NetGalley ARC | Very Dangerous Things

I received a free digital ARC from the ublisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In 2023 I read Suddenly, A Murder by the same author and LOVED it. (It's an ARC, I'll get to it *facepalm*.) So, I was super excited to see a new offering by Munoz and it did not disappoint. It has so many elements I love - a specialized school, shady characters, an unlikable semi-main, and of course, murder.

J. Everett High is a private school in Cherry Cape that focuses on criminoloy. Students are sorted into various 'capsules' by interest - forensics, journalism, etc. For decades the school has staged a murder mystery each year to challenge its students. They form their own teams, then receive information to solve the case. A student is selected to play the victim and is instructed how to go about playing dead. Any student could discover the crime scene at any point in the first couple weeks of school, and the game is on.

The only problem is, when Xavier Torres is discovered, he's actually dead and suddenly there is a real murdet to solve - one that doesn't come with packaged witness statements, evidence, and clues to solve the murder and claim the $30,000 prize.

The thing is, Xavier was murdered in real life the same way he was supposed to be in the game, so there is no shortage of suspects who had access to the materials for this year's game...

To say I was captivated is an understatement. I absolutely loved it from start to finish and based on the ending, I really hope Munoz makes it into a series. I know there's only so much murder high schoolers can solve before it borders on ridiculous, but there's a cold case that's given several mentions throughout that could at least make a nice duology. And maybe another mystery on top of that one could be found...basically I really want a series.

Our main character is Dulce. She and her best friend Emi are a team, and come close to winning every year, despite being the smallest group participating. Dulce's former best friend Sierra heads up a different team, along with her boyfriend Xavier and his younger brother Enzo, who defected from Dulce and Emi's team the previous year in the middle of the game. Never mind that Sierra is cheating on Xavier with Enzo.

LOTS going on.

There's Rose, who latches onto Emi at the beginning of the year, which annoys Dulce. And Zane, a transfer from Cherry Cape High, who seems to know Xavier, despite his denials. Adding to the chaos is the fact that Dulce and Sierra used to be best friends, even had their own little detective agency in middle school, but a betrayal by Sierra leaves Dulce reeling after Dulce's mom dies in a car accident when they're in 8th grade.

So, Dulce has a lot going on. There's the fake murder mystery she is determined to win, the internship with the city coroner she wanted so she can access all the documents related to her mother's death. strain on her friendship with Emi when Xaiver is killed because Emi wants to solve the real thing, and of course, a mysterious boy who she can't stop thinking about.

I don't want to say a lot more, because there are crucial relationships one must know to figure out how this all ties together and the discovery of them one by one is something that makes this novel work so well, on so may levels.

At first Dulce wants nothing to do with trying to solve Xavier's murder, because Sierra is the prime suspect, who is charged with his murder. Sierra tries to enlist Dulce and Emi to solve it, but Dulce refuses, based on what happened when Dulce's mom died. I one hundred and ten percent supported Dulce in this, and I am pretty sure other readers will too. But as that web is untangled, Dulce eventually is drawn in and has more suspects than she could possibly handle. Yet she does, and while I had a good idea of who the brains of the operation was, that did not dimish my enjoyment of the book at all. Even though I guessed who the 'who' was, I did not know the 'why' and discovering that was just as important. This does not mean the book is predictable, but when you've read enough YA thrillers, you pick up on clues faster than someone who may not read this genre as often.

The novel is not perfect. There are times when you have to suspend some belief, but that is balanced out by the superb writing, character development, and the fact that the mystery itself is so addictive. It is a unique plot and setting (I would have SO loved to have gone to a school like this one!), and the red herrings are not obvious or misplaced. Sometimes authors can over-do it in that department to try to throw readers off, but I did not feel like that was the case here at all.

Something else I enjoyed were the flashbacks, which helped to round out the characters even more. No one felt cookie-cutter here and their individual backstories helped each one stand out. I appeciated that the high schoolers felt like high schoolers. They talked and behaved the way 16 year olds do, without any embarassing slang or trends that would quickly date the book in just a few years.

The grief and guilt that Dulce feels from her mother's death is palpable, but it does not weigh her storyline down. She's carries it with her constantly and we eventually find out why. She is easy to relate to and her development is consistent throughout the novel, not just fits and starts. She's one of the most authentic characters I have read in YA in a long time.

Absolutely fantastic. Highly, highly recommended.