Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In this thriller, a flyer on the cheer team at her small-town Texas high school is dragged back into the awful events that claimed her best friend and her boyfriend. Senior Iris Henley was horrified when her boyfriend, Rocky Koenig, and her former best friend, Lynette Zeiger, were found dead in a presumed murder-suicide the previous school year. She and Lynette, whose drug use was spiraling out of control, had already fallen out, but Iris had no idea Rocky was cheating on her with Lynette. But when anonymous social media posts claim that Iris herself is responsible for their deaths, her life becomes a nightmare of accusations and betrayal. Employing first-person, present-tense narration that feels immediate and anxious, this mystery builds steadily over the course of 25 days during which Iris feels increasingly desperate and unsure whom she can trust. Her troubled relationships with her friends and family are multidimensional and render her a sympathetic and likable narrator, who worries about her own reliability as she was drunk and high the night of the deaths. In particular, a subplot involving Iris’ growing understanding of her younger sister, Noelle, lends emotional depth to this whodunit. The central cast is white, and surnames suggest that some members of the supporting cast are Latine, including Iris’ best friend. A taut yet winding mystery that will keep readers guessing.(Thriller. 14-18) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

School Library Journal
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Gr 9 Up—High school senior Iris Henley has a pretty good life: she's the top girl on the cheerleading squad, has great friends, and does well enough in school. Things are good, aside from the fact that Iris's ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend are dead. The case is quickly ruled a murder-suicide by the small-town sheriff's department, and life goes on. Then one day, an anonymous post appears on a secret social media app proclaiming that Iris is the real murderer. Suddenly, Iris's life is thrown into chaos. She doesn't know whom to trust or who believes her, and the sheriff is very interested in her alibi. As rumors continue to swirl, adults let her down, law enforcement proves to be ineffective, and friends reveal their true colors, Iris will have to take it upon herself to find the truth and clear her name. Graham's ("Veronica Mars" trilogy) fast-paced thriller will keep readers on their toes with its abundance of twists, turns, and red herrings. The focus of the story is on solving the mystery and, as a result, characters feel slightly underdeveloped; so much happens within the course of the book that it may be a struggle to keep all the details straight. Nonetheless, readers who enjoy a Veronica Mars–esque main character and a mystery that will keep them guessing will enjoy this novel. Iris and her family are presumed white; friends Sophie and Max are presumed Latine. VERDICT A good addition to a teen or school library's thriller collection, this can be handed to readers who like Joelle Charbonneau's Need and Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra's The Rumor Game.—Alison Glass