They'll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman

If you grew up watching Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl (and loved them, obviously), then you pretty much need to read every book author, Jessica Goodman writes!

Start with her first novel, They Wish They Were Us, and then go straight into They’ll Never Catch Us, which is the book I’m reviewing for you right now!

As you may know, if you’ve ever read any of my other book reviews, there will be no spoilers in this review…I repeat, this is a spoiler-free review of They’ll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman.

Okay, not-so-disclaimer-disclaimer out of the way, let’s get into my one-sentence summary of the book. They’ll Never Catch Us is a young adult, slow-burning, serial-killer murder mystery set in a small, rich townie-town on the East Coast, where all the victims just so happen to be teenage track stars all from the same high school. Writing that sentence out just made me realize how wild that summary seems, but I promise, it makes for a very engaging and entertaining story!

On that note, I was captivated by this book the whole time! Usually, when I read young adult books, there comes a period of time within the story where the plot drags or there’s a lull in the storyline, but I never experienced that with this book. Each chapter was exciting, and I enjoyed how some chapters were shorter or longer than others. I also really appreciated that this book is told from two different perspectives, sisters named Stella and Ellie. Switching between the two perspectives helped me get a 360 view of what was going on in the story, while at the same time, giving me way more questions and scenarios to think about!

While on the subject of Stella and Ellie, I might as well give my thoughts about the characters. I felt that Goodman did an excellent job of describing each character and giving each of them their own personalities, however, I wish there was a little more attention paid to certain characters…I can’t say who because that may lead to a spoiler, so I will leave that there.

I had characters I loved, who I was supposed to love, and characters I didn’t like, which I don’t think I was supposed to, so I consider that a good thing.

Overall, I had more positive sentiments toward this book than I had negatives, however, my biggest negative has a significant hold on my rating of this novel. Without giving anything away, I have to say, I did not like the big reveal. In short, it didn’t feel justified and even with the in-book explanation, I didn’t believe it. Before that ending, I was at about a 9 or 10 but after that, I finished the book at an 8!

Wow, I just revealed my cards! Guess that’s the end of my book review, I like to keep them brief!

Allow me to wrap this up real quick. There were so many good aspects of They’ll Never Catch Us; it was a good mystery where nothing was given away, but I had enough to be able to formulate my own theories, I liked the main characters and I was on their side, and, finally, I was captivated the entire time and wanted to keep reading more. On the downside, the ending was not satisfactory and that left a small bitter taste in my mouth!

So, all in all, I’d give They’ll Never Catch Us by Jessica Goodman a solid 8/10! I would recommend this book to any fan of young adult mysteries, and teen drama! Basically, if you watched The CW, MTV scripted shows,  or Freeform (ABC Family)  religiously while in middle or high school, then you’ll appreciate this book!