You Owe Me A Murder by Eileen Cook – Book Review

Title: You Owe Me A Murder

Author: Eileen Cook

Release Date: March 5, 2019

Book Form: ARC

Page Count: 368

Genre: YA Thriller, Mystery

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Disclaimer: I received this arc in exchange for an honest review from the publisher.

“Seventeen-year-old Kim gets more than she bargained for when she is set up for murder. Perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying, E. Lockhart, and Gillian Flynn.

17-year-old Kim never expected to plot a murder. But that was before her boyfriend dumped her for another girl. Now, Kim’s stuck on a class trip to London with him and his new soulmate and she can’t help wishing he was a little bit dead, even if she’d never really do that.

But when Kim meets Nicki, a stranger on the plane who’s more than willing to listen to Kim’s woes, things start to look up. Nicki’s got a great sense of humor, and when she jokes about swapping murders, Kim plays along—that is, until Kim’s ex-boyfriend mysteriously dies.

Blackmailed by Nicki to fulfill her end of the deal, Kim will have to commit a murder or take the fall for one.” – Goodreads

I have to say, this book was honestly so much fun. Lately I’ve been really into thrillers, and usually YA thrillers aren’t my favorite, but this one really captured the fun of other thrillers I’ve read. This book is about Kim, who meets a stranger at an airport during a flight delay who she bonds with – and unwittingly ends up in the middle of a murder plot.

The plot itself is pretty far fetched but it was also pretty anxiety inducing. I kept thinking, if I were in her shoes, what would I do? Most of the things I could come up with, the book had answers for. There weren’t really any moments of wanting to scream at the main character for making stupid decisions, because the plot really covers all bases.

Kim was a smart character, which is refreshing in a thriller. She thinks things through, is great at solving puzzles, just an overall intelligent character, which I love. However, my favorite character was Alex. He was the sweetest and seemed like someone I would have been best friends with when I was Kim’s age. I liked them together and thought it was a sweet relationship. Nicki was an interesting antagonist, she was mysterious and had intelligence to match Kim’s. Sometimes she just really made you want to hit her, though.

The story kept me guessing, with lots of misdirections and plot twists, which are my favorite! My only gripe with the story was that I felt the ending wasn’t wholly satisfying. Some things were left out that I would have been interested to hear more about. It’s just a small complaint, though.

I really loved the experience of reading this book. If you’re looking for a mostly-satisfying, super fun YA thriller, you should definitely give this one a shot. It pulled me out of my reading slump and was just a ton of fun to read and write about! I look forward to reading more of Eileen Cook’s work in the future.

My Rating: ★★★★