Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A prospective Oxford student must solve her best friend’s murder before she becomes the next target. Seventeen-year-old Eva Dawkins, who’s the mixed-race Black daughter of a police inspector, is about to realize her—and her late mum’s—lifelong dream: attending Oxford University. Even better, once she and George Danvers, the white boy who’s her best friend, ace Beecham College’s interview week, they can finally become official and take their relationship to the next level. But George, typically spirited and unbothered, starts acting strangely, even more so after the arrival of rival interviewees from the ultra-posh private school Reapington Manor College. He’s hiding something, but before she can figure out what, Eva finds George dead in front of the controversial statue of the alumnus, an enslaver and sugar plantation owner, that stands in Beecham’s quad. As secrets come to light, Eva starts questioning everything she thought she knew about George. But when the police target her as the prime suspect in his murder, Eva must race to find the truth. The premise is intriguing, but the story stumbles in execution due to the inconsistent and sometimes surface-level writing and one-dimensional characters who often feel like they exist in service of the plot. Themes about grief, racism, and classism are underdeveloped, although Davis-Featherstone handles an incident of sexual assault with care. While the story gestures toward dark academia, its core leans more towardGossip Girl, and readers who like drama may enjoy this. Disappointingly shallow.(Mystery. 13-18) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.