It’s difficult to talk about a lot of this book without venturing into spoiler territory, so let’s start with that plot twist. It’s a fun read, but not something that’s likely to stick with me. The message is a tad heavy-handed for an adult novel I don’t think readers need it spelled out quite that blatantly or often, but I get where it’s coming from. I was more invested once they started to figure out what was going on, and it’s got the usual amount of White’s righteous anger in it to make things interesting. I was never very frightened by any of it, and the way characters have to be still and quiet for long chunks of time while they’re hiding drags at the pace somewhat. There’s a lot of spooky atmosphere in the deserted, mazelike park, which I found more effective than the actual threats. Books don’t usually hinge on their shock value for me, but a lot of the reveals fell flat when I could see them coming. I think what hurt this novel the most for me was that I figured out the plot twist before they ever reached the park.

A couple others stand out here and there, but the development varies a lot depending on how much (or how little) time we get to spend with them. Ava, a disabled war vet, is a badass that I’d totally want on my team, and LeGrand turns out to be surprisingly complex and with a harrowing background. Mack is a somewhat dubious hero with a clear save-herself-first mentality, and I liked watching her break out of that over the course of the novel. However, the ones we do get to know are vivid and sympathetic, with a kind of found family vibe. There are quite a few characters who are just there for body count (and giving two of them the same name is unnecessarily confusing in a book that already has too many characters), and most of them are varying shades of self-centered and unlikable. I’m having a hard time pinpointing exactly what it was because, individually, there were things I liked about it.

Thoughts: The concept of this book sounded so creepy to me, but something about it fell short in the execution. Trigger warnings: character death (on-page, graphic), parent/child/sibling death, suicide (on-page), cults, gore, guns, severe injury, sexism, classism, homophobia, ableism, racism, slurs, grief, guilt, self-loathing. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Random House/Ballantine. They aren’t playing for prize money they’re playing for their lives. But as days pass inside the park and more contestants vanish without a trace, Mack and the others realize that something far more sinister is going on. After all, hiding is the reason she’s still alive and her family isn’t. All of them desperately need it to escape troubled pasts or kickstart stagnant careers, but Mack is sure she can win.

About: Fourteen contestants are competing for prize money in a high-stakes game of hide and seek in an abandoned amusement park.

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