Book reviewed by Chris J Kenworthy, for Armadillo magazine.
Win Lose Kill Die, by Cynthia Murphy, is a murder mystery novel set in Morton Academy – an elite school for high-achievers – where everyone wants to be Head Girl until a series of sinister murders begin.
Attached to the title of Head Girl is prestige and success, securing the futures of those lucky enough to have the title bestowed unto them. But, someone is determined to take the crown for themselves, and that’s when the bodies start piling up!
School friends Liv, Taylor, Kat, Marcus and Cole are determined to solve the mystery. It could be the secret society who is responsible – the one to which they’ve sworn allegiance. Or, it could be the history of a cult that plagues Morton Academy; or, even creepy Billy, with his love of unusual plants.
Win Lose Kill Die is a fast-paced thriller with 1990’s slasher horror movie vibes. It’s a neo-postmodern take on the genre, and setting it within the claustrophobic walls of the fictional Morton Academy in particular adds to the atmosphere of this novel.
Children getting picked off one-by-one, in an isolated boarding school, is such a tense premise. As a reader, it is both new and yet similar, but in a refreshing sense, particularly when the students and characters of the novel have access to state-of-the-art facilities and a myriad of potential weapons and knowledge. This leads to a variety of deaths and accidents, due in part to their inventiveness, which adds to the tension of the story. It keeps the reader guessing, not only as to who is next, but also what’s next as well.
Win Lose Kill Die is like an Agatha Christie novel for a new and younger audience, but with all the gore and violence one has come to expect from young adult fiction. Author Cynthia Murphy has crafted a gripping, unpredictable murder mystery with well-formed and loveable protaganists.
As opposed to setting the story in the open world, the mise-en-scene of a dark academia makes everything feel isolated and claustrophobic – two main traits of all successful horror books and movies. And it’s a feat which Win Lose Kill Die pulls off perfectly.
Stowmarket Reporter 