Member Reviews
This book was so good! I’ve loved everything from this author. I like the drama and the twists and it was just so good! Plus the ending was so so good I was actually shocked. I had no idea how it all came together, but it really made sense.
A fancy school, one teacher is dead and three classmates found him. Brynn returns to the school to secretly work on solving the mystery for a true crime show she is working with. Things have changed since she last left. Will she be able to bring the murderer to justice and keep her friends at the same time?
This was my 3rd Karen M. McManus book and the one that I have enjoyed the most to date. I enjoyed the true crime show angle and the murder mystery investigation itself. I got a strong A Good Girl's Guide to Murder vibe, which I loved. With all the build up I will say that the ending wrapped up a little too quickly for my liking, but kind of goes with the territory for a lot of YA thrillers.
True Rating: 3.5 stars
Many thanks to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the ARC of #NothingMoretoTell for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
Four years ago, a teacher was murdered. When Brynn moves back to town and gets a dream reporter job, she finds herself right back in the center of it all, and digging for answers. Only they bring her closer to home than she thought, as her former best friend Tripp was one who found him.
This was such an interesting read for me, I really love these types of stories. And McManus does them so well! The story caught my attention immediately, and I really loved how the mystery unfolded. I felt like new pieces were dropped at the exact right time. Just as I thought I was figuring it out I’d learn something new that would keep me intrigued.
Told in dual timelines from dual perspectives, things did get confusing at times. I found I had to do some re-reading if I didn’t pay close attention to the chapter titles for the perspective I was reading. Overall this was a quick and fun YA mystery that I really enjoyed!
Thank you to Random House Children's - Delacorte Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Full review to be posted on my IG @manis.and.manuscripts on 9/15.
I liked the angle of looking at the mystery through the lens of investigating for a true crime podcast. I just didn't find it to be a particularly enjoyable read.
This story has so many great elements with mind blowing potential. I loved the POV characters Brynn and especially Tripp. The murder mystery was compelling, fully of so many juicy secrets, red herrings, and flashback reveals that kept me wondering about Mr. Larkin’s life and death.
However, all of the build up led to a very unsatisfying resolution. The truth, while surprising, was revealed in an underwhelming way, and the ending felt simultaneously like things wrapped up too neatly and like things don’t quite all add up, providing no sense of closure.
I really hope McManus plans to write a sequel. I would absolutely read another book focusing on Brynn’s internship at Motive and exploring further ramifications of the events and discoveries of this book, but as a standalone Nothing More to Tell left me needing more.
Thank you to the publisher for the complimentary audiobook and eARC.
Four years ago Brynn's favorite teacher was found dead by three of her classmates, including her former best friend Tripp. The three students were cleared by the police, but the murderer was never found. The police concluded that a drifter must have killed the teacher. Brynn's family moved away shortly after the murder, but now they have moved back and Brynn wants to figure out what really happened. Did Tripp and the other students tell the police everything they knew? Or are one or more of them keeping secrets? The more Brynn searches, the more possibilities she uncovers. Nothing More to Tell is full of surprising twists and turns and is so much fun to read. In my opinion, it is Karen McManus' best young adult mystery yet!
3.75-4 Stars
Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus was a fun and entertaining ride. Four years ago, Tripp and Brynn were best friends until one humiliating moment ends it all. Brynn moves away and Tripp continues on with his life at St. Ambrose School. Over the years, Brynn has not forgotten about the death of Mr. Larkin, her favorite teacher who was bludgeoned to death. She is determined to find answers and her quest is made even easier when her family moves back to the very city it all began in. Old secrets die hard, and everyone has a motive.
McManus definitely has a knack for picking trendy character names. Brynn and Trip were both very likeable characters and I loved being able to get both of their perspectives throughout the novel. The character development was done well. The plot of this murder mystery was predictable at times but entertaining enough to hold my attention while reading. I love how family dynamics were at the forefront. The ending itself was a bit rushed and ended quite abruptly. I wonder if the stage is being set for a spin off or sequel. Only time will tell.
I thought this was pretty good! The author is usually pretty hit or miss with me (I like everything but one of us is lying, which, funny enough, is her most popular) so I wasn't sure what I'd get here. I ended up liking it. The plot was fascinating and made for a quick ya mystery so I enjoyed it.
Brynn Gallagher is familiar with scandal. After being laughed off her former schools newspaper staff for reporting a story that ended in a prank, she’s glad to be returning to her old town and get away from the drama. She is also ready to start working for a true crime show as an intern to pass the time, and she wants to use her opportunity to solve the murder of her former teacher. But when her ambition opens up too many doors and reveals too many secrets, she’s wondering if she should’ve just stayed behind with the scandal of the newspaper instead of opening up a new scandal that puts too many people in danger.
Yet another win by McManus. She is a masterful storyteller and keeps the reader wondering what exactly happened on that fateful night. McManus gives away just enough information to let you try to figure out the puzzle but not enough that you know for sure. You are kept guessing right up until the very end.
Nothing More To Tell is a solid YA thriller, that I suspect will please her target demographic. I, myself as a longtime mystery/thriller lover, am finding her plots to be a bit far fetched and anti-climatic. Still, if someone is new to the genre I think that reader will enjoy this one.
This is officially my favourite book by this author, and I am as shocked as everyone else by this unexpected turn of events. I have read everything this author has ever publishe, the only exception being One of Us is Next (yes, I also read her novella in Up All Night, and that was my favourite thing from her before this book). I am planning on catching up with One of Us is Next in October, before season two of the TV show gets released and I am also planning on reading her novella from Marple (out the day after tomorrow) very soon.
Anyways, I was not expecting this to become a new favourite of mine, but I have no idea why. Had I bothered to read the plot, I would have known this was going to be for me. I love true crime and I love books where the main mystery is a cold case. To be honest, I don’t even check what Karen M. McManus books are about; this woman has me in a chokehold and I don’t know why. She could make me buy and read pretty much anything.
But, back to this book, I really liked the plot in this one. It was very well structured, it kept you guessing (even though I had figured most of it out before the actual resolution) and the twists and turns were very well placed. Also, the red herrings were cleverly done, if a bit too obvious here and there. Overall, as far as the mystery and plot construction go, I would say this is on the same level as One of Us is Lying.
What it does differently than One of Us and the following books, and the reason why I gave it a 0.5 star more, is that the teen drama is a bit toned down. It’s still there, or it wouldn’t be one of Karen M. McManus books, but it’s less prominent than some of her other titles.
I really liked the true crime element and I loved that she made small references to her previous books and used them as true crime cases. It was very fun and exciting spotting each reference, I am a sucker for easter eggs, and these were very well done.
The characters were also nice. I especially liked Brynn’s sister, Ellie, but I did enjoy both our main characters and I liked reading from their POVs, which is usually not the case. I will say that sometimes their voices were a bit similar, when nothing specific was mentioned, but I can live with that, because they were still two characters I enjoyed.
What I didn’t feel was necessary, as usual, was the love story. Do I read mysteries because I care about the romance? Of course not, and in this case it was built on nothing, at least from Brynn. I could understand the pining from Tripp’s side, but the way Brynn “fell in love” with Tripp was a bit too quick and I feel like it was there just to have some cutesy scenes that people who like romance would swoon over. I am not people, I want murder, not love.
However, even if I had this small issue, I still did enjoy the book and I can forgive this useless romance thing, because the rest of the book was engaging and I managed to finish it in three sittings, which is not a given since I started working again.
I would recommend this one if you liked A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (the first book specifically) or if you like mysteries based on cold cases in general.
Another fast paced thriller by Karen McManus. Told from a dual POV, this is one not to miss, especially if you like true crime (cold case) thrillers, teen journalists on the case, high school type drama (the old teen friends to lovers bit) or just would like a page turning, keep you up all night kind of read! Highly recommend!
Karen M. McManus is one of my favorite young adult mystery writers. I always look forward to her new releases as they never disappoint and leave me guessing right until the very end and Nothing More Than Lies was just the same. I could not put this book down! It left me guessing the whole way through. Great storytelling and suspense.
ᴡᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ, ᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴛᴀʟᴋ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴏᴅꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅᴀʏ.
Another outstanding thriller from Karen McManus! I have truly never been disappointed by any of her books and I hope I’ll never be. Nothing More to Tell is just like her others and focuses on High schoolers at the center of a true crime investigation (P.S. look close and you'll find a bunch of Easter eggs from her other books). From the start you know there is something sketchy with this case. Four years ago a teacher’s body was found bludgeoned with a rock, by three Saint Ambrose students in the woods behind their school. Despite one of those kids having his fingerprints on the murder weapon, and another having taken money that said teacher was looking into, the kids were let go with no consequences, and the case was never officially solved. Four years later thanks to privilege and money, those three are at the top of the Saint Ambrose social pyramid, until someone decides to take a closer look at the case.
Brynn left Saint Ambrose following the shocking murder of Mr. Larkin, her favorite teacher, but due to her father’s work transfer is moving back to finish her senior year. An inspiring journalist, she’s starting her dream internship at a true-crime show and pitches the case to her new boss. She's determined to find out what really happened that day in the woods. Brynn is tenacious, but digging into the past is bound to shake up the present, and when Brynn begins to investigate what happened in the woods that day, she uncovers secrets that might change everything—about Saint Ambrose, about Mr. Larkin, and about her ex-best friend, Tripp Talbot. One thing is certain four years ago someone got away with murder. More terrifying is that they might be closer than anyone thinks.
This one is a true edge-of-your-seat page-turner with a lot of suspects to rule out. Uncovering Mr. Larkin's life is thrilling, but becomes dangerous for our main characters. I applaud McManus for featuring such honest reactions and characters experiencing PTSD from going though something so traumatic. Not everyone can be okay from living through something like this and that needs to be more normalized. The thing I enjoy the most from McManus is the way she tends to leave the ending up to interpretation and she does this here in a fantastic way. It almost makes me believe there might be a sequel in store, but I don’t know that for sure. I haven’t read her 5th book You’ll Be the Death of Me but it’s been moved up on my TBR. Don't miss out on any Karen McManus books!
Read if you like:
- True crime cold case
- High school drama
- (Ex) Friends to lovers
- Dual POV
- Teen journalist
There’s Nothing More to Tell is about a murder mystery of a teacher and a pact that unites and hushes the kids for four years… So, it’s difficult to recognize who to trust.
This is my first book by Kasey M McManus. While the cover and the overall premise pulled me, I found I was only mildly entertained. The book didn’t resonate with me, and I found myself annoyed with the preppy characters that feel they can get away with anything….including murder.
I think this a great YA novel for upper young adults. I would have inhaled this when I was in High School.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Children’s and PRHAudio for the review copy.
I love Karen McManus books (okay, except The Cousins). That's why I was incredibly excited about the new book.
The first 20% were very sobering at first. It dragged on for a long time, with aspects that were unimportant to me, and it just took too long to get really started. But just as my disappointment in my too high expectations was about to set in, the book picked up speed. And definitely in the right direction for me.
From then on, I could hardly put it down and it was captivating. So much so, in fact, that it's probably my favorite book by the author. Even after what was, for me, a slow start that almost made me not finish it. Luckily I kept reading because the story got really good as it progressed.
The writing style is, as always, very good and entertaining. I also found the characters very well done this time without exception. The twists were surprising and exciting.
All in all, it’s a very good YA Murder mystery - with a bit of a too long/slow start.
Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC!
Okay, this was definitely my favorite Karen M. McManus story to date. It follows the point of views of Brynn and Tripp, who haven’t seen each other since 8th grade (now seniors) and since the death of favorite teacher, Mr. Larkin back then as well.
Now Brynn is back in town and at school, and has an internship with a true-crime show that she’s hoping to get to help solve Mr. Larkin’s murder. The catch? Tripp is one of the students that found him four years ago…
It’s a fun one. And highly recommended.
Maybe not my favorite of Karen McManus' books, but definitely compelling! I could not stop reading it! And the mystery wasn't obvious, which I'm always here for. I will say I did see another reviewer say that the two POVs, Tripp and Brynn are so similar that it's hard to tell them apart sometimes, and I totally understood that. But I still really enjoyed it and would absolutely recommend it. And it's getting purchased for the library (DUH, it's Karen McManus, it will be popular)!
I've found that Karen McManus' books are just average for me. I am super grateful for the approved copy, I don't think YA books are my thing after reading a few YA back to back recently.