The Headmaster’s List Review

I finished reading The Headmaster’s list by Melissa De La Cruz yesterday. 392 pages. 3 days. So, arguably, it must have been enticing. From this point on, it may contain spoilers, so readers, if you do not want spoilers, don’t read on. The Headmaster’s list starts simply like every other mystery: the incident itself. 4 teenagers are caught in a crash, of which 15 year old Chirs Moore dies on the spot, and the prime, almost-confirmed suspect is rich kid Ethan Amoroso. Ethan already went to a ‘Troubled teens’ reform camp due to his addictions. The story is written from the perspective of Spencer Sandoval, Ethan’s ex-girlfriend (they broke up at the party before the crash occurred). She wakes up in the hospital, and could not remember a thing that happened at the party or the crash. The story progresses with the two goals: regaining Spencer’s memory and proving Ethan is innocent. Why? Because Spencer believes Ethan did not do it on purpose, she tries to piece things together with the help of Ethan’s best friend Jackson Chen. With this information itself, many readers who have read YA thrillers before can guess what one of the plot twists is. I’m not gonna go into the details, but just delve into the writing style of Melissa Cruz. There is a lot of repetition with minute additions to what Spencer remembers in every 2 pages. For example, between the 2nd and 3rd chapter, there were around 15 times when the line, Scream,Float,Crash,Pain. While it is a minor thing, it still feels a bit over repetitive. However, I liked the conversations that were written in the book; they felt very realistic. She had a knack of delivering the hard feelings of breakup, the inability to move on quickly, the trauma after the car crash very impactfully while not overexaggerating it. One thing that I was in awe of in the book was despite me having an idea of what was going to happen, I kept reading, which I believe was internally, I wanted satisfaction of the reading it in the book or maybe I was expecting something else but I think a lot of it goes to the engaging writing of Melissa De La Cruz. Overall, despite a slow phase at times, it is a good read thanks to the intriguing style the author brings to the table. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get into YA thrillers, if you can pass through the small chunks yet significant chunks that are slow and repetitive. 

Image:

“The Headmaster’s List.” Audible.com, 2023, www.audible.com/pd/The-Headmasters-List-Audiobook/B09YHZRFBQ. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.

‌