Kill the Lax Bro / Charlotte Lillie Balogh / Book Review

KILL THE LAX BRO

No Hancock High student would miss the annual senior lock-in the night before graduation. Everybody who's anybody (and everybody who's nobody) will be there. But when the school's star lacrosse player, Troy Richards, turns up dead, the lock-in takes a dark turn.

But not everybody knows Troy Richards is dead. Not yet.

Jennifer might be every high school boy's dream girl, but she hated Troy Richards as much as any other girl at Hancock. Naomi, a geek and an underclassmen, has no reason to be caught up in all this... except that she does. Sassi might be primed for valedictorian, but she and Troy have a dirty history. And anyone would happily point fingers to perpetual senior Tatum, the not-quite-dropout rebel who can't ever seem to finish high school. These girls have nothing in common, except that they're each other's alibi when they find a body growing cold...

THOUGHTS

This book isn't a bad read, but it didn't do any of the things I wanted it to. I wanted an unhinged feminist slasher. I would have settled for a 1990s themed thriller or murder mystery. I didn't really get much of anything, since this book doesn't embrace any of the directions I wanted it (or that it promised) to go.

PROS

Subtle Rep	I really liked all the queer rep that makes it onto these pages. While nobody is really out and proud (it being the 1990s), the LGBTQ+ community is alive and well. It's a harsher environment for coming out, for living how you want to, and that's definitely represented on the page. Without the social stigma homophobic rhetoric may bring today, there are a lot of people living not-so-comfortably in the closet. But they exist. And they're making it through, which I appreciate.
Backstories	I really liked digging into the character backstories, too. I'm not always the biggest fan of books that rely on flashback chapters, but this one worked for me. It's not at all how I imagined this book would play out, but I did really enjoy diving into these characters. I liked piecing together who they were, how they had changed, and how they got here, to this night, dead body included.
Girl Power	I also loved all the ladies at the heart of this story. Though these gals were wildly different, with different aesthetics and goals and hopes and dreams, they get pulled together (somewhat against their will). They develop alongside each other and play off each other really well. While there were little tensions, this book doesn't veer into the mean, catty territory that high school books like to when dealing with a bunch of different types of girls. This book doesn't do the whole "We're not alike, therefore you're not as good as me" thing, and I loved that. These girls start as stereotypes and become more than their archetypes, and I liked that a lot.

CONS

Look, I'm not spoiling anything here, so I guess you'll just have to trust me on this. But one of the plot twists (or character twists, I guess) gave me some major ick. This fact about the character motivates a lot of the plot. It kicks off the whole thing, even. And to me, this rearranged who the bullies and who the victims in this story were (though I don't think, based on where this story ultimately went, that this was intentional on the author's part). It felt icky. Majorly so. Especially in a world that's veering more toward the socially conservative, I didn't really like this messaging.	The Ick
I don't know. I feel like I was promised some brand of thriller here. This book starts with a dead body, for goodness's sake. But this book really wasn't the thriller I wanted it to be. It spends too long unpacking the characters and their backstories for there to be any real tension. The "culprit" here ends up not being that exciting at all (though I did enjoy the little twist at the end). This book was really just a very long and convoluted look at the social lives of these kids, but it didn't even come with the sort of social commentary that would make a book like that worth reading. Overall, it was just kind of disappointing.	Not a Thriller
I like a good bit of nostalgia as much as the next person, but this book just didn't do it for me. Throwing some iconic brand names in there (and I mean a lot, lot, lot of brand names), toss in a mention of butterfly clips, and you've got the 90s, right? Well, not exactly. This book is basically a contemporary story except that it name-drops some of the things that might show up on a 90s-baby starter kit meme. It's not even 90s flavor, really. It's just a touch of aesthetic, and that's just sad to me.	Only For Appearances

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/10

Fans of Jordyn Taylor's The Revenge Game will like following these girls as they take back what they're owed. Those who enjoyed Gabriella Lepore's Last One to Fall will like doubting these friends at each and every turn.

Details Publisher: Delacorte Press Date: June 24, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.