Review of People Like Us by Dana Mele

People Like Us by Dana Mele is a fast-paced, prep-school thriller. All seems right with Kay Donovan’s world: she is a student at the elite Bates Academy, she is a star soccer player, and a scholarship to college seems within easy grasp. All is going according to plan until a dead girl turns up in the campus lake. The next day, Kay receives a chilling email from that dead girl and is led on a virtual scavenger hunt to find the killer, all the while trying to keep her past secrets hidden.

Image

Image of People Like Us by Dana Mele; Edkins, M. (2018). [Cover image of People like us]. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35356380-people-like-us

Evaluation

People Like Us by Dana Mele is full of suspense and intrigue as we, along with Kay, try to figure out who murdered Jessica Lane. Mele uses figurative language to enhance the eerie, suspenseful feeling in the novel. In the first few pages, when Kay and her friends find Jessica’s dead body floating in the lake, Mele uses simile to describe the scene beautifully: “Fragments of moonlight lie like shattered glass over the surface of the water” (Mele, 2018, p. 4). The image of shattered glass also reflects the shattered lives of the students as the novel progresses. From the very beginning, we also know that Kay is holding something back from the reader. She creates an imaginary “room of ice, soundless, safe. No crying. A teardrop can be the snowflake that starts an avalanche” (Mele, 2018, p. 5). Mele’s imagery shows the reader that Kay is holding something in and working very hard to control her emotions. Later in the novel, when Kay attempts to open the door to a bathroom, she feels “panic…rising in me like a flood” (Mele, 2018, p. 193). The panic rising like a flood is then mirrored in the flooded bathroom. Mele’s figurative language reflects the feelings and experiences of the characters in the novel.

Throughout People Like Us, Kay must come to terms with mistakes she has made in the past, and as she accepts her mistakes, she can learn and grow. Kay faces serious problems as the police narrow their suspect list down to just a few students, include Kay herself. Mele shares with the reader a number of unexpected insights, which make the novel rich and the character of Kay relatable. For example, at one point, Kay blurts out, “[we] used to say the bitchiest shit, but people thought we were funny, so we’d get away with it… You can get away with murder if you’re lucky. You don’t even have to be smart” (Mele, 2018, p. 247). Seeing as there’s an actual murder investigation and Kay is a prime suspect, this may not be the smartest thing to say. However, Kay has just realized something profound and shares her insight with the reader: someone did commit murder, and that someone might just get away with it. In that same conversation with her friend Greg, he says, “Every motive in the book can be boiled down to pride. You insult someone, you potentially make an enemy for life. Potentially a deadly one” (Mele, 2018, p. 246). The novel is peppered with thoughtful insights; one small action on your part could have serious consequences down the road. These insights are so important, especially for young people, who often don’t think past their own day-to-day activities. The novel’s insights are thoughtful without being preachy.

People Like Us deals with issues, from doping, cheating, and drinking to sexual identity, bullying, and peer pressure that are all concerns of modern-day teens. Mele uses dialogue to make the story believable. Kay is a flawed character, but one we can relate to and root for. When a friend asked her what she knew about the murdered girl, Kay says, “None of us ever spoke to her before she turned up dead. She was a nobody” (Mele, 2018, p. 123). This shows the popular Kay who hazed her soccer teammates and send cruel Valentines to classmates as a prank. Later, Kay tells Nola to “just be normal” (Mele, 2018, p. 146). As you might expect from a prep school drama, the popular kids ignore, haze and torment those who are different. As the novel progresses, Kay realizes how cruel she and her friends had been to others, including Nola: “We didn’t even give her a chance. We made jokes about her sleeping with corpses and worshipping the devil. Of course it caught on. Everything we do eventually does…No wonder she was terrified” (Mele, 2018, p. 129). Nola, who had been teased mercilessly, becomes Kay’s friend, but her words show that she has not completely forgiven Kay for her cruelty: “It’s not like you and your friends were so much nicer, though, were you?” and “Don’t give yourself too much credit, Kay. Your whole operation is small-time” (Mele, 2018, p. 281). Mele’s language brings these flawed characters to life for the reader.

Response

People Like Us was an intense, fast-paced thriller. Beyond the suspense, I loved People Like Us because of its emphasis on issues that many teens face. From cheating and bullying to parental pressure and self-discovery, anyone who has gone through adolescence is sure to relate to the issues addressed in this novel. At a teen, I remember trying to fit in with those “popular” kids who weren’t always the nicest (like Kay and her friends). This YA novel addresses these common teen issues in a way that will engage the reader without preaching. As a work of entertainment, I found People Like Us to be a great deal of fun. It was a suspenseful pager-turner that incorporates many of the elements you would expect to find in a prep school novel: sex, booze, lots of drama, and hazing/initiation rites. The suspense was not predictable, and overall, I really enjoyed the novel. I have already recommended it to a couple of friends who enjoy thrillers, and I think this would be an excellent read for high school students on up. I recommend this book for fans of One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus and We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

Conclusion

People Like Us is a well-written suspense novel that deals with typical teen issues in a unique and nuanced way. Mele’s figurative language, unexpected insights and dialogue make the story come to life for the reader. The figurative language shows us Kay’s feelings without telling us she’s scared, and the dialogue reveals exactly who the characters are. The insights are perhaps the best part of the book. As Kay discovers more and more secrets, she learns more about herself and what kind of person she was, and what kind of person she wants to be. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to both high school students and adults who enjoy a good thriller. 5 stars.

Citation

Edkins, M. (2018). [Cover image of People like us]. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35356380-people-like-us

Mele, D. (2018). People like us. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.