Review Detail

DIG TWO GRAVES is an intriguing YA suspense read. Neve has had a really tough year with her social outcast status being elevated after a betrayal by her former best friend. Her grandmother and parents have arranged for her to go to a summer camp named GLAM. Once she arrives, Neve feels out of her element and she is immediately drawn to Diane, who seems so confident and self-assured along with the girl she knows from home, Charlotte. Their interactions seem particularly odd, but Neve finds herself drawn to them anyway.

As camp continues, some strange things happen, but Neve is totally under Diane's spell - at least until the last night when Diane proposes a Strangers on a Train situation to take care of the stepbrother who is harassing her in exchange for her former best friend. She assumes it was just a weird conversation, but then her former best friend is murdered, and the game is afoot.

What I loved: This was interesting enough that I read it all the way to the end. Once you get through the first part of the book, it reads really quickly, so it was a fun afternoon diversion overall. The plot was pretty interesting particularly towards the end with teen drama, lots of crushes, and moments of self-discovery.

What left me wanting more: This was really slow to get going, and the suspense elements really did not start until the last half to last third of the book. There was a lot of build up at the camp that seemed like filler. There is a lot for which the reader needs to suspend belief, particularly around Neve's quick infatuations with just about everyone - including the guy she was pretty sure was a predator. She changed her mind frequently and seemed to get herself into troubling situations so easily (but maybe this is just teens). Other characters who seemed really intriguing, particularly some of the other girls from camp were just used for quick appearances to move the plot along, and I would have appreciated understanding them better. It was not clear why some of them would have given Neve any of their time after the way she treated them, so I felt like it needed additional expansion.

I was also troubled by the way the investigation (or lack thereof) seemed to be happening, as a lot of it seemed too convenient. The conflict with her former best friend seemed a bit odd to me, and I felt like we needed more context on that. I also found the ending a bit too easy to figure out - I had my own guesses about the way things would go down, and it was not as big of a reveal as I would have liked.

Final verdict: Overall, DIG TWO GRAVES is a YA suspense with an interesting plot and an ending that moves quickly.