I don’t know why, but I’m drawn to YA suspense thrillers. I did enjoy this one, the writing is smart and flows well. Sometimes in a YA book, the writing almost seems dumbed-down, as if a person wanting a book featuring a teen or young adult protagonist must be a lower reading level. Fortunately, it was not the case with this book.
Killing Time is a March 2022 release by Inkyard Press Publishers
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
About the Book:
Killing Time follows a true-crime obsessed teenage girl who sets out to uncover a killer when her favorite teacher is murdered. With a dual POV that sends the reader back twenty years, this engrossing and twisty thriller is perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Karen McManus.
Summer in Ferry, Connecticut has always meant long, lazy days at the beach and wild nights partying in the abandoned mansions on the edge of town. Until now, that is.
Natalie Temple’s favorite teacher has been murdered, and there’s no way this true-crime obsessed girl is going to sit back and let the rumor mill churn out lie after lie. Not if she has anything to say about it – even if she has to hide her investigation from her disapproving mom and team up with a new boy in town with a mysterious smile and a talent for making fake IDs.
But the more Natalie uncovers, the more she realizes some secrets were never meant to be told.
With two interwoven mysteries, Killing Time is a deathly warning to a generation of murderinos: what happens when the stories we’re chasing finally catch up with us?
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 3.5 stars
This is a well-written and engaging YA mystery novel, centering on two cases–one is the death of a beloved teacher in the present, and one is a missing college student in the past. How these two cases play out is surprising and interesting.
Natalie has just graduated from high school. She has a very overprotective mom, Helen, who disapproves of Natalie’s true crime obsession and has done everything possible to actively discourage it. Natalie has even kept the fact that she and her best friend have a podcast called Killing Time. Helen even goes so far as to keep her away from her favorite teacher, Mrs. Halsey. When Mrs. Halsey is murdered, Natalie wants to pay homage to her teacher and help solve the crime.
In the past, we flash back to Helen’s time in college when she has dreams of being a newspaper reporter. When an acquaintance from a class turns up missing, Helen uses the connection as leverage to get assigned to the story. But does she go too far to find out what happened?
The investigating by both Helen and Natalie is very amateurish and not very realistic. I thought it was odd that she had a podcast, but it didn’t feature in the story at all, except for being mentioned as a reason for her investigation. That was probably my least favorite part of this book.
I saw some references to some situations dealing with Natalie’s consent with kissing and I thought it was actually handled in an authentic way. It’s clear that Natalie didn’t like it, but she also really went around and around in her head about it. I know that readers like to think they would just immediately confront the guy, but in this real world, most of us, especially as inexperienced as Natalie is, would have reacted the exact same way.
But all in all, the solutions to both of the cases in past and present are clever and inventive. There are some twists and surprises as one would expect in a mystery/thriller. I listened to this as an audiobook and I really liked Laura Knight Keating’s narration. She was great as both Natalie’s and Helen’s voices, keeping them distinct and easy to follow.
If you like YA mysteries, I definitely recommend this one. Don’t come into it expecting a podcast-driven story, because it’s a much more straightforward boots on the ground type of investigation.
About the Author:
Brenna Ehrlich is a journalist, YA author, and editor who has worked everywhere from MTV News to Rolling Stone. She resides in New Jersey with her husband Morgan and their two cats, Nimbus and Hazel. She enjoys horror movies and romcoms in equal measure.
Social Links:
Author website: https://www.brennaehrlich.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrennaEhrlich
IG: https://www.instagram.com/brennaehrlich/
