Maggie was supposed to take a glamorous cruise on a private yacht with best friend Giselle and friends Emi and Viv. In the end, it was definitely not. On the last night of the cruise, Giselle falls overboard, and it looks like Maggie pushed her. Maggie is pretty sure she didn't do it, but her memory is foggy thanks to champagne. Determined to prove her innocence, she scours Giselle's journal for clues and tries to piece together her memories of the past few days. Maggie never understood why she, the scholarship student at their prep school, was adopted by wealthy, popular Giselle and her cohort, but the answer might save her. The novel moves backward through the days of the cruise as Giselle's journal moves forward, with Maggie and the reader discovering the truth simultaneously. Maggie's first-person, present-tense narration is engaging and sympathetic, and though minor characters are less well-rounded, they are well absorbed into this plot-driven page-turner.

Four friends set out for a five-day cruise-but when they arrive at their destination, they discover that someone has gone overboardMaggie, who's cued white, nervously accepts queen bee Giselle's invitation to join her on her final voyage on her family's yacht. Giselle's senator father has sold the boat, and Maggie will be accompanying Giselle (who's Cuban and white), Nigerian and Greek Emi (who's obsessed with her new boyfriend), and "blond bombshell" Viv (who's working on being an influencer) on a first-class adventure to deliver it to her new owners in Grand Cayman. Secrets abound as the girls, who are preparing to graduate high school, harbor resentments and grudges-all while pretending to have the time of their lives, sunning themselves, drinking, and gambling. But on the final day, Maggie wakes up to the news that Giselle has been thrown overboard-and she's the prime suspect. Unfolding in reverse chronological order, this novel displays an impressive narrative feat: Readers follow the journey from finish to start. Giselle's journal entries and news reports are interspersed throughout. As Maggie's secrets are slowly revealed, readers realize how much the characters are hiding about their true identities. The final reveal is surprising yet well supported by details that appeared earlier in the story. The privileged lifestyles of the wealthy and the resulting friction that arises are a well-presented thematic undercurrent.An epic spring break cruise turns into an intriguing whodunit.(Thriller. 13-18)