#murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil

Blurb:

WELCOME TO WHO WANTS TO BE A PANIAC?, the latest reality TV show on the hunt for the next big-hit serial killer. But don’t worry—no one is actually going to murder anyone, as real as the fake gore and pretend murder may appear . . . uh, right?

Seventeen-year-old Becca Martinello is about to find out. When her perfectly normal soccer mom dies in a car crash, a strange girl named Stef appears to let Becca know that her deceased mom was none other than one of Alcatraz 2.0’s most popular serial killers—Molly Mauler. Soon, Becca ends up on Who Wants to Be a Painiac? to learn the truth about her mom’s connection to Molly Mauler, but things turn sinister when people are murdered IRL. Will Becca uncover dark secrets and make it out of the deadly reality show alive? Or will she get cut?

Review:

"But then, funerals weren’t really for the dead, were they? They were for the living.”

―Gretchen McNeil, #murderfunding, book two in the #murdertrending trilogy.

In #murderfunding, the aftermath of Dee’s escape from Alcatraz 2.0 in #murdertrending isn’t going anywhere near as anticipated. With the fanatical super-fans called Postmantics after their blood, thinking the victims on Alcatraz were criminals who deserved to die, and justice-seeking extremists called the Fed-Exers trying to murder all the Paniacs (killers’) families, Dee, Griselda, and Nyles are forced into seclusion to protect themselves and their story, which nobody has found any evidence to prove. Meanwhile, Becca, the alleged daughter of the now-deceased Molly Mauler, is faced with the terrible realization that her mother might have been a murderer. Confronted by a Fed-Exer named Stef who hopes to bring the truth of Molly’s identity as a suburban mom to light for reasons undisclosed, Becca is determined to prove her wrong—and to bury the evidence of her mother’s identity if Stef is right. Even it means applying to be on the new version of Alcatraz 2.0: a gameshow wherein new Paniacs will be chosen from the votes of Postmantic fans on an illegal cable stream. But when Dee travels with Stef to Los Angeles to uncover the truth, things take a turn for the worse…and murder abounds.

I absolutely tore through the first book in McNeil’s trilogy, and #murderfunding was no different. This is the type of story that grabs you by the collar and won’t let you go. It’s easy to get immersed, to like the cast of characters (both new additions and old!) even despite their selfish and sometimes murderous qualities, and this sequel was one I couldn’t stand to put down for more than a couple minutes at a time.

While Dee featured in this book from the original novel in the trilogy, Becca was a fresh and self-preserving foil to Dee’s altruistic guilt about surviving the Paniacs and her experiences on Alcatraz 2.0. So much of Becca’s sass and sarcasm and even downright recklessness seemed superficial at first, but McNeil does a phenomenal job of painting a vivid, strong, and unique female main character that opens up and grows stronger as the story goes on. The supporting cast, especially, were a refreshing and charming new addition to the series. When some of those characters died—I felt it as a reader and often had to resist verbally protesting at the book at 3 AM (I might’ve stayed up too late reading this!)

The twists in the sequel to #murdertrending were vastly improved from the first book, which is saying something because the first book’s twists and turns were excellent. Almost all of the theories I made were disproved, and anything I came up with that was correct often turned out to be only superficial. #murderfunding is a masterclass in setting rules and breaking them—and what’s a good story if not one that leaves readers gasping and grinning at every page?

My favorite thing about this novel, by far, is the consequences and brutality of the characters’ actions. I loved how everything that occurred within the narrative was important to the plot, and how everything mentioned in the first pages became relevant throughout the entire rest of the story. It was excellently written and executed, and extremely intelligent in terms of plot, plot twists, and explanations in general.

I absolutely adore McNeil and will be picking up the third book in this trilogy as soon as possible! I’ve heard this is one of those trilogies that keeps getting better with every book (and if you’re a writer, you know just how hard making things “better” and “bigger” in terms of stakes can be across a series). I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next for the Death Row Breakfast Club, the new collage of main characters introduced in #murderfunding, and potentially new cast members to fan, fawn, and fury over in the final book in the trilogy!