a bad joke: Time for a new game, Bayview. But when a member of the Bayview Crew disappears, it’s clear this “game” is serious–and whoever’s in charge isn’t sharing the rules. Or maybe there aren’t any.

Bronwyn. Cooper. Addy. Nate. Maeve. Phoebe. Knox. Luis. Kris. Everyone’s a target. And now that someone unexpected has returned to Bayview, things could start getting deadly.

The thing is, Simon was right about secrets–they all come out eventually. And Bayview has a lot it’s still hiding.

---

I read through it, sometimes skipping entire scenes as I didn’t care enough about a party, and who’s seeing who, and who wants to be a Michelin chef in Paris. I simply followed the mystery plotline and that’s why it has more stars than it deserves. I must admit, the reveal was unexpected and the ending quite gratifying but the rest of the book was meh.

I think what bothered me the most was the insane amount of names going about.

The party is full of people I know—Nate and Bronwyn are still in a heated conversation with his roommates Sana and Reggie, oblivious to what just happened. My former best friend, Jules, is across the room with her boyfriend, Sean, and Monica Hill, another girl from my class. Even the Café Contigo staff is here: Manny, Evie, and a server named Ahmed

Dude, we don’t need to know all of these details! It just adds bloat to an already bloated book. My advice is to skip the first 250 pages and read from there. You don’t really care about the rest either way.