I began reading this book one month ago when it was included in an e-mail I received from BookBub for $1.99. It is written by Diana Urban, and this is her debut novel. When something is blurbed as being reminiscent of Agatha Christie, I can't say no.
Synopsis (from Amazon):
What do the queen bee, star athlete, valedictorian, stoner, loner, and music geek all have in common? They were all invited to a scholarship dinner, only to discover it's a trap. Someone has locked them into a room with a bomb, a syringe filled with poison, and a note saying they have an hour to pick someone to kill ... or else everyone dies.
More than a synopsis (again, spoilers!):
This is from Amber's, the MC, POV throughout the entire book. However, it does skip from present day to the months leading up to the event where everyone is trapped in this room together. Amber wants to become a movie score writer and performer, and in the beginning months, is trying to get into the best college possible to be able to make her dream come true. In order to do that, she has to befriend the most popular girl in school, Sasha. In the process, she loses her current best friend, Priya, and a few other people (including herself) along the way. As the reader, you also get to learn each person's reason for being in the room, their connection to Amber, and a little bit of back story as the months go on.
As the events and the months progress, you learn about Sasha's manipulations and true intentions and character. You also learn about Amber's sister, who committed suicide months before. Amber feels as though she could've saved her sister, and wishes she would've been there for her. This part of the story is sort of pushed to the back burner until the very end, where you find out the cause of her suicide. And everything blows up right before the twist.
My thoughts: I give this book 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed the suspense and the character development. Also, I personally love when books are written in a way that it tells you the ending first, and is leading up the entire time how the characters got into the mess that they're in. My only gripe (and it's a small one) is the very, very end. I felt a teensy bit let down by the twist, even though it was completely unexpected. I wanted more danger and higher stakes; I felt like all of it was for nothing, and a little lost as to what the point of all of it was. On the other hand, the fact that Amber found her way back to her true friends and her true self in the end made up for my small disappointment in a big way. I also loved that the book touched on a lot of issues that high school students deal with on a day to day basis. Between cyber bullying, suicide, and learning who to trust, it can hit home for a lot of people.
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