Review & New Release – The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman
Synopsis
A page-turning murder mystery set at a prestigious New England boarding school and the dark secrets a killer desperately wants hidden.
Secrets don’t die when you do.
It’s the first week of senior year at Middlebrook Academy. For Amy and her best friend Sarah, that means late-night parties at the boathouse, bike rides through their sleepy Connecticut town, and the crisp beginning of a New England fall.
Then tragedy. Sarah and her boyfriend are brutally murdered in their dorm room. Now the week Amy has been dreaming about for years has turned into a nightmare, especially when all eyes turn to her as the culprit. She was Sarah’s only roommate, the only other person there when she died—or so she told the police to cover for her own boyfriend’s suspicious whereabouts. And even though they were best friends, with every passing day, Amy begins to learn that Sarah lied about a lot of things.
Liz, editor of the school newspaper and social outcast, is determined to uncover the truth about what happened on campus, in hopes her reporting will land a prestigious scholarship to college. As Liz dives deeper into her investigation, the secrets these murdered seniors never wanted out come to light. The deeper Liz digs, the messier the truth becomes – and with a killer still on campus, she can’t afford to make any mistakes.
The Meadowbrook Murders is a gripping mystery about the inextricable way power, privilege, and secrets are linked, and how telling the truth can come at a deadly price.
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Review
Who can you really trust?
This book is told from two points of view: Liz and Amy. Both are teens with issues, but both are in pursuit of the truth. Two classmates are murdered, and it is a race to uncover the killer to make sure justice is served.
It is Amy’s roommate, Sarah, who is one of the murder victims, along with Sarah’s boyfriend, Ryan. However, how could anyone enter the dorms, and how did Amy not hear anything? Is she the killer?
Liz is a classmate and editor of the school paper. However, she is not part of the in-crowd, and her quest to make a name for herself in reporting causes issues with the other students and even puts her in peril.
The book moves fairly slowly until the last 15 percent when everything comes to a head. From that point on, it races to the finish line. There are many potential suspects, and I admit I wasn’t sure who to suspect, but I did have my eye on one character as the killer. I was correct in my assumption, mainly because I couldn’t determine a motive for anyone else.
The author does a good job of setting up the crime and potential killers. Other information uncovered could lead to a motive for several characters. However, the truth wins out in the end. This book also depicts the lives of privileged individuals in a private boarding school. No one is immune from crime.
If you enjoy YA and mysteries, this might be one to read. We give it 4 paws up.
About the Author
Jessica Goodman is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of young adult thrillers They Wish They Were Us, They’ll Never Catch Us, The Counselors, The Legacies, and The Meadowbrook Murders from Penguin Random House. Her books have been translated into 15 languages.
She is the former op-ed editor at Cosmopolitan magazine and was part of Cosmo’s 2017 team that won a National Magazine Award in personal service. She has also held editorial positions at Entertainment Weekly and HuffPost, and her work has been published in outlets like The Cut, Elle, Glamour, and Marie Claire.
