Girls who play dead by Joelle Wellington

Joelle Wellington, author of Their vicious games, brings fans another searing thriller, where Mikky and his sister Kyla, try to find out who murdered Kyla’s best friend Erin. Girls who play dead opens with a memorable chapter showing Kyla tending to her friend’s body in the funeral home that her father owns. Mikky comes home to small town Prophets Lake, to support his sister. He goes back to the High School he hoped he had left forever, but therapy has given him survival strategies and he is not prepared to change his clothes or his nail polish. Things have changed since he left. Mikky finds it hard to get close to Kyla, who is now the leader of the cool, mean, cheerleaders. He knows that he must find Erin’s killer and try to help Kyla in her grief. But as he investigates, he finds that everyone has something to hide and that the beauty industry that is the livelihood of the town has its secrets as well.

Wellington’s portrayal of mean girls and how they operate is unforgettable. It is hard to like Kyla’s nasty behaviour; at the same time the reader can feel sorry for her loss and the work that she is doing to keep the funeral home going. Mikky is a likeable young man, open about the therapy that has helped him accept that he is gay and the slow burning romance with Nasim, his classmate, adds another dimension to the story.

The in-depth descriptions of life in High School form a solid background to the murder investigation. There are multiple red herrings, leaving the reader wondering what the motivation was behind the murder. Was it the boyfriend? What role did the beauty industry and drugs play? How much was Kyla hiding? The tension builds up to a surprise denouement, leaving the reader breathless with the suspense.

Girls who play dead is a unique, twisty mystery that is sure to prove popular with older teens.

Themes: Murder, School, Drugs, LGBTQI people, Power.

Pat Pledger