Everyone in the Group Chat dies by L.M. Chilton book review – A popcorn thriller
If you enjoy YA novels, you might really dig this.
Everyone in the Group Chat dies by L.M. Chilton: The key details
- Publish date: 13th March 2025
- Genre: Thriller
- Publisher: Head of Zeus
- Series/standalone: Standalone
- No. of pages: 342
Blurb: Kirby Cornell needs a break from everything:
- Her crumbling flat in the sleepy town of Crowhurst (famous for its award-winning sausage rolls and a second-rate serial killer from the 90s).
- Her dead-end job.
- Her sleazy landlord.
- Her slobbish housemates.
- And, most of all, the terrible thing they all did.
Luckily, that hasn’t caught up with her just yet. Until a new message on their old group chat pops up: Everyone in the group chat will die.
It’s the first text her ex-flatmate and social-media sleuth Esme has sent for ages, but that’s not the really weird thing.
The really weird thing is, Esme died twelve months ago…
Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by L.M. Chilton: Review
I wanted to love Everyone in the Group Chat Dies. This has my name written all over it. From the eye-catching cover, to the fact I absolutely love stories that have text conversations woven into them — and, of course, the thrilling, twisty premise and the strong humour that peppers the pages. I still enjoyed this, but it didn’t grab me quite as much as I hoped it would, unfortunately.
While Everyone in the Group Chat Dies was an easy read to get through (even for me, ol’ slowpoke over here, thanks to its easy-to-digest writing style), I was frequently left disappointed. It reads more like a YA novel, despite its protagonist being 30 — although saying that, I did enjoy the perspective of a 30 year old not quite having her life together. It’s always nice to be made to feel a bit better about your own existence!
The book is told from the perspective of Claire ‘Kirby’ Cornell, a junior journalist working at a local newspaper in the small town of Crowhurst. Not much happens there, other than it being the home of a serial killer back in the 90s. After a rough time in London, she finds herself living in a dysfunctional flatshare, living the lifestyle of a 19-year-old student. But things soon get shake up when a social media “investigator”, Esme, turns up on her doorstep. Esme claims the ‘Crowhurst Killer’ is still alive, and she’s here to uncover him — and before she knows it, Kirby gets dragged into a mess of social media clout, chasing likes and a hunt for the truth.
Everyone in the Group Chat Dies is told over two timelines set one year apart, and each timeline has its own twists and turns. The present timeline has the most thrills, but it feels rushed, and what should be big ‘oh my God!’ moments are brushed past. None of the characters feel important apart from Kirby, which is a shame because the first 40% of the book does a good job in setting up her friendships between her flatmates in the one-year-ago timeline. Ultimately, everyone ends up feeling dispensable and irrelevant, and even Kirby herself doesn’t seem to show much care to any of them. It takes some of the believability out of the story for me.
If you enjoy young adult literature, you may enjoy Everyone in the Group Chat Dies. I’d have probably been less disappointed if I’d have gone in expecting a YA novel. As it is, I didn’t dislike it: it’s a very fun popcorn thriller, but it lacked any real substance unfortunately.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
With thanks to Netgalley for providing access to an advanced digital ARC of Everyone in the Group Chat Dies.
