Thank you very much to the publishers, Macmillan, for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
One of them was driving.
One of them was high.
One of them screamed.
And one of them died.
When fifteen-year-old Chris Moore is tragically killed in a car crash, Argyle Prep is full of questions. Who was at the wheel? And more importantly, who was at fault?
Despite seeing a lot about Melissa de la Cruz’s books online I had yet to pick one up until I read The Headmaster’s List. I was instantly drawn in by the first chapter and wanted to learn more. It is an excellent YA thriller that had me hooked and I would definitely recommend giving it a read.
When fifteen-year-old Chris is tragically killed in a car accident, Argyle Prep is full of questions. Who was driving? And most importantly, who was at fault? Eighteen-year-old Spencer wishes she knew. Rumours swirl that her ex, Ethan was the driver of the car and she can’t bring herself to defend him. Not because of their messy breakup, but because she can’t remember anything from that night, not even why she was in the car in the first place.
I am always a fan of books that use different mediums to tell a story and The Headmaster’s List does just that. It has an excerpt from a podcast, interview excerpts and a few other things throughout. I love when mediums like this are used throughout a book as I feel it adds to the telling of a story and in this case, it certainly does. It is for that reason that I think this book would work excellently as an audiobook. The different mediums and then Spencer’s POV would be captivating in audiobook format, I’m sure.
Spencer, our main character, is an interesting character to get to know. I enjoyed getting to know her but always had a little thought at the back of my mind that what she was saying was unreliable. Especially because she doesn’t remember the night of the accident. I loved the relationships between her and the other characters. Especially the characters that are involved in helping her figure out the mysteries in this book. Each of them is well-written and unique.
It isn’t often that I guess the ending of a thriller book before the reveal but for this one, I guessed it very early on. Unfortunately, that did take a little bit of thrill away from reading the book because I was almost certain my idea was correct, which it was. It did still have me intrigued thanks to other mysteries throughout the book but the main mystery was one I solved quickly.
Also, a few things were mentioned and would have been so interesting if they had been looked into further, but they just seemed to fizzle out instead. I would have loved for these other mysteries and additional things to be looked into a bit more.
Melissa de la Cruz is certainly an author whose books I will be on the lookout for in the future. Her writing is engaging and had me hooked. So, I will definitely be picking up more books by her in the future.
Overall, I would definitely recommend picking up a copy of The Headmaster’s List if you are looking for a YA thriller. It was a gripping read that will be sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.
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