Bury Your Friends deserves every ounce of hype that comes its way. This is a phenomenal YA slasher-mystery that would be a crime to miss.
Benjamin Dean is a monarch in the YA mystery space—just putting out banger after banger. This joins the previous successes with a gritty and gory story that stays in your mind long after the final page. It is breakneck reading that keeps you gripped until the early hours because you just have to know whodunnit and what is truly is going on.
Ever since I heard the opening dedication for this book, I was hooked and knew I needed to pick it up. Anyone that can open a book with ‘Jesus was also a nepo baby’, quoting Cruz Beckham though he’s not named, is going to deliver one hell of a story. That is exactly what is in store for readers. This is the ‘nepo-baby slasher’ of the year (quoting Dean and it rings true) with a perfect balance of heart, horror, and humour. I had expectations in the stratosphere and Dean did not disappoint.
This is a darkly hilarious book with such brilliant wit and timing that never breaks the tension, but still lets you chuckle. It is reminiscent of that wickedly sharp humour often found in slashers, poking fun at the form, tropes and also the audience at times. Here, Dean’s comedy is razor-sharp and often pointing at the ridiculousness of privilege. There is a removal from reality from some of these characters that is staggering and yet you can recognise the various ‘types’ Dean is presenting. It is extraordinary and forms part of the ode to slashers that heavily influences this book. This is a fantastic slasher story in its own right with a heart-pulsing premise that means every page escalates in tension. However, it is also a love letter to the genre and utilises various tropes to upend expectations or kickstart conversations for readers. Dean’s signature flair is interwoven through familiar beats and definitely into the humour that lovingly pokes fun at the genre.
There are buckets of blood and gore but there is also a recognition of the escapism fans find in this space, though there is a frank statement about the representation that has historically not always been present. In particular, this comes up around Black and/or queer characters and the various tropes that have been used in depictions of these marginalised groups. I loved how Dean shows such diversity in characterisation though, because there is a focus on messiness. Everyone here is deeply flawed and should be allowed to have space to be so. They are all the more authentic and layered for it. Characterisation has always been a key strength of Dean’s and it shines through once more here. The development is fantastic, particularly with Noah. He is on the cusp of stardom but is haunted by mysterious events that have happened to him recently. All of this is the ticking powder keg leading into this party of people who only really are bonded by their formative years at an illustrious school. Cue every type of spoilt rich kid shenanigans you’d expect, but ruined by the arrival of a masked killer demanding they sacrifice a friend every hour. Noah is our guide through the mayhem but he is complicated and not always willing to share all his secrets with the reader. He is funny and loyal to a fault to the friends he really cares about, but he is determined to succeed.
The plotting in this book is sublime. You have an opening chapter that felt cinematic and compelling and from there it does not let up. Dean balances a few plot strands that form part of the bigger picture, leading you down rabbit holes after red herrings. It is paced perfectly, never fully letting you draw breath but still giving you time to enjoy or hate these characters before the onslaught begins. They can be very unlikeable but you still do not really want them to die. The twisted game that they are caught in is a nightmare brought to life. It heightens existing tensions and creates a claustrophobic atmosphere where paranoia is rife and suspicions are raised at the tiniest movement. I also enjoyed the social commentary Dean infused into this around class and politics, with some very timely references that readers will pick up on. Specifically within a British setting, class is such a divider and speaks to the unspoken rules of engagement between people. Various people within the book weaponise their privilege and the power that comes alongside it for their own gain. They are so used to a world that will bend for them that the scenario they encounter is unthinkable. To cap it all off, Dean has wonderful twists and turns in store that will leave you reeling. The final third in particular will not be leaving me anytime soon.
Bury Your Friends defines compulsive reading. It is a tour de force from an incredible author in the YA space.
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Synopsis
From bestselling and award-winning author Benjamin Dean comes a dark, decadent and deadly YA thriller following the perfectly privileged lives of spoilt rich kids and the messy, murderous things they’ll do to get what they want. For fans of How to Die Famous, One of Us is Lying and Five Survive.
Ten friends. One night. A classy celebration. A deranged killer. Lots of murder.
Noah and his best friends Cameron, Baby, Fliss, Griffin, Miles, Tabitha, Wim, Verity and Hugo are finally graduating from Woodthorn Academy with the world and all its promises laid out before them. To celebrate exam results day, they’re hosting a party weekend at Black Stone, an opulent country estate, for the whole school to attend. But for one night only the ten friends will have a low-key celebration – after all, it’s how the upper echelons begin their futures.
But things take a sinister turn when they find themselves in the crosshairs of a killer making one simple demand: every hour, one person must be evicted from the house or someone inside the house will die.
With nowhere to run and a killer on the prowl, choices must be made. But, as people inside the house start to go missing too, it soon becomes clear that nobody is safe. By the time morning comes, who will have survived the night? And is the killer much closer than they realised . . .
