Most Likely to Murder by Lish McBride (2026)
As derivative and obvious as it is, I couldn't resist having myself a cheerful time with this one, a breezy one day read that flies by. Yes, it's that reliable surefire crowd pleaser......a disparate group of teens who band together to find the serial killer who's methodically polishing them off, one by one.
This killer's something of a cruel joker with a twisted sense of humor.........altering a page in the high school yearbook to pre-assign a particular group of students their own special, horrible fates, with, the manner of each death printed underneath their photo.. But why them? And why did the killer start off the murder spree with offing one of their faculty counselors?
Front and center in this group are high school outcasts Rick and Martina, both from financially struggling families and fierce BFFs forever. Their quick-witted byplay is a constant delight to read all throughout the book While the cool and witty Martina has her eye on a girl she's fallen for, she keeps encouraging the shy Rick to finally speak to pretty, studious Nika, the equally shy girl on whom he's been nursing a powerful crush. (And it's pretty obvious that for Nika, the feeling's mutual
But our unfriendly neighborhood killer has begun to make good on those nasty yearbook predictions. The ever growing sweet and adorable Rick-Nika romance can only proceed slowly while the body count rises. And the teens team up to desperately figure out the who and the why of the murders before their numbers diminish any further.
Loads of snarky sarcastic (but deeply affectionate) back-and-forth between Rick and Martina and as I've already pointed out, the slow burn crushes of Rick and Nika are enormous fun to watch come to fruition.. The pacing zips along but leaves little time to grieve for those unfortunates who don't make it to the end of the book. (In that regard, similar to slasher movies.)
The only thing author Lish McBride doesn't quite land - the killer reveal. It feels like it came out of nowhere and the motives sound far fetched and contrived at the last minute. This is one book where you'll end up far more entertained by 90 per cent of the story rather than the last 10 percent spent on its conclusion.. But for me, it didn't stop 'Most Likely...' from being a lively, captivating read overall.
4 stars (****).
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