You'll Be the Death of Me

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-15

Chapters 16-26

Chapters 27-36

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Chapters 8-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 8 Summary: “Mateo”

As Mateo and Ivy follow Cal through the city, they receive a barrage of text messages from their friends confirming Boney Mahoney’s death and asking about their whereabouts. A rumor has started about Ivy’s involvement in the murder, given her recent loss to Boney in the election. Ivy suggests they align their stories and alibis, but Mateo says they need to figure out what’s going on with Cal first. Cal finally stops at a crowded café, and Mateo and Ivy are shocked to see him hold hands with and kiss their art teacher, Ms. Lara Jamison. Young, attractive, and blonde, Ms. Jamison is the most-desired teacher at Carlton High, and some students claim to have had physical relationships with her. Ivy suggests that Ms. Jamison must be involved in Boney’s murder since Boney is also her student and he was found in her studio.

In a transcript from their YouTube channel, student reporters Zack and Ishaan repeat the rumors of Ivy’s involvement in the murder.

Chapter 9 Summary: “Cal”

Cal narrates that he didn’t plan to have an affair with Lara Jamison. It began with talking about college art programs, which progressed to texting, and then she called and asked him to come to her art studio so she could draw him. Cal claims nothing physical has happened, but he admits to being obsessed with her even though he knows it’s wrong. Cal questions Lara about her morning, then tells her about Boney’s murder. When she realizes he suspects her, Lara reiterates that she was at a ceramics class all morning. Lara tells Cal she needs to talk to her friend Dominick from the studio, and asks him not to tell anyone about her studio or their relationship until they speak again. Before she can leave, Lara realizes her bag is missing; after a frantic search, she finds it at the café’s lost and found. She leaves, and Cal begins the journey back to the bar. As he boards the train, he finds Ivy and Mateo waiting. They admit to following him.

Chapter 10 Summary: “Ivy”

When Cal claims that he and Lara were discussing an art project, Ivy reveals that they were hiding behind a nearby planter and heard the entire conversation. Privately, Ivy acknowledges that they did more than listen. When Ivy insists that his affair with Lara is not a real relationship, Cal spitefully brings up the failed kiss between Mateo and Ivy when they were younger, then threatens to leave them and return to Carlton. Mateo reveals that he did reach out to Ivy after their first kiss, leaving a note and her favorite candy (Sugar Babies) at her house to ask her out. Ivy realizes her brother Daniel must have stolen it. She tells Mateo that she would have accepted and gone on a date with him.

As Cal stands to leave the train, Ivy realizes that she needs him to prove her innocence. She apologizes and asks if he’ll wait and get breakfast before leaving. Cal agrees, as long as she promises there will be no more surprises.

Chapter 11 Summary: “Mateo”

Cal brings Ivy and Mateo to a donut shop. Mateo tries to make sense of what Ivy just told him: She hadn’t ignored his note asking her out, she just never saw it. He reminds Ivy and Cal that they still need to get rid of Boney Mahoney’s phone. Ivy suggests that they leave it near the studio and call in a tip. The trio suddenly encounters a large crowd around a reporter named Dale Hawkins, who knows Ivy’s family. Ivy and Cal run away, but Dale sees and recognizes her. Mateo considers leaving, then returns to the donut shop to meet the others. Ivy reveals that it was she and Mateo who stole Lara’s bag and that they took her planner. Inside, they find a love note from a man who is not Cal or her fiancé and a list of student names with Boney Mahoney, Charlie St. Clair, and Mateo Wojcik circled in red. Mateo remembers Autumn receiving a text from someone named Charlie that morning.

Chapter 12 Summary: “Cal”

While Ivy and Mateo discuss the names on the list, Cal fixates on the note found in Lara’s planner, which is simply signed “D.” He identifies Lara’s favorite painting on the front of the card, believing whoever bought it must know her well. He wonders how many boyfriends she has, and whether Charlie and Mateo are also seeing her.

When Boney’s phone receives a call from Charlie, Cal impulsively answers as Boney. Charlie is shocked and asks what happened and whether “the guy” (128) ever showed up. When he admits he isn’t Boney, Charlie hangs up. Ivy decides they need to talk to Charlie and calls her brother to ask if he has the number. He refuses to give it to her unless she tells him where she is. When Ivy’s friend texts with news that Charlie has left school, the trio decides to visit his house. Cal tells Ivy that Mateo still likes her. Before they leave for Carlton, Mateo stops to buy Sugar Babies for Ivy.

Chapter 13 Summary: “Ivy”

On the drive back to Carlton, Ivy is torn between exhilaration at Mateo’s gift and guilt about a secret she feels she should tell him. She hopes desperately that Charlie can give them the information necessary to have Lara arrested and clear her name before her parents’ plane lands in four hours. Uncharacteristically, Mateo opens up about his mother’s osteoarthritis and her inconsistent work schedule. Ivy feels even more guilty.

When the trio arrives at Charlie’s house, they see his red Jeep in the driveway. Mateo approaches the house alone, ignoring Ivy’s protests. When no one answers, he enters the home. Cal tells Ivy that Mateo is acting strangely: He didn’t seem bothered by his name on the list, and this is the first time he’s willingly separated from the group. After five minutes, Ivy decides that they should follow him. As they approach the house, Ivy notices that Charlie’s Jeep has recently been washed.

Chapter 14 Summary: “Mateo”

Haunted by the memory of his cousin Autumn saying it’s better for him to know nothing about her job, Mateo is determined to figure out whether Charlie St. Clair is the Charlie who called Autumn earlier. Mateo enters Charlie’s house, which has been ransacked. He follows a noise down into the basement, which has also been trashed. Suddenly, he is hit in the head by a hard metal object. He wrestles with his attacker until Ivy suddenly shouts for him to stop, identifying the attacker as Charlie. Charlie, who appears to be drunk, explains that he thought Mateo had ransacked the house.

The trio and Charlie go to Ivy’s house. While Ivy is tending to Mateo’s injuries, they share a kiss. Cal interrupts the kiss to tell them that Charlie has admitted to selling stolen opioids with both Autumn and Boney. Cal accuses Mateo of knowing Autumn sold opioids.

Chapter 15 Summary: “Cal”

Mateo admits that he knew about Autumn selling stolen opioids, shocking Cal and Ivy. Furious, Cal demands to know why Mateo didn’t mention this earlier given the fact that Boney was found with syringes. Mateo insists he didn’t know Boney was involved. Mateo explains that all Autumn told him was that she was at a party when she and two Carlton High students found a hidden stash of oxycodone. Cal suggests that whoever trashed Charlie’s house will probably go to his next. Although he is relieved when Mateo tells him that no one will be home, Cal struggles to control his anger with Mateo, whom he feels has manipulated both him and Ivy. When Ivy questions why Autumn would sell drugs, he reveals that they need money to pay for his mother’s medicine. Ivy begins to talk nervously about how people make mistakes, but she is interrupted by Charlie, who announces that reporters are talking about Ivy on television.

Chapters 8-15 Analysis

In this section of the novel, McManus raises the narrative stakes by demonstrating that both Mateo and Cal are indirectly connected to the death of Brian Mahoney—linking all three protagonists to the novel’s central mystery. Mateo’s introductory chapter hints that his cousin Autumn is engaged in illegal activities in order to support their family. When Mateo asks about her job, Autumn insists that “the less you know, the better” (20). The details of Autumn’s job remain a mystery throughout the opening chapters. However, the repetition of the phrase “the less you know the better” (123, 151, 159) in the Mateo-narrated chapters of this section highlights the fact that Mateo is keeping secrets and signals the weight of the responsibility and loyalty he feels to his family. Mateo’s secret is ultimately revealed when Cal and Ivy learn that Autumn has been selling opioids with Charlie St. Clair and Boney Mahoney. Although Mateo initially claims that “Ivy and Cal might have things they need to explain to the police, but [he doesn’t]” (117) the reveal that he knew Autumn was dealing drugs indicates that he is also complicit, following a traditional convention of the mystery genre of tying each of the story’s primary characters to the novel’s central crime.

In Cal’s introductory chapter, McManus deliberately obscures the fact that Cal’s “new girlfriend” (24) Lara is anything except a high school student like his “ex-girlfriend” Noemi (21), establishing Cal as an unreliable narrator when it comes to Lara and, by extension, her involvement in Boney’s murder. Throughout the opening chapters of the novel, Cal remains secretive about Lara’s identity and refuses to answer questions about her. The secret of Lara’s identity recurs throughout the opening sections without being resolved. Mateo and Ivy ultimately discover that Cal’s new fling is his “young, crazy-hot art teacher” Lara Jamison (85), who’s engaged to the lacrosse coach, Tom Kendall. They also discover that Boney died in Lara’s studio, which she accesses without permission from the owner. McManus’s multiple point-of-view narrative structure allows her to move outside of Cal’s biased perspective to reveal a more complicated version of Lara and give Cal a direct connection to the crime.

In the novel’s opening chapters, McManus characterizes Ivy as the most forthcoming of the three protagonists, divulging her most sensitive secrets, embarrassing memories, and emphasizing the Tensions Inherent in Parent-Teen Relationships through Ivy’s desire to live up to her mother’s expectations and example. McManus also suggests that, like Mateo and Cal, Ivy is keeping a secret of her own that will come to bear on the novel’s larger plot. In Chapter 14, Ivy hints at a mistake she made related to Mateo’s family and the closure of their bowling alley. Although she keeps the details hidden, Ivy refers to “the domino effect of what [she’d] done last June” spiraling out of control (140). The novel indicates that Ivy “tried to make up for it, in a roundabout way” (140) by suggesting that her father get Mateo’s mother “involved in the new property” (143) being built to replace the bowling alley. The degree to which Ivy feels tortured by this past mistake and how she constantly attempts to make up for it emphasize her perfectionism—a character flaw that forms the crux of her growth over the course of the novel.

In this section of the novel, Ivy and Mateo’s romantic arc—which began with a mutual first kiss in eighth grade that was thwarted by miscommunication—progresses after several chapters of mutual longing. McManus uses their kiss in Chapter 14, which Mateo describes as “both familiar and exhilarating, like coming back to a place I wish I hadn’t left and finding it’s even better than I remember” (158), to raise Ivy’s narrative stakes since she’s still hiding her own culpability in the closure of the bowling alley from Mateo even as their romantic connection grows. This passage reflects the novel’s use of the “first love” trope common to the young adult romance genre, suggesting that Mateo and Ivy were always destined to be together, and that their separation was a temporary misstep. The looming specter of Ivy’s secret provides a narrative obstacle that the recently reunited couple will need to overcome before the novel’s resolution.