Dead Girls Don't Lie

Book ReviewYoung Adult

Author(s): Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Genre(s): Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Romance, Thriller, Suspense, Realistic Fiction, Death, Fiction
Format: Hardcover
Published: September 17, 2013
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Pages: 352


Summary

Rachel died at two a.m . . . Three hours after Skyler kissed me for the first time. Forty-five minutes after she sent me her last text.

Jaycee and Rachel were best friends. But that was before. . .before that terrible night at the old house. Before Rachel shut Jaycee out. Before Jaycee chose Skyler over Rachel. Then Rachel is found dead. The police blame a growing gang problem in their small town, but Jaycee is sure it has to do with that night at the old house. Rachel's text is the first clue-- starting Jaycee on a search that leads to a shocking secret. Rachel's death was no random crime, and Jaycee must figure out who to trust before she can expose the truth. 

In the follow-up to her powerful debut, Jennifer Shaw Wolf keeps readers on their toes in another dark, romantic story of murder and secrets. 

My Review

This.
Book.
Is.
Fantastic!

It is one of those books where you get so mad because the characters are doing stupid things that'll get them killed and you just wanna get in the book and give theem a good slap to knock some senses into them!

Rachel told Jaycee to trust Eduardo. Even though he's Mexican (irrelevant, really.) and even though he used to be part of the gang that tagged Rachel's house.

He's clean now.

Before the murder, when Rachel almost forced Jaycee to go to the old house even though Jaycee said no (Rachel should've listened to Jaycee) and then Rachel found Manny dead--gosh!

Then later on, you realize that Manny was Rachel's old boyfriend.

Then at the funeral, (this is probably confusing--sorry!) Skyler actually comes to the funeral! Later on in the book, you'll think it's ironic--but for now, you're probably just confused. Afterwards, Skyler asks Jaycee if they would like to hang out, and she says yes. And they do. And then when Jaycee meets Eduardo, she's kind of wary. Eduardo isn't exactly nice. But she has to trust Eduardo. As they try to unravel the mystery, Jaycee's phone gets taken away. The police take it in as evidence. They find some things on her phone that get her in trouble with her over-protective Dad, but oh well. Then Skyler gets her this really, really expensive phone. Jaycee takes it (stupidly) and Skyler tells her to not give the number to anybody else. Weird, right? Jaycee thinks it's just like when she and Rachel used to pass notes to each other. Completely stupid!

Eduardo and Jaycee fight a bit, and they don't talk. During that time period, Jaycee confides in Skyler and almost tells him everything! Idiotically. Then, when Eduardo and Jaycee talk again, Eduardo has more information.

Oh--I almost forgot. Skyler's brother, I think it's Ethan? Yeah, Ethan. Ethan keeps barging in to her bedroom, and he keeps trying to make a move on her, event though her boyfriend is his own brother. Weird.

Well--back to Eduardo and Jaycee. So, Jaycee finds out that Eduardo is living in the old house. And then she figures out he has a gun, to protect himself, and Jaycee thinks thats weird. Then the sheriff of the town, who happens to be Ethan and Skyler's older brother, asks her what she's doing with Eduardo, and she tells him about how he has a gun and how he 's living in the old house. Then the sheriff (I forgot his name) tells her that Eduardo's dangerous, and not to hang out with him, and she TRUSTS HIM!

That really got me annoyed. Don't trust me! Trust nobody! Just like Rachel said!

Then Jaycee gets out of his car and walks home, and she realizes that her house is being tagged. Eduardo grabs her and hides her before she gets killed, and they realize that there's a connection.

When Jaycee was going through her dad's files, she realized that (he's a lawyer) there was a case about a boy in school that was accusing the football team in hazing. Which was true. Jaycee found a photo of Ethan, and he's grinning, and the number 18 was carved on to his chest, and there was blood dripping down his jersey, with the words making the cut. The people that had tagged her house also had a number tagged onto their chests. Their football number.

When they finally leave, Eduardo tells her not to go to Skyler (Skyler had convinced her to meet are at the dark room in their house. Skyler takes photos.) but she ignored him. He says, whatever. Fine. Get yourself killed. And he runs off.

Jaycee runs to meet Skyler in the dark room, and it turns out that it was actually Ethan that sent the text. Ethan tells Jaycee not to trust Skyler because he's dangerous. And that Skyler killed Manny on purpose when they were fighting. And that he probably killed Rachel.

Jaycee believes Ethan about Skyler killing Manny, but not about Rachel. She thinks it was a drive-by. She goes to meet Skyler at the old house (stupid, I know) and confronts him about Manny. Skyler tries to convince Jaycee that it was defense, and that he didn't kill Rachel.

But then Skyler tells Jaycee that he liked Rachel. He had a huge crush on her and he took pictures of her. And Jaycee realizes that Ethan was telling the truth. Skyler killed Manny. Then Skyler admits that he killed Manny because he didn't think Manny deserved Rachel. Jaycee realizes that he also killed Rachel, and Skyler also says he realized that he never could be with Rachel, so he killed her too.

Skyler lights a match and pours gas on the ground, then drops the match. Jaycee tries to get out of their, but Skyler tackles Jaycee and pins her to the ground, saying that they need to die together because he loves her.

Then Eduardo bursts in with Ethan. Ethan wacks Skyler on the  head (or something like that) and Eduardo carries Jaycee out.

To make a long story short, Jaycee and Eduardo become good friends, and Jaycee apologizes to her dad and realizes that he was right all along.

And that's that! It was such a good book!

You should really get it.

Au revoir!

-Alexa ♥