Oxford Blood by Rachel Davis-Featherstone

TL;DR: A fast paced and incredibly tense YA thriller – perfect for fans of the genre.
Source: NetGalley – Thank you to the publisher!!

Plot: Eva is going to Oxford to interview for a position in the college when murders happen and things get tense, and fast.
Characters: The characters were a good mix of relatable and flawed and I enjoyed seeing things hop from one to the other.
Setting: While it was drawn well, this wasn’t a great setting. There was perhaps one strong location that played a pivotal role.
Mystery: I didn’t find the mystery super hard to solve, but the constant back and forth keep it interesting!

Summary:

Love, Lies, Legacy…High-achieving state-school pupil Eva has one dream – reading English at Oxford. If she gets in, not only will she receive a world-class education at an elite university, but she will be fulfilling the dreams of her mother and gain some independence from her father, the overprotective Inspector Dawkins.

At the same school, Eva’s best-friend George is also hoping to go to Oxford. The attraction between him and Eva is undeniable, but they’ve agreed to put any romance on hold until their places at Oxford are secured. Eva cannot be distracted from her goal – although when they are both invited for interview week, their future together feels oh-so close.

Until George shows up dead.

The police rule his death an accident, but the behaviour of some of the other interview candidates has Eva suspecting foul play. When a shocking secret about George is revealed, Eva finds suspicion falling on her. What was meant to be one of the most important weeks of her life is fast turning into a nightmare.

All eyes are now on Eva, including the anonymous posters behind OxSlay, a gossipy social media forum exclusively for Oxford students. But amongst the conspiracy theories, lurk hidden clues. Could they help Eva clear her name – and catch the killer?

Thoughts:

Oxford Blood is the type of thriller that makes it hard to put down. The tension is high, the stakes feel just as high and there is constantly something happening. It also starts almost immediately. Eva and George arrive for interviews at Oxford and within a day there is a body, accusations, and we have hit the ground running.

The characters all feel fairly interesting, they’re nuanced. We have clear flaws in everyone, but they are also to some degree fairly relatable. Eva is hot headed but knows she is. She impulsively does things, says things that can and do put her in hot water. Other characters show clear red flags but also manage to do good at the same time. The adults especially exemplify this, and we see a lot of discourse around accessibility and people of color in colleges and admittance programs as well.

My biggest complaint on this one is just a very personal preference in that our main character is always under suspicion. She is outright accused of crimes multiple times, by peers and police and that for me is a knot of tension that wrecks a story. I spent a lot of the time agitated and this was not a restful reading experience. However that may not be the case of others so I’d recommend this for the fast paced YA thriller fans. It hooks you in quick and doesn’t let go, so get ready for the ride!