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Dying to Know
Three evil friends hold an entire school in their grip, until one of them is murdered by a mysterious killer who is determined to break them
- GenresHorror
171 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 25, 2022
A recommendation with an interesting cover and a decent blurb on the back left me intrigued so I purchased a copy off Half Price Books.
First of all the story is slightly different compared to what is described.
There are three girls who make it their lives to be popular by spreading gossip about others or spilling their most painful secrets. Toni Ayers, Melissa Birch and Lynn Rivers do have Maxville High School on their toes to be on their good side or steer clear and face their venomous wrath.
Diane Delaney is on the other side of the coin. She runs the gossip column of the school paper but uses a light hearted, fun approach to her news. It's called Dying To Know and she addresses the girls as The Evil Sisters whenever a new person suffers their slander.
Jim use to steal but that's ancient history except when you let it slip to a girl you thought really cared about you now he's lost his job helping out in the school store...
Heather is an attractive girl now that puberty has been kind and she got tips on how to dress nicely to get the attention of boys. But slight one of her friends and now every guy thinks she's easy after the third date...
Rick isn't playing football anymore after having a really bad bout with anger, anxiety and depression. Playing to win and having an awful life at home didn't help but now everyone knows because he thought one girl cared until she had to learn that personal problems are more important than going to the prom. He blew her off and now she'll make his life miserable...
Fiona's parents want her to go to Duke, their alma mater, after high school but she wants to forge her own future at a different school. Her English Lit teacher sets up an interview for her at the Holiday Inn to talk with a recruiter...behind her parents' backs. A young girl showing up at a hotel with her teacher is innocent in this context but one of these Evil Sisters can't resist the scenario and its salacious innuendo...
Plenty of people had reason to hate all three girls...even Diane. They used her to hurt others but she could never imagine being angry enough to want them dead...especially when she discovers the body. The water was bloody, there were cuts on her wrists and it looks like suicide.
Yet the bathroom was still too clean after such a messy ordeal and not even the girl's fingerprints could be found. Her siblings say she was too happy to have committed suicide...taught that is a sin to take one's life. The sister turns to Diane to help her prove that it was...murder!
Is Diane in over her head to make such a promise? Will her desire to know leave her as the next one...to die if murder is indeed the truth?
The plot is completely different but still intriguing to read. There are a bunch of suspects and we get to see just why each one could be plausible for murder. It's more or less Diane's story than it is about The Evil Sisters but they do play a part if a small one once one of them is killed.
It's a slightly slow burn but we get some good reveals and twists before we even get to the climatic final act. From there it goes to being pretty obvious who the bad guy is and the reasoning behind the motives are ridiculously lame. The methods are insane but the logic behind them is just bonkers...even for high school kids.
The ending is full of quipping and goes out on a happy one despite so much tragedy. That's the only reason why I didn't give it five out of five stars: it started out interesting and outstanding but then fell on its face with that ending.
If you like movies like Heathers or Jawbreaker then Dying To Know would be the kind of read you need to check out.
First of all the story is slightly different compared to what is described.
There are three girls who make it their lives to be popular by spreading gossip about others or spilling their most painful secrets. Toni Ayers, Melissa Birch and Lynn Rivers do have Maxville High School on their toes to be on their good side or steer clear and face their venomous wrath.
Diane Delaney is on the other side of the coin. She runs the gossip column of the school paper but uses a light hearted, fun approach to her news. It's called Dying To Know and she addresses the girls as The Evil Sisters whenever a new person suffers their slander.
Jim use to steal but that's ancient history except when you let it slip to a girl you thought really cared about you now he's lost his job helping out in the school store...
Heather is an attractive girl now that puberty has been kind and she got tips on how to dress nicely to get the attention of boys. But slight one of her friends and now every guy thinks she's easy after the third date...
Rick isn't playing football anymore after having a really bad bout with anger, anxiety and depression. Playing to win and having an awful life at home didn't help but now everyone knows because he thought one girl cared until she had to learn that personal problems are more important than going to the prom. He blew her off and now she'll make his life miserable...
Fiona's parents want her to go to Duke, their alma mater, after high school but she wants to forge her own future at a different school. Her English Lit teacher sets up an interview for her at the Holiday Inn to talk with a recruiter...behind her parents' backs. A young girl showing up at a hotel with her teacher is innocent in this context but one of these Evil Sisters can't resist the scenario and its salacious innuendo...
Plenty of people had reason to hate all three girls...even Diane. They used her to hurt others but she could never imagine being angry enough to want them dead...especially when she discovers the body. The water was bloody, there were cuts on her wrists and it looks like suicide.
Yet the bathroom was still too clean after such a messy ordeal and not even the girl's fingerprints could be found. Her siblings say she was too happy to have committed suicide...taught that is a sin to take one's life. The sister turns to Diane to help her prove that it was...murder!
Is Diane in over her head to make such a promise? Will her desire to know leave her as the next one...to die if murder is indeed the truth?
The plot is completely different but still intriguing to read. There are a bunch of suspects and we get to see just why each one could be plausible for murder. It's more or less Diane's story than it is about The Evil Sisters but they do play a part if a small one once one of them is killed.
It's a slightly slow burn but we get some good reveals and twists before we even get to the climatic final act. From there it goes to being pretty obvious who the bad guy is and the reasoning behind the motives are ridiculously lame. The methods are insane but the logic behind them is just bonkers...even for high school kids.
The ending is full of quipping and goes out on a happy one despite so much tragedy. That's the only reason why I didn't give it five out of five stars: it started out interesting and outstanding but then fell on its face with that ending.
If you like movies like Heathers or Jawbreaker then Dying To Know would be the kind of read you need to check out.
April 16, 2025
Dying to Know is a hidden gem amongst a sea of vintage YA Avon Flare books. Three gossip girls terrorize their peers with harmful rumors and accumulate plenty of enemies in doing so. One of them finally winds up dead under suspicion circumstances and it’s up to the school’s gossip columnist, Diane Delaney to solve the case.
April 18, 2016
I do not like the organization of the book.
First off, the first couple of pages is basically the book switching P.O.Vs among several red herrings. This would be good, except that a. this takes up at quarter of the book b. the red herrings were mostly generic teenagers c. They barely appear in the book! They only appear when the main character interrogates them and after that, they're gone for the rest of the book.
Also, I can see this is semi-mystery which doesn't bring my favor as I expected horror from this premise.
There are some good aspects. There were at least couple of parts where the main character does end up in traps so it makes up the suspense. And yeah the mystery was intriguing though nothing complex. And I suppose, the twist was overall good!
Maybe recommended for those who want to get into mystery reader and a start so this could be it but then , there are better books for that role.
First off, the first couple of pages is basically the book switching P.O.Vs among several red herrings. This would be good, except that a. this takes up at quarter of the book b. the red herrings were mostly generic teenagers c. They barely appear in the book! They only appear when the main character interrogates them and after that, they're gone for the rest of the book.
Also, I can see this is semi-mystery which doesn't bring my favor as I expected horror from this premise.
There are some good aspects. There were at least couple of parts where the main character does end up in traps so it makes up the suspense. And yeah the mystery was intriguing though nothing complex. And I suppose, the twist was overall good!
Maybe recommended for those who want to get into mystery reader and a start so this could be it but then , there are better books for that role.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews