Thursday, May 31, 2018

Review: White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig

White Rabbit

I had the pleasure of meeting Caleb at a Fierce Reads BEA event back in 2016 and was immediately sold by his killer personality.  I'd never heard of him prior to the event, but his book, Last Seen Leaving, moved to the very top of my TBR list ahead of several books I spent weeks plotting to get.  It was the first BEA book that I read and I absolutely loved it, so it should be no surprise that I read his latest book as soon as it was released.

Rufus Holt is a sixteen-year-old high school student who is far from the top of the social ladder.  He stumbles into a twisted murder mystery thanks to an unexpected call from his half-sister April.  She is part of their high school's elite who were gathered at Fox Whitney's family cottage for a Fourth of July party that went terribly wrong.  They aren't close, but she tells him he is the only one she can trust.  Her compelling plea for help has him convinced her life may be in danger.  He never could have anticipated how the rest of his night would play out.

The majority of the book takes place over the course of that one evening.  Rufus and his ex-boyfriend, Bash, find April covered in blood while holding the knife that was presumably used to murder her boyfriend.  She insists she isn't guilty and asks him to help her find the real killer.  There were six people at the party and one of them is now dead.  April insists it wasn't her, so that leaves 4 suspects, unless someone else stumbled upon the remote property.  

As additional bodies turn up and a shooting match takes place, Rufus and Bash realize they have uncovered something much larger than they ever could have imagined.  All of the people involved are telling half of the story to cover their own indiscretions, but they soon gather enough information to get them to start spilling the dirt on the other party goers.  

I had several ideas of who the killer was throughout the book, but I wasn't even close.  It all comes full circle in the final few chapters and we can see how all of the clues come together.  I have always been a fan of mysteries and thrillers, so this was right up my alley.  I have to compliment Caleb on his vocabulary throughout the book.  He definitely didn't hold back on the word choice even though it is geared for YA readers.  I can't wait to read his next book, Death Prefers Blonds, which has an anticipated release date of January 29, 2019.

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