Very Dangerous Things
by Lauren Muñoz
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A murder mystery game turns deadly in this young adult whodunit by the author of Suddenly a Murder.
"Dark academia meets classic detective fiction in this clever, twisty page-turner." --Karen M. McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying
Everyone in town knows about the game. For decades, J. Everett High has staged an annual murder mystery to put its criminology students to the test. And this year, crime junkie Dulce Castillo is dead set on winning. Soon, the game kicks off, and the student playing the victim, Xavier Torres, is found poisoned in the school's greenhouse . . . except his death is not pretend.
It's murder.
When the authorities open an investigation, all the evidence points to Sierra Fox, Xavier's ex-girlfriend and Dulce's ex-best friend. Claiming innocence and desperate to clear her name, Sierra begs Dulce to look past their bad blood and find the culprit.
After all, Dulce knows this school better than any investigator ever could, but she must use caution to solve this mystery. Because these historic halls are full of suspects with no shortage of motives. And in this game of cat and mouse, the other player kills.
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9780593857892
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Authors
- Lauren Muñoz
- Publisher
- G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
- Published Date
- July 29, 2025
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 352
- Physical Info
- 1.2 in H x 8.5 in L x 5.9 in W (0.95 lb)
i loved this!!! i was hooked from the beginning and finished this in just 2 days!! in this book we are following Dulce and her friends as they go to an elite private school that specializes in criminology. Every year, the students team up to play and solve and “murder” of one of their students. this year, when the student is found,Xavier’s not just pretending to be dead, but he is actual poisoned and murdered.all the evidence points to Sierra, Dulce’s ex-best friend and Xavier’s ex-girlfriend. Claiming she is innocent, she begs Dulce and her friends to find out who really did it. Even though the game is now canceled, Dulce is determined to win.this was so twisty!! i honestly didn’t guess who the killer was and i was on the edge of my seat the whole time! i loved all the characters and learning their backstories and potential motives. and the dark academia of this book was so good!! this is the perfect book for the fall and back to school season!!
Not your garden variety YA mystery. Characters were nuanced, quirky in the best ways, and accurately and winningly teetering on the edge of adulthood. A lot of emotional depth. What a joy to read.
There were a few things I didn’t quite love about this one. The protagonist is an amateur sleuth and known for being perceptive and making correct deductions, but there were a few things that she was completely oblivious to for the sake of making the plot work. I didn’t love this. The characterization overall was a little odd in this one, with the characters all being quite quirky or just odd to the point of not feeling realistic, which was disappointing.There’s a lot more teen drama incorporated than I thought there would be. At time sit elevated the read, but it also got to be a bit much at other times. It turned this read into less of a high-stakes mystery and more of a slower mystery.This young adult mystery was decent overall, and I recommend checking it out if you like YA reads. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Dulce Castillo goes to J. Everett High, a school that is known for staging murder mysteries to test their criminology students. Dulce is set on winning the grand prize. When this year’s murder mystery game turns into a real life murder, Dulce’s dreams go up in smoke, but she ends ip investigating the real case instead. With the new prize of putting a killer behind bars Dulce will stop at nothing to uncover the truth.I always enjoy YA mysteries and this one hit the mark for me. I loved the idea of a high school with a pretend murder mystery, but when it turned deadly the story got even better. Dulce was a good lead characters and I liked her way of investigating. I was pulled in from the beginning of this book and my interest was held throughout. The twists and turns kept me guessing until the end and I loved how everything tied together even though I was shocked. This was an enjoyable YA mystery and I’m glad I read it!
Dulce Castillo goes to a high school that stages an annual murder mystery for the students to solve, and Dulce and her bestie, Emi, are determined to win. Unfortunately, the student tapped to be the "victim" this year, Xavier Torres, is actually killed, and his ex-girlfriend, and Dulce's ex-best friend, Sierra, is the one all the evidence is pointing towards. The last thing Dulce wants to do is help prove Sierra's innocence, but eventually she has to admit that things aren't adding up. Can these high schoolers solve the mystery of who really killed Xavier when the town cops don't appear to want to?I loved this book. It had an interesting premise and great characters. The mystery was interesting and the pacing was steady, for the most part. The ending was satisfying, and there were plenty of twists and turns to keep me turning the page. Overall, this was just a really good read.5/5 stars.*** I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Lauren Munoz for the opportunity to read and review Very Dangerous Things.
