The Past Never Dies: A Review of I Know What You Did Last Summer

A Mistake That Refuses To Die | A Summer Thriller by Lois Duncan

Ready To Know!

Author: Lois Duncan

Genre: Ya, Mystery, Thriller, 

Page count: 241 pages (Kindle version)

Spice Level: None

Trigger Warnings (This is just a short list, there could be more trigger warnings): 

• Graphic: None 
• Moderate: Hit-and-run, death of a child, violence, physical harm, murder attempts, stalking, harassment, fear, trauma, guilt
• Limited: Mild substance abuse, mild teen romance

Tropes: Summer romance, shared dark secrets, stalker/revenge plot, threatening messages, whodunnit mystery

Pace-level: Medium-fast paced 

            Slow-burn suspense 

Shares the story of four teens who are carrying this dark secret. They are receiving messages from someone who knows what they did last summer. The threats began to get worse as time went on, making everything more and more difficult to manage. As lives get threatened and harmed, they are rushing to see who knows what they did. 

I honestly was hoping for this book to be really interesting and a fun short read. However, this was the opposite, as I did not enjoy this book. I did not enjoy the pacing of the book because it was medium-paced pace but that was because many details were given at a time. Also, I felt like the dark secret of what they did last summer was built up too much for what actually happened. I also felt like the person who was behind all the messages was too predictable from the start. I felt like I kinda knew who it was, but I was hoping it would be someone different. 

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD HERE!!!!

The whole dark secret between them was that they hit a child on a bike late at night. Now this is always a go-to trope for books like this. Now I did wish it were something more different or maybe a bit more dramatic than this. I think if it were something different, it wouldn't have felt like the typical mystery thriller book. Also, the ending of knowing it was the child's older brother the whole time was highly disappointing. The reason is that it is a stereotype for these types of mysteries, for it to be a family member. Now I know that its intention is to shock readers or to show readers that family cares. However, it just let me down when it was the typical used character. Now I feel it would have been a better story if it were someone who just happened to witness it. 

What kind of let me down the most was how everything wrapped up quickly with no explanation at all. Like the ending was of them writing letters to the child's family (David Gregg), which felt like an afterthought. Also, how Collie (David's older brother) dies from falling out of the window. Now his death happened by accident, which disappointed me because I was expecting it to happen in a very dramatic way. He just happened to lose his grip when escaping from Julie's apartment window. 

Overall, I did not enjoy this book as much as I was hoping to. I did still find it somewhat enjoyable at the start, but after it picked up, that is when I noticed I was not enjoying it. I feel like this book was also more geared towards young teens or late elementary school kids. I did enjoy that it was a shorter read since I was looking for something different that what I have been reading. 

My rating for this mystery/thriller book is 💫 (1/5 stars)