I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day. Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out from working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up . . . again.

So when the three unexpectedly run into each other, they decide to avoid their problems by ditching. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say. . .

. . . until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school—and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse. It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common...like a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.

Could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all?

Short and Sweet Review

Mateo, Cal, and Ivy used to be close but over time they’ve grown apart, all they have in common now is the fact that they go to the same high school. Ivy just lost the student election, Mateo is burned out from working two jobs, and Cal just got stood up. So when fate brings the three of them together in the school parking lot they decide to ditch and try to have an adventure, unfortunately their fun day ends when they find a classmate murdered and they have to find who did it because the number one suspect is Ivy.

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal have all grown apart since the days they used to hang out. Ivy is an over achiever trying to reach the top, Mateo and his cousin have been working multiple jobs to help his mom make ends meet, and Cal is kind of a loner. The relationship between these three is interesting, they have a lot of history but now that they’re hanging out again there’s some awkwardness. Each of them also have some secrets that they’ve been keeping and when those come out it’s either make or break for this trio. I liked that the mystery took place in one day and the trio as I like to call them were pretty good at piecing things together. We just follow the trio around town as they piece things together and find suspects and clues. It was nice seeing the trio work through their issues and reminiscing on the past.

Karen M. McManus is great at writing mysteries and this one was another one of her books that I enjoyed. The book kind of left off on a point where I think there could be a sequel and I would love that! This book is great if your in the mood for a fast paced mystery!