Our Deadly Summer Author: Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen ISBN-13: 9781526692177Publisher: BloomsburyGuideline Price: £18.99Best known for their wildly successful Aisling novels, Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen move into darker territory in Our Deadly Summer, a fast-paced, hilarious millennial mystery wrapped in noughties nostalgia.The novel follows best friends Laura and Dee across two timelines: the present day and the summer of 2001, when they travel to Long Island on a J1 working holiday. Waitressing at the exclusive Bayview Country Club, they arrive in New York full of the excitement that defined early 2000s summers: dive bars, shifting, nose piercings and bad tattoos. But before the summer is over, the pair find themselves burying a body together.More than 20 years later, Laura and Dee have not spoken since that night, their friendship fractured by the burden of their shared secret. An unexpected email from Laura forces them back into each other’s lives, making them finally confront the ugly events of that summer.What makes Our Deadly Summer work so well is the balance between humour and suspense. McLysaght and Breen never lose the warmth and wit that made their earlier books so beloved, but there’s a darker edge here too. At times it feels reminiscent of the TV drama Bad Sisters, combining cosy camaraderie with simmering tension and the heightened, chaotic emotions of youth.The dialogue and observations feel especially authentic for anyone who came of age in the early 2000s. “They were inseparable, going out as often as they could to student nights and dive bars and to see the hopeless bands that Dee suspects are responsible for the creeping tinnitus she has now. A nice little souvenir of a time when she drank double vodka and Red Bull like water and didn’t have chin hairs that grew from nothing to an inch and a half overnight.”Our Deadly Summer also offers an interesting exploration of female friendship, loyalty and shame. It’s funny, nostalgic and genuinely gripping, proving that McLysaght and Breen’s transition from humorous contemporary fiction to darkly comic crime has been a smooth and emphatic success.The writing throughout is sharp, warm and witty, even at its darkest. This was my first time reading their work, and more than anything else, it left me feeling like I’d love to go for a pint with them both. Julia Kelly’s latest work is her memoir, Still