Suddenly A Murder lives up to its title during the prologue when the reader is immediately thrown into the homicide as it takes place. As the first person point of view continues in the present tense we find out who the victim is, but not why he is murdered and/or by whom - although admissions from the narrator would appear to rule in Izzy, who is determined to escape her home circumstances and has brought a knife to the 1920s-themed getaway at an old house on a private island to celebrate the end of high school, and "the other girl" (as the blurb puts it) Chloe whilst ruling out the victim's girlfriend Kassidy. Will that prove to be an accurate set up or a red herring?
The first five chapters are rattled through in approximately 40 pages, although the jumping back and forth in time (and the resulting mix of first and third person perspectives) means that events on the page perhaps don't move as quickly as you might expect during these concise sections. That said, the premise is akin to an Agatha Christie whodunnit with a group of people in an isolated place and that murder mystery theme could appeal to a broader audience than the young adult readers who are usually targeted by the publisher of this title.
The first five chapters are rattled through in approximately 40 pages, although the jumping back and forth in time (and the resulting mix of first and third person perspectives) means that events on the page perhaps don't move as quickly as you might expect during these concise sections. That said, the premise is akin to an Agatha Christie whodunnit with a group of people in an isolated place and that murder mystery theme could appeal to a broader audience than the young adult readers who are usually targeted by the publisher of this title.