Lynn Slaughter

In the first five brief paragraphs author Lynn Slaughter sets up ‘Deadly Setup’ just beautifully and had this reader already hooked.
Teenagers always get in trouble, right?
Not Samantha Hunter, Sam to her few close friends. This protagonist is a bubbly, smart seventeen-year-old that just does not fit that description. Sam has just about everything a teenager would want.
Well, almost.
Before the death of her dad because of cancer, Sam promised him to take care of her mother. After his death, things were rocky at home with her mother, but Sam did well in school, had a few close friends and loved Hilda’s home cooking. All was going well until Mr Holloway walked into the picture.
Convinced that Holloway was up to no good and just trying to get her mother’s trust fund, she set out to convince her of this, but her mother would not believe her.
She confronts Holloway and, in fear of her life, grabs her father’s gun from a desk and fires a warning shot, leaves the house leaving Holloway alone, alive, and throws away the gun into some bushes.
Later, the police confront her, take her into custody, and inform her of the killing of Holloway.
As the dust settles, Sam finds herself thrust into a harrowing ordeal, grappling with mounting evidence and the haunting question: who truly ended Holloway's life?
The title of the book tells it all as Samantha fights a web of deceit and deceptiveness, ending in a courtroom scene with a pleasant surprise for this reader but leaving the question unanswered: who killed Holloway?
Prepare yourself for a pulse-pounding pace and immersive storytelling, waiting for the climax of the story. It is a doozy!… (meer)

Trigger warnings: Car crash, cyberstalking, murder of a sister

4.5/10, all I have to say about this was I was hoping that I would enjoy this but sadly I didn't and I doubt that I would pick this up again. The main character Clara was actually an unreliable narrator which meant that I was quite deceived and confused by her as I read through the book especially when she told me that she was the killer but she wasn't which became apparent as I read more of the book. Clara herself was also quite an unlikable character since she was disrespectful to some people like her mother and the detective. She was reckless ever since starting her own investigation into Moura's death by asking people what they knew about her but that did nothing except nearly getting her killed at times.

I thought Joel was the killer since Clara could tell someone's handwriting and also their size based on what shirt they wore but this didn't get anywhere; he was the stalker which I didn't like. There were so many characters within the book; I couldn't even remember most of them. The real killer was a person I never knew called Dr Levitsky and he killed Moura because of jealousy and she wasn't great since she was just cold and snobby and self-absorbed at least according to what some people said. If you like crime novels avoid this and go pick up another one.… (meer)