They’ll Never Catch Us is the latest young adult mystery by They Wish They Were Us author Jessica Goodman. But instead of the prep school Gold Coast teens of her debut novel this one explores the competitiveness of high school cross country track and the bonds of sisters.
Stella is back from a track and field (slash anger management) summer camp and ready to break some personal records and get some college offers. Her sophomore year ended in disgrace after being accused of injuring a girl from another team. Her younger sister Ellie has had a tumultuous summer after starting a relationship with an unavailable guy. Both sisters are ready to run and win but the appearance (and then disappearance) of a dynamic new team member reveals dark secrets and betrayals and the sisters are finally forced to turn to each other for the first time since they were children.
They’ll Never Catch Us is told in alternating POV’s between Stella and Ellie and the reader spends a lot of time in their heads. They are both complicated girls and have had a difficult childhood in their small Catskills town famous for tourism and a series of murders a decade prior. I found the entire setting and the backstory of unsolved track star murders really gripping and it kept me turning the pages. My only criticism was that were times that I found some of the details around the sisterly relationship and the ambitious track star stuff overly dramatic and it took me out of the mystery aspect. Overall, this is a solid YA mystery with two tough and complex sisters.
3.75 (rounded up to 4) stars
Stella is back from a track and field (slash anger management) summer camp and ready to break some personal records and get some college offers. Her sophomore year ended in disgrace after being accused of injuring a girl from another team. Her younger sister Ellie has had a tumultuous summer after starting a relationship with an unavailable guy. Both sisters are ready to run and win but the appearance (and then disappearance) of a dynamic new team member reveals dark secrets and betrayals and the sisters are finally forced to turn to each other for the first time since they were children.
They’ll Never Catch Us is told in alternating POV’s between Stella and Ellie and the reader spends a lot of time in their heads. They are both complicated girls and have had a difficult childhood in their small Catskills town famous for tourism and a series of murders a decade prior. I found the entire setting and the backstory of unsolved track star murders really gripping and it kept me turning the pages. My only criticism was that were times that I found some of the details around the sisterly relationship and the ambitious track star stuff overly dramatic and it took me out of the mystery aspect. Overall, this is a solid YA mystery with two tough and complex sisters.
3.75 (rounded up to 4) stars