Book Review: Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Young Adult

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers (June 25, 2024)

Length: 288 pages

Author Information: Website 

I had high hopes for Two Sides to Every Murder, brought to us by Danielle Valentine, the same author who blew my mind with Delicate Condition which was one of my favorite books of last year. But this time she’s returning to the Young Adult genre with an off-the-wall thriller about two teenage girls drawn back to the site of a gruesome triple homicide many years ago. Needless to say, it was very different, and to fully appreciate it, I had to look at it in a whole different light.

Willow Creek used to be a friendly place where everyone felt safe. The town’s claim to fame was Camp Lost Lake, a picture-perfect slice of nature where children spent their summers swimming, hiking, and making lifelong memories. However, everything changed one night when the body of one of the local teen counselors was found pierced by an arrow used by the camp’s archery program. Before the night was over, two more deaths would be reported, and the murderer would escape. In the panic of the unfolding horror, the pregnant camp owner and director suddenly went into early labor. And that was how Olivia was born.

Seventeen years later, Olivia has no reason to question the unusual circumstances around her birth during the massacre, which has become infamous. But when a DNA test comes back showing that the man who raised her is not her biological dad as she has always thought, the search for answers leads her back to Camp Lost Lake, which is finally reopening again after all these years. Meanwhile, after a lifetime on the run, a seventeen-year-old girl named Reagan has also found her way back to Willow Creek, but the reasons she has come here cannot be any more different than Olivia’s. Reagan and her mother, Lori Knight, who was found guilty in absentia for the murders, had been lying low ever since. But Reagan has never believed the official narrative. Convinced that her mom is innocent, she is determined to find the evidence she needs to clear her name at Camp Lost Lake.

This is YA horror/thriller at its wildest and most overblown, but so help me, I enjoyed it despite myself. So much of this novel reminds me of the 90s teenage horror series I used to read a la R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike in that ludicrously campy and gruesome way, but which still evokes the heady vibe of nostalgia. Teenage drama mixed with unadulterated terror? Check. The backdrop of a seemingly idyllic town with dark secrets? Check. Characters with convoluted histories? Check.

In fact, let’s underline that last point. I highly recommend taking notes and drawing diagrams while reading so you can get all the characters straight! Without going into too much detail because I’m afraid of spoiling a major plot point which the entire premise of this novel hinges upon, not only do our two protagonists Olivia and Reagan each have their own POVs, but the author also uses dual timelines, creating an intricate and frequently confusing web of relationships that spans the lives of two generations. I was getting a headache simply trying to figure out how everyone was related.

But then one of the hallmarks of campy horror is its ability not to take itself too seriously, and Two Sides to Every Murder fits right into this tradition with tropes riffing on everything from The Parent Trap to slasher flicks like Scream. Much like the outrageous twists and melodrama found in the Fear Street series of yesteryear, Danielle Valentin’s story revels in its own chaos and absurdity, resulting in a book that is as much about fun as it is about horror. This is a nod to the approach of classic YA horror, where dramatic flair meets thrills and chills to create a nostalgically entertaining experience.