Book Review: The Dead and the Buried by Kim Harrington

eARC, and was saving it for after committee readings, and then found it on the shelf at a local chain bookstore while browsing with some of my teenagers, and while they buried themselves in manga, I buried myself in this and read it cover to cover.  I love how Harrington built all of her characters- no one is shiny perfect, everyone has flaws and facets that revel themselves page by page. Jade has her tortuous relationship with her stepmother, as well as her struggle with fitting in and then finding the killer, while trying to figure out who to believe- let alone trying to figure out where she fits in her family and missing her mom. Alexa is wrapped up into her studies and everything has to be perfect, and when it’s not, then her emotions come up to the surface. The secrets are everywhere, and that’s never more apparent than Kayla’s writing.

You’re never quite sure who’s she’s talking about at first in her entries- she’s got people down as numbers instead of names (a little Gossip Girls twist), but little by little you get clues and hints. First from Alexa, then from Faye, Kayla’s supposed best friend, and from others along the way. I didn’t figure out who the killer was until the end, and that is always the sign of a good mystery to me. The reasoning was well thought out and extremely plausible as well- definitely not a “you darn kids” ending like YA mysteries can turn out to be at times.  Absolutely a get signed and save book.  

The Dead and the Buried is currently rated as 3.82 stars on Goodreads as of 1/5.  It is published by Scholastic, ISBN 978-0-545-33302-3.