Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron Review

Title: Catch Your Death

Author: Ravena Guron

Genre: YA Thriller

Publisher: Usborne

Pages: 448

Release Date: 7 December 2023

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Hello fellow booklovers! Today I'm sharing my review of Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron. A masterfully executed and beautifully compulsive, locked room YA murder mystery that Cluedo-loving fans of Holly Jackson and Agatha Christie are gonna absolutely devour!

Synopsis

Trapped in a mansion with a murderer and a family of liars - how would you survive? A mind-blowing thriller from the author of THIS BOOK KILLS, perfect for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen McManus.

When three girls are stranded at the grand Bramble Estate in the middle of a snowstorm, they stumble into a murder plot. Someone has poisoned wealthy Emily Vanforte in the middle of a family dinner - which means Devi, Lizzie and Jayne are trapped in the house with a killer and a mystery to solve. With knives under floorboards, vanishing guns and secret passages in the walls, no one is safe and everyone is a suspect. But in a house of liars and corruption, will the girls save themselves...or learn to fit in?

Review

Having loved Guron’s debut YA Thriller (This Book Kills) back in January, I was beyond excited to get my hands on an early copy of Catch Your Death and can finally confirm that it surpassed all my expectations.

I loved our protagonists Devi, Lizzie and Jayne (who ranged from fabulously sharp witted and impulsive to socially awkward and endearingly compassionate) and found them all really intriguing. Their complexity, depth and meticulously crafted backstories were phenomenally compelling and really helped to keep the narrative flowing.

Though if I had to pick a fave it would have to be Devi, who’s opinionated take charge attitude (and ability to speak her mind) was utterly entertaining.

Like Jess from This Book Kills, Devi gives us a refreshingly candid view on how wildly out of touch the extremely wealthy can be, and the power imbalance which allows them to ruin lives (or break laws) with little consequence. I can’t really go into too much detail on this (for fear of spoilers), but it’s an aspect that’s startlingly relevant right now and something that really resonated with me.

If you love the classic whodunnit-style, murder mystery format—where pretty much every character is a suspect— then you will definitely appreciate how intricately woven and plot twisty this is. The moral ambiguity of every character and the lies and secrets exposed along the way had me on the edge of my seat —which I loved!

I also enjoyed the interactive elements (note pages to write down our guesses for who the culprit was) which gave us the chance to really think through our suspects, and get into the mindset of a detective (or the killer) —which I had soo much fun with. Though as mine was a proof I’m unsure if this will be included in the final copies.

Unfortunately I didn’t manage to guess who Emily’s killler was, (the revelation of which I’m still impressed by.) But I did manage work out one of the other twists, which did make me feel quite clever.

Overall, a satisfyingly empowering, YA Murder Mystery with more plot twists than you can shake a stick at —amateur sleuths and arm chair detectives alike will definitely want to add this to their TBRs.

Also, a huge thank you to Jess over at Usborne for the proof.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

About The Author 

A born and bred Londoner, Ravena Guron writes MG and YA, usually featuring antiheroines or snarky narrators. Growing up she always read the last page of books first, but discovering Agatha Christie in her early teens stopped that habit, igniting a love of twisty murder-mysteries with jaw-dropping endings the reader never saw coming. Ravena is a lawyer with a degree in biochemistry, and hopes to use the knowledge gained from her experiences to plot the perfect murder (for a book, of course!).

In her spare time, Ravena enjoys hiking in the great outdoors (though nothing too mountainous because she's very clumsy), baking cakes (that never rise) and falling asleep to her thousandth re-watch of Friends.

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