Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
The Gist
Let’s talk about disappointment. Not the kind where you drop your ice cream. The kind where you crack open a book with a genuinely eerie, grabby premise and find… teens. So many teens. With so many feelings. And zero critical thinking skills.
The Details
Two Sides to Every Murder kicks off with a fantastic setup: a summer camp steeped in tragedy, a decades-old murder, and two girls with deeply entangled family histories. I was ready for suspense. I was ready for secrets. But I was not ready for whatever this turned into.
Instead of building tension, the plot constantly detours into hormonal side quests. One moment, we’re almost getting somewhere with the mystery; the next, we’re neck-deep in awkward romance and deeply questionable choices. It’s like someone blended a true crime podcast with an episode of Riverdale, then cranked the melodrama up to eleven.
The biggest culprit? The dual POV. In theory, it should have added depth. In practice, it just made everything more confusing. I spent half the book trying to figure out whose voice I was in, and the other half wondering why neither girl seemed remotely equipped to deal with anything happening around them.
Both protagonists share the same chaotic energy: impulsive, dramatic, and oddly detached from the actual danger they’re in. Their voices blur together, making it hard to connect with either one—or care much when things start spiraling.
Sure, the ingredients for a great YA thriller are all there. The setting is moody, the secrets are juicy, and the backstory could have been killer. But instead of sharpening the plot, the story gets bogged down in teenage angst and weirdly timed romantic detours. Every time things got interesting, someone had to stop and make out or spiral emotionally for five pages.
I don’t mind a little drama—this is YA, after all—but I do expect the story to hold itself together. Here, the plot felt like it wandered off into the woods with a flashlight and no batteries.
To be fair, if you’re looking for something fast-paced, messy, and full of campy teen chaos (emphasis on camp), this might work for you. But if you came hoping for a twisty, emotionally grounded murder mystery? You’ll probably walk away as irritated as I did.
The Verdict
Great premise, chaotic execution, and a dual POV that had me begging for a map.
