#BookReview: CATCH YOUR DEATH by Ravena Guron @RavenaGuron @Usborne

Publication: 7th December 2023 – Usborne Publishing

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?

AMAZON

WATERSTONES

A remote mansion during a violent snow with no cell signals. What could go wrong? Of course, there is a murder, but who is the killer? And who is going to die next?

I really had fun reading this novel, told through the perspective of three teenagers, who find themselves guests of the famous Vanforte family during a snowstorm. Devi was on her way to her grandmother’s house when her car broke down right in front of the Vanforte mansion. Lizzie is there to deliver a necklace that the intimidating Emily Vanforte had to have. And Jayne works there as a maid’s help. As the storm prevents them from leaving the house, they have no choice but to spend the night there, as long as they remain in their assigned wing of the house and don’t interfere in the family dinner. The relationship between the Vanforte family is strained: wife and husband don’t get along; Emily doesn’t approve of her daughter inviting over her boyfriend for Christmas; and Tate is the quiet cousin who no one seems to notice. When Emily suddenly dies during dinner, apparently from poison, Devi, Lizzie, and Jayne set off to find out the truth and, among secret passages, eavesdropped conversations, and well-hidden weapons and documents, they discover that the Vanforte family is much more dysfunctional than they thought. But nothing is what it seems and everyone is hiding something.

Full of twists and surprises, I was completely engrossed in Catch Your Death. It turned me into an amateur detective as I tried to figure out the truth (I didn’t, by the way) and kept me on the edge of my seat until the end.

A huge thank you to Usborne and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.

A born and bred Londoner, Ravena 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.