Stay Dead

by April Henry

New York Times  bestselling author April Henry is back with a thrilling new murder mystery featuring a government cover up, perfect for fans of Karen McManus's suspense novels. 

Sometimes, the only way to live is to make sure the world thinks you’re dead . . . 

In the aftermath of a car accident that claimed the life of her senator father, sixteen-year-old Milan finds herself adrift, expelled from her third boarding school. Milan’s mother, who has assumed the senate seat, diverts her private plane to pick up her daughter. But on their way home, a bomb rips off a wing and the plane crashes in the mountains. In her final moments, Milan’s mother entrusts her with a key. She reveals it will unlock the evidence that so many people have already died for—including Milan’s father. The only way Milan can survive, her mom tells her, is to let everyone believe she died with the other passengers.

​Milan is forced to navigate a perilous descent in freezing conditions while outwitting everything from a drone to wild animals. With relentless assassins on her trail, she must untangle the web of deceit and save herself and countless others. Will she piece together the truth in time?

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult, Mystery Thriller, Adventure, Contemporary, Fiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2024

About the author

I write mysteries and thrillers. I live in Portland, Oregon with my family.

If you've read one of my books, I would love to hear from you. Hearing from readers makes me eager to keep writing.

When I was 12, I sent a short story about a six-foot tall frog who loved peanut butter to Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He liked it so much he arranged to have it published in an international children's magazine.

My dream of writing went dormant until I was in my 30s, working at a corporate job, and started writing books on the side. Those first few years are now thankfully a blur. Now I'm very lucky to make a living doing what I love. I have written31 novels for adults and teens, with more on the way. My books have been on the New York Times bestseller list, translated into twelve languages, and won the Edgar, Anthony, and Oregon Book awards.

Reviews

[➺ kath [ia] · Rating 4 out of 5]

🗝 3.5 astonishing stars ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆
reviewed on may.21, 2024.
publish date: may.28, 2024.

♠️ this arc was provided to me by the publisher and the author through netgalley. all thoughts and reviews are completely my own. quotes from the arc copy are not included.

i went into this book nearly blind, having only read one of the author’s books before. i’ve been in a both review and reading slump since january and i can’t get out of it. but this book? this book was perfect for snapping me out of it. it gave me a adrenaline rush and such a breathtaking feeling. i felt alive while reading it and while incredibly short, it hooked me from beginning to end.

the setting .𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆.𖤐 the fact that this takes place within a couple days is astonishing. it felt very fast paced and the scenes felt very well researched. however at times the scenes also felt unreasonable - a girl with zero wilderness training manages to escape from the snowy mountains and hide from the freaking fbi? this just felt slightly incomprehendable to me.

the pacing also throughout the setting was also a bit off, i felt it went too fast sometimes but in the moment while i was reading it, the pacing felt perfectly well done so idk if it’s just a aftermath thing or if the pacing really was a huge problem. either way, looking back it did feel a bit off.

plot 🥀 ✮ ⋆ ˚｡ guysss i was literally hooked to this. addicted. obsessed. devoted. whatever synonym is in your language; this plot was amazing. I felt immediately drawn from the opening to the flashbacks throughout the book, it was a fun idea and intertwined with several different characters. while i wish the multiple povs ended up tying together better, i really enjoyed it after i was able to start keeping track of the charaters.

at the same time, while it was really addictive, it was also very predictable. about halfway through the book i already knew who the main “antagonist” was. i think maybe introducing more characters, or adding more suspicion onto each one would’ve kept me guessing a lot more.

characters ⊹‧₊˚🖇️✩.⋆ omigodomigodomigod guys the characters were literally the best part of this book. LIKE GUYS MILAN IS SUCH A UNTOUCHABLE GIRLBOSS ASSHOLE and i’m so here for it bc bsf not every fmc needs to be some perfect pick me, we need to also love the untouchable assholes who have their touchable moments but yeah anyways stan milan i love her sm.

lenny. this girl literally broke my fking heart. she had so much depth in her and i know we dont like the antagonists but pls. she deserves the whole fking world, she’s one of the biggest examples i’ve seen in lit of how we weren’t born this way, but our cold reality shaped us this way.

in conclusion guys this book really did cure my slump, it’s fast paced, addictive, with some of the best and in-depth characters i’ve seen in a long time ahhhhh <3 make sure to buy when it’s out !!

xoxo kath 💌

rating: 4/5
ages 11 and up

[Symantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5 stars!

I ate this book up. April Henry always puts so much research into her books that I always walk away with some kind of fire/hiking/general safety fact that I can whip out in future conversations.

The main character, Milan is a firecracker! Shes a teenager with a lot of built up angst towards her life. Shipped off to boarding school, she feels like her mother is pushing her aside. Picked up by her mom for getting kicked out of her third boarding school, the plot starts to explode with action!

A plane crash, a fire, an animal attack, a pregnant housekeeper?!, and a battle of friend vs. foe. The multiple POVs helped fill in any potential plot gaps without giving away the reveal at the end.

This felt like one of the more "graphic" books that I've read from April in terms of the descriptions of the violence, but it wasnt over the top!

Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! Im honored!

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Source* Publisher
*Genre* Young Adult / Suspense / Mystery
*Rating* 3

*Thoughts*

I think the author is angry at white people who don't think like she does. She always refers to white people with a negative connotation. This story should have focused on one person and her journey for answers after she loses her parents to a cover-up. Instead, it meanders between two other characters.

[Jazmin °•JFC•GFB•° · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tessa netting was the narrator and shes really good 🙂↕️

[lexa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn’t finish, I got bored, will probably finish later

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars* I was a little boring in the beginning but it started to pick up a little bit later in the book, but it just took a little too long in my opinion.

[TheNextGenLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thrilling YA murder mystery set in the wilderness of Oregon.
🥾
After her father’s death Milan is adrift. Her mother has taken her father’s seat in government and put her in boarding school—several because Milan keeps getting kicked out. When her mom comes to get her from her latest expulsion, then end up in a plane crash with Milan the only survivor. Now an assassin is after her to finish the job she started with her parents. As Milan fights through the wilderness, multiple injuries, betrayal and more, she must figure out how to survive and bring the truth her parents were fighting so hard for to light.
🥾
Yessss! I’m a huge @aprilhenrybooks fan and absolutely loved this thriller which was part Hatchet and Not If I Save You First mixed with Karen McManus suspense vibes. We can always count on Henry for a quick, fast-paced read and this was no exception. Her books fly off my middle school shelves and this one will too!

CW: fracking, death, murder, animal death, child death, cancer, gun violence, violence, blood, broken bones, car accident, plane crash

A bit more graphic than her usual books, but an important topic to share. 4.25 🌟

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book:
STAY DEAD by April Henry (thank you Netgalley and Little Brown Books of Young Readers for the Arc: OUT May 28)

Review:
5⭐
STAY DEAD is a riveting novel that had me on the edge on my seat from the first few pages, which were mouth-gapingly crazy. STAY DEAD is a fast-paced tale of survival, and I found myself rooting for Milan as she faced obstacle after obstacle.
This book basically read itself. It's one of those ones that has you so engrossed that you almost forget that your reading as the book became more and more pulse-pounding, more and more shocking. That's one of the things I love about April Henry's books...her ability to tell a story so magnifyingly thrilling that everything is gripping, captivating, and easy-to-read. STAY DEAD was just that. This book is perfect for a mystery and suspense lover from the bold, tragic beginning to the multiple points of view that lent itself to the action-packed book with a shocking, never would have seen it coming, plot twist.

What I Liked About It:
*everything

[Beary Into Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 3.75

This one started out really strong, I was hooked from the beginning. The story progressed at a constant speed and the short chapters helped feel as though you were accomplishing a lot. I won’t say too much due to spoilers. While I did enjoy this one, it seemed like it would never end. The ending became too convoluted with twists and turns that were predictable and took away from the overall story. The pacing started to slow down at around 70% and from there the story started to drag and I found myself wanting to skim. What kept me reading was the main character. I felt like we went on an adventure together and I had to see how it ended. I wasn’t pleased with the ending but I also wasn’t mad at it. It was just whatever. Overall, I do believe teens will enjoy this one even if some parts will bore them.

Thank you so much to the author and publisher for my gifted copy on #netgalley All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Content warnings: death of a parent, plane crash, explosion, gun violence, death, miscarriage, cancer, animal death, environmental destruction

Look, Milan's parts of the story? The survival side of things? That was solid. I enjoyed that. The unfortunate part is that cutting back and forth to Lenny's perspective and to the "three years earlier" stuff around fracking and how it impacted one rural community? That stuff really bogged down the pace of the book and meant that big aspects of the thriller side of the story were...obvious. Like, OBVIOUSLY Lenny was going to be working for someone high up at the fracking company. Obviously fracking is going to end badly for the woman whose name I've completely forgotten (Janie?). Obviously the ONE person Milan's mother told her she can trust is untrustworthy and OBVIOUSLY he's somehow affiliated with the fracking companies. Like...it takes the thrill out of thriller if you make the intersections of the story THAT obvious.

Anyway. This was fine. But it's far from Henry's best work.

[Evangeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was quite predictable. The plot was there but not exactly 😭 The protagonist has very good survival skills but lacks common sense most times. The book never really picked up because it was so predictable… I could guess a good 85% of what was going to happen.

[angelpompom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning was solid but after about 40-50% it started going down hilll and I wasn’t interested anymore.

[biba ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s safe to say I enjoyed this one a whole lot more than girl, forgotten. This was well-researched, high-stakes (even while being utterly unrealistic), had much better writing…and I somehow learned from it.

I really enjoyed the survival aspect — I love books with the hunter/hunted dynamic, and I definitely felt that in Stay Dead, especially since we got the POV of both characters. There was a third point of view of someone called Janie which felt completely unnecessary. She never meets Milan, and while it serves to show the impacts of fracking, it broke up the flow.

Lenny was the hitman (she hates being called a hitwoman), and I did feel for her as a character. I liked how we got to learn a little bit about her past; it showed that while some personality traits are built into you, you’re also affected by your upbringing.

Milan was an okay main character. Her story felt a little unrealistic, and her choices frustrated me. For one: how did she survive the wilderness with literally zero knowledge? She’s been on a couple of hikes with her now-dead father, but I feel like that would provide very little help. She also doesn’t eat at all while she’s stranded — it’s only for a couple of days, but I feel like being stuck in the snow without any food would kill you quicker than if you were stranded in spring with decent weather.

The tracking on Milan’s phone was pretty cool. I liked the technology aspect of the book. However, again, I felt annoyed by Milan’s choices regarding that. She thinks of the fact that someone may be able to track her location/view what she’s doing on the phone, but she still uses it multiple times.

Milan’s mum also has some suspicions about her husbands’ death, but she also does absolutely nothing to prepare Milan for what’s coming for her. It was annoying; I understand wanting to protect your daughter from what’s happening around her…but if I knew my family on a hitlist, you know I’d be training her so she can be better prepared. Milan also completely ignores her mother’s instructions at a couple of points, so that was frustrating.

All that said, I could tell it was well-researched. I learned a little bit about fracking and its impacts, as well as how to survive in the wilderness. The 3-3-3 rule was interesting as well. The writing was quite good; it wasn’t too intense and was easy to read. Especially when you consider how clean it was, this could easily be a middle grade book. The survival/hunting aspect didn’t feel incredibly gory, considering it’s a huge part of this book. Stay Dead does talk quite a bit about murder and sociopaths, and Milan is an orphan due to a car and plane crash. People burn to death. If you’re giving this to your child, you might want to be careful about it…but I don’t think it’s too much for a middle schooler.

There was practically no romance. It was mentioned once that Milan and her best friend had crushes on each other, but they were both oblivious to it. Even when we see them interact, it honestly felt like they had no chemistry. It was refreshing.

There were a few unexpected twists; Milan should learn not to trust what people say. There was some good pacing, even though the first 20% was a little on the slow side. I finished this in a few hours, so I would recommend it if you want something quick, heavy-but-not-too-heavy, and informative.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings

Cancer
Blood & injury depiction
Death of a father in a car accident
Murder
Gun violence
Plane crash
Animal death

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew April Henry was good but I actually haven’t been able to delve into much of her work. I am glad I got to experience it with Stay Dead.

Milan’s life has been difficult. Her senator dad died when he got in a car accident and they were arguing. Milan blames herself. Her mom ran and won her dad’s senate seat and shipped Milan off to boarding school after boarding school. At the beginning of the book, she’s been kicked out of her third one and her mom comes to get her on the private jet. Then there’s a bomb and Milan is the only survivor. She does everything she can to stay alive in the snow covered Oregon mountains but it’s clear someone is after her. Her mom gave her clues to what she needed to do but there’s still so much Milan doesn’t know. Who can she trust? She knows one thing for sure, she has to stay dead until she finds out.

[Carli · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. Talk. About. Intense. Every time I put this book on display in my library, it reminds me that I need to read it. And I finally, did, in ONE sitting. Milan is the daughter of a senator - rather, two, though her father is dead. The accident that took his life also shattered her leg. Now her mom has been elected, and Milan has been kicked out of another boarding school. She joins her mom on a flight home to Portland, only to have a bomb take it down in the wilderness. Barely alive, her mom warns Milan to stay hidden and let the world tho k she is dead. Because her father’s accident was no accident, and the same people are after her too. This is a RIDE, with tons of action. I always hand April Henry to my reluctant readers. They’ll ignore what I nitpick as an adult reader. Recommended to kids in grades 7+ who can handle blood.

[Jan Raspen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this thriller from April Henry, and I didn't even pick out the bad guy "the client" before he was revealed (which is always a plus!). This book has good teenager-in-charge energy, and even though parts of it seemed a little unbelievable to me, I know that young readers will find it empowering.
And I also know that April Henry is a thorough researcher and writer, so anything that she has her character do to survive is actually plausible. I was skeptical when reading about Milan using the door of the plane to maneuver through the forest, but then in the author's note, I read that April knew exactly how much the door weighed. Of course she does!
The book is a little intense and gruesome, so I have to say I agree with the 9-12 grade recommendation in the reviews for this one.

[Dayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

STAY DEAD was not at all what I was anticipating. For some reason, that cover made me think that this was going to be a zombie apocalypse book (the truth behind entering a book without reading the synopsis). Thankfully, I'm still a sucker for these kinds of books. Survival and running away from someone hunting the MC down? Sign me up!

While I do wish there was more of a survival aspect after the plane crash, I was completely pulled in by the MC's intelligent approach to surviving the people who wanted her dead. There were some moments where I thought it would all end, but she somehow would get out safe. Also, as I've mentioned many times in past reviews, I love when a villain underestimates the MC because it makes the story more exciting.

I also liked that this was a realistic situation because of the reason behind WHY the MC and the previous people involved were hurt or hunted. I won't say it here, but I thought it was very timely. It was also well supported by that surprising third perspective that gives us more of an explanation of what was happening, why it was happening, and the real-life consequences.

And while I did like the hint of a romance there with the childhood best friend, I do appreciate that Henry stayed true to the story and focused more on the MC's journey than the potential romance. It was also left open-ended enough that there is either a what-if aspect to it, or a sequel cooking somewhere.

Overall, this was fun and was non-stop action. Really ended up enjoying this one, even if it wasn't about zombies.

Happy reading!

[Danielle Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess it was to make us sympathize with fracking being bad, but the subplot of some random woman farmer was unnecessary. Definitely drew away from the main plot of this girl who's parents were murdered in a conspiracy about said fracking. Thank goodness the dad taught her wilderness skills even though she's a boarding school teen. phew. That was a close one. Also, don't trust anyone. lol. That's a lesson the parents should have taught Milan.

Read by Tessa Netting. #booksin25

[Christina Getrost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This latest April Henry thriller for teens is really a fun read! Very suspenseful, twisty, and fast-paced. A teen girl is flying home with her mother from yet another boarding school she's been expelled from, when their private plane crashes in the snowy Oregon mountains. She is the sole survivor of the crash, barely, but quickly comes to realize that the plane was deliberately brought down in order to kill her mother, a U.S. Senator. And those same people won't stop until they kill her, too! Perfect chilling summer read. A real page-turner, with an important message too. Great for 7th grade and up.

[Claire♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of this book. It was too much like hatchet. (which I didn't like either) it wasn't a bad book, just not my taste. I read simply because it was for book club, I most likely wouldn't read this on my own time.

[Audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a much more intense story without the flashbacks to the inciting incident. One chapter could have provided that info. Lackluster.

[Chevelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I thought this couldnt be a good book but guess what!!This book was great oh my gosh!!The plot was wonderful i definitly reccomend

[Ray boycott Reading Challenges until they fix app · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holy Mediocrity, Batman!

[Gracie P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It was interesting to see how she handled the problems. However, the whole book felt a bit rushed. Overall it was good though!

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one had me going. It was full of twists and turns and people and evil people. Totally worth the read and definitely a page turner. AND the person responsible??? Definitely a surprise. Read it.

[Ruby Cronon · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was good
nothing crazy tho

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this was such a fantastic and thrilling read, I just had to know what was going to happen next!

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was up for some thriller stuff and came across April Henry's "Stay Dead"...Looked like it fit the bill, but it was just a YA mystery with an "evil" energy company after a young, troubled girl who's survived successful murders of both parents...Meh!!!

[Stephanie Kefer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fracking..