It started with a stupid meme. But it’s a bit creepy too. It’s asking what people think is the worst way to die. It’s not long before it goes viral, but Izzy refuses to get caught up in the hype and gossip. Izzy is the quietest in her group of friends, usually the sober driver at parties, if she will go to the party in the first place.

Her best friend Syd is front and central party girl, and keen to go to every one possible before their final year of school is up. Every time a classmate has parents away, it’s another party Izzy tries to avoid. But she can’t say no to Syd every time and again is the sober driver one night. Snow is thick on the ground, and still falling so Izzy is driving home carefully on the slippery roads. When her lights flick across something on the side of the road, she stops, wanting to have another look.

What she saw was the colour yellow against the snow. The colour of a dress a classmate was wearing at the party. Izzy saw her leave earlier but now is in shock, staring down at her body. They are soon being interviewed by the police and comforted by their parents but something has started to swirl in Izzy’s mind. The dead girl had responded to the death meme and hers was falling. Izzy had already figured out what happened to her. She had fallen off a roof and smashed the the back of her head.

When another classmate is found dead on the same night, his meme reply matches the way he died. Someone is killing kids in their town, and it’s connected to the meme.

Izzy knows she has to move on and leave it to the police to work out, but she just can’t let it go. When more teens die, she learns how and feverously looks on social media to see if they replied to the meme. Soon she is scared for any of her friends and older sister who answered it.

Who could be responsible for these terrible killings? Is it Axel, her project partner in English class who is sullen, moody at best, and a loner? Is it Justin, the guy Izzy has been crushing on for years, or is it Axel’s older cousin who has left school but has been left behind by his friends as they went to college?

The more Izzy digs the closer she gets to the killer, losing people she loves along the way.

This thriller is told in two viewpoints – Izzy, the girl who finds the first victim and the viewpoint of the killer – keen to inflict as much pain as possible on the people that ignored him through his childhood and the town that let him down.

Izzy’s memories both day and night of finding the first victim, are the driving force of this novel, taking the reader closer and closer to the exciting conclusion. Possible killers and motives are weeded out one by one until the final killer is revealed, or so the protagonist believes…

An engaging Young Adult crime thriller read.

Author – Natasha Preston

Age – 13+

(2022, Penguin Random House, Thriller, Killer, Murder, Memes, Social Media, One by One, Crime, Murder, Action, Courage, Betrayal, Family, Grief, Mystery, Revenge, School)