High school senior Kennedy wants to win a journalism award and sets out to investigate a senior curse. Over several years seniors have been disappearing or committing suicide. With her best friend Ravi, who is an awesome photographer, they investigate the curse as thoroughly as Sherlock Holmes would. Suddenly suicides start happening and Kennedy suspects foul play. This book is quite engaging and mysterious read. Kennedy is an interesting character and I really liked Ravi too. The mystery does not unravel until the very end and the criminal is no-one I would have suspected. A good read.
Thank you Librarything and BHC Press for a copy of this book.

Review of eBook

High school senior Kennedy Carter is out to nab an internship with BayState News; she sees it as her way to step out of Mayfield into the wider world where she will find the stories she wants to cover. She aims to be the Sherlock Holmes of journalism.

Creator of the “Maplefield Monitor,” the news site she created for Maplefield High School, her partner is her forever-friend, photographer Ravi Burman. Together they set out to solve the mystery of a classmate’s death and the urban legend of a supposed senior class “curse.”

But what they uncover may be far more than they are prepared to handle.

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Told from Kennedy’s point of view, this young adult mystery is an interesting quick read. Both Kennedy and Ravi are well-developed characters and their partnership is a strong point in the telling of the tale. The unfolding story offers readers a few surprises along the way, but its focus on bullying, suicide, and mental health is consistent throughout the narrative.

Interspersed throughout the telling of the tale are chapters devoted to “The Making of a Monster” which details the difficulties faced by a bullied young man.

Diverse characters, an intriguing mystery, and a few unexpected plot twists all work together to keep the pages turning as surprising reveals keep readers guessing. Although astute readers may identify the culprit before the big reveal, some readers may find the revelation rather disappointing.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Readers program ( )

It was a very entertaining read. Like Ken, since I'm a fan of Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew, I'm biased to this genre. I loved the way Ken's and Ravi's relationship grew, within the span of this book. I loved Ken's relationship with Cassidy.
Even though I guessed the final reveal a while ago, it still kept me hooked to see how it plays out. I look forward to tagging along with Ken and Ravi on many more of their adventures in their hunt for stories. ( )

I received a copy of this book through the Early Reviewers program on LibraryThing, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to read this book.

There was much I enjoyed about this book--I think for teens who are interested in journalism and capital T Truth, there's a lot here to be interested in, and it's fun to see an asexual character's identity taken seriously but also allowing for her to develop a relationship! I think the balance of Kennedy and Ravi--a kind of 'the head and the heart' thing going on--really works here, and also leaves room for both of them to have heart in ways that I enjoyed.

My issue with the book is two-fold: the "making of a monster" part of the book is not a thing I enjoy generally--I know it's intent is to dangle red herrings for you, but the tone was very weird and I don't think this book needs red herrings to work? Especially given that the end reveal is SO WILD and out of left field, so I guess maybe it's built in to make it feel less wild but like there's no backtracking from how wild it is (especially how it wasn't just the main bullies in the book whose children were attacked but just like SO MANY, like EVERY SINGLE DISAPPEARANCE IN THE TOWN WAS MURDERED BY THIS WOMAN.)

So an interesting book, and then the end is a wild left turn that kind of disappointed me. But I think if teens are interested in investigative journalism in the way that Kennedy is, they'll enjoy it more than I did! ( )

This was an enjoyable read and a total page-turner! Although our main characters are all high school students solving a big mystery, they were also still believable as teenagers. School was the main setting of the book and they went to their classes (mostly), had big teenage emotions and complicated relationships with their peers. I really enjoyed Kennedy and Ravi's friendship and loved the depth to their relationship. The mystery aspects were fun and gripping and, as a former teenage Sherlock Holmes fangirl myself, I really enjoyed the subtle and not-so-subtle nods to the Sherlock canon. This was definitely the sort of mystery that kept me racing alongside the main characters to try to unravel it as I read and the ending totally surprised and delighted me. ( )