Let’s Play Murder
Kesia Lupo
Bloomsbury YA, April 2023
Paperback, £7.99
ISBN: 9781526635464
If Agatha Christie wrote Ready Player One, it would probably read a lot like Kesia Lupo’s Let’s Play Murder. That’s not a criticism, it’s a compliment because like all great murder mysteries, it’s an impossible book to put down. The story follows Veronica who gets sucked into The Game – a virtual reality murder mystery puzzle – while playing with her sick kid brother. It’s now up to her to try to solve the mystery and win the cash prize while competing against four other players and her own past traumas.
Written in a simple, stripped-back style, this book is highly readable with realistic, snappy dialogue, and teenage interactions so accurate I was brought back to my school days. With such great writing and the unique premise, it is unsurprising that this novel is gripping from the outset. Veronica’s character is complex, with a troubled past and plenty of secrets, which only adds to the pull of this story. Themes of bullying, grief, trauma, and violence are all addressed significantly and fearlessly.
The only real weakness of this book is that it’s extremely dialogue heavy. There are many instances where simple exposition could have been used to progress the novel considerably instead of pages of sometimes mundane dialogue, particularly during the first half. Then again, the whole idea of this book is that it is meant to be an immersive virtual reality experience, and immersive is the perfect adjective for describing this novel.
Mark Jackson
My two favourites were definitely “Kindred Spirits”, which was a story about two 
This book is for lovers of Greek mythology and high-stake quests. Filled with thrilling deceit, romance, and unforeseen plot twists, this story will immediately enrapture any reader and pull them into the untruthful songs each character sings.
I recommend reading the 
The book takes you on a journey through all the characters’ points of view, featuring police interviews and news articles. These interviews do become repetitive, but the book pulls you back in with plot twists aplenty. 
I really liked this story. Though the beginning was clichéd and predictable, the story went from strength to strength. There were sprinklings of funny events and conversations throughout the book which had me smiling to myself. You can picture the beautiful settings and mouth-watering food clearly throughout the story. The author was so attentive to describing Indonesia and I feel she did a great job. I learned so much about Indonesian culture while following Sharlot and George’s story . There was such entertaining banter between the characters. Each character had their own distinctive personality and was well written. 
As someone unfamiliar with thriller novels and the author’s previous work, this was a surprisingly emotional read, especially in the last sixty or so pages. It was very interesting how the characters’ dynamics and mindsets changed, strengthened and even became dangerously warped as the story went on. There were some incredible twists that I didn’t see coming at all. This book covers heavy topics like grief and death, and has a pretty nasty shock that sets off the second half.
The supporting characters are just as strongly written as the main characters, and have diverse and distinctive personalities, such as the sweet and caring Honey-Belle and serious and assertive Danielle. The dialogue is witty, and the humour is used as a way of 
Dunn does not shy away from acknowledging those immense Gothic novels that have come before hers. Like her predecessors Wilkie Collins and Ann Radcliffe, Dunn uses the Gothic genre to epically and successfully portray our very human fears: life, death, love, and isolation.
