People Like Us

 

By Dana Mele

Kay Donovan is killing it. (Metaphorically. Probably metaphorically.) She rules at her posh private school, overcoming her less privileged background. Her secrets are behind her and the future gleams ahead.

Then a spanner is thrown into her seemingly perfect life. A dead girl is found in the lake. Was it suicide? Opinions vary. But the dead girl has set up a computer hunt for Kay. The prey? Her friends, who will be taken down with their dirtiest secrets, one by one. And if Kay refuses to play? Her secrets will be revealed to the world.
As Kay plays, she is alienated and attacked from all sides. Suspected of murder, Kay seems to be on the verge of losing everything and everyone. But nothing’s going to happen. Because people like them don’t fall, right?

In the beginning, I was hesitant. The computer-game part of the premise was way too rip-off Thirteen Reasons Why. The poor/average girl at rich school thing also screams LACK OF IMAGINATION + weird mixture of wealth shaming and consumerism. Kay reeks of the mean girl stereotype. It wasn’t a popular book. Popularity is usually a yardstick for goodness. But I tried it anyway. Because popularity isn’t everything, yada yada yada. (Ha! Just ask any high schooler. Or Kay.)

But oh, did I love it. It was just so thoroughly titillating. Okay, I’m biased, maybe this was more my kind of thing than an objectively good novel. Let me be clear, if you are looking for a SERIOUS mystery, with the whole investigative sleuthing and stuff, go read A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. (People, it’s not an actual guide to murder, it’s just the novel’s name. I know. I was disappointed too.)

The novel’s premise is icky, but it quickly gets better. The story is interrupted by tasty little flashbacks to Kay’s past. The author holds up tantalising, juicy bits of bait and snatches them right back. The main plot-line also gets better, and the whole cheap computer game thing winds up quickly. Soon, the twists come thick and fast and voluptuous.
And the drama. J’adore. Kay is forever trapped between good girl Brie, who’s all she wants to be, and bad boy Spencer, who is just like her. This bit was brilliant. In most of these things there’s a clear winner from page one. (Come on, why did you even doubt if it was going to be Edward?) This razor’s edge was just beautiful.

The characters. Kay, at first seems like your average mean girl, but then opens up as her past fleshes out. She is an antihero, one of the best I’ve seen. She truly changes as the novel progresses, not just suddenly metamorphoses right before the end.
The author makes her utterly, heartbreakingly, sympathetic without making the character overtly beg for kindness. Her past is just a bit too plausible, a tad too close to home. Kay has made mistakes, even when her intentions were good.
I admire the author’s boldness in this, because antiheroes were normally just unlucky victims rather than people who’ve actually made mistakes. Take, say, Kaz from a Six of Crows. Sure he’s a jerk now, but that’s not his fault right? It’s all because he was cheated and his brother and he were abandoned and everything. This tactic keeps the character an appealing tragic figure to the reader, even when the character disgusts with their actions.
The supporting characters provide a lovely backdrop. Spencer is also a really well written character.

Finally, the ending. I must sigh here. Not any particular kind of sigh. Just a sigh. The mystery plot line ending was a little too anticlimactic, and a tad unrealistic, after those amazing twists, but, okay. The ride was worth it.
And, the rest of the stuff. So perfect and yet so unsatisfying.

This novel was like picking up a piece of coal and finding diamond at it’s core. Not exactly a hidden gem. It was built on stereotypes, built on flaws, but grew to be so much more. Most novels seem deep as the oceans but finally hold little water. This was like taking a handful, and being surprised by how it quenches your thirst.

Overall 3.75/5. This is just perfect to be read with the album *Reputation, served cold.

* (Customary Taylor Swift plug)