Title: Death at Morning House
Author: Maureen Johnson
Publication: August 6, 2024
Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre: Teens, YA Fiction, Mystery, Suspense
Pages: 384
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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
The fire wasn’t Marlowe Wexler’s fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist.
With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that’s how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It’s easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition.
Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Author Maureen Johnson wrote the Truly Devious series and I was completely obsessed with it, so when Johnson released Death at Morning House, I knew I had to read it.
The story had a really interesting plotline and I was intrigued. I knew we were looking at a really good wanna-be teen detective solving and crime and I knew Johnson could write that well. I felt the mysteries moving along and smoothly enough to keep you wanting to know what is happening.
My only issue with the story was that I found the main character to be extremely annoying. She was not relatable in any way. She was quite a bit obnoxious and obsessive over things and I found her obsession over a girl she went on one date with to be a bit extreme. Now I know teenagers can be that way, but this just seemed a bit much and made her unlikeable. I was happy when she moved on a bit from her feelings for the first girl, but then her inner monologue about obsessing over the new girl was just as obsessive. In real life, I’d recommend therapy.
The fact that I did not like the main character at all made me enjoy this story less. I want to have someone to cheer for or root against and I couldn’t do either. She landed somewhere in the middle and I didn’t know how to feel about the important stuff because the unimportant stuff was in my way. With that, I did find the twists at the end redeemable and was quite surprised with the ending. I did not really see it coming.
As I said, I love Maureen Johnson, but this book was not my favorite. The ending brought it back to a three stars and this could easily be a five star review with some of what I would consider unnecessary removed. Will I check out the next book from Johnson? Absolutely. She writes unique YA Fiction thrillers that are thouroughly enjoyable and I encourage you to try Death at Morning House yourself and let me know what you think.
