FOUR of them are hiding secrets.
THREE years of history bind them.
TWO are doomed from the start.
ONE person wants to end this.
NO ONE IS SAFE.
Are you ready to play? (Pub Date: Sep 15, 2020)
Such a hard book to review!
Story first, this is very easy to imagine as a horror flick. Five friends about to break apart because of life, since most are moving away and other have moved on, decide to play a game one last time in a cabin, away from everything so they can feel like they're in their imaginary world of the game. But as in every horror flick, something or someone is coming after them until they break one by one.
I think Marieke Nijkamp wanted to bring back some of the This Is Where It Ends spirit. I hadn't really thought it until one of the five narrators literally said that. I couldn't ignore the feeling anymore, because I'd loved that book and have been in love with Nijkamp ever since. However, this one fell more to the flat side.
I can't remember exactly what I loved about TIWIE, but I'm sure I was very involved with each of the characters. It didn't happen here. I kinda like one, or two, but I didn't fall for any. I didn't hate anyone either. They were just a little bland. And they shouldn't have.
The good point of the book is representation. It's a great deal and I didn't feel it on my face, as if the writer were working on a quota. In fact, they probably wouldn't have gotten together if they didn't feel excluded.
However, this wasn't enough for me to relate to the characters and all the gloominess, from starting with Finn and us not knowing all that had happened before to make everyone about to fall apart, made the reading claustrophobic for me. Afterward, I kinda liked this or that character but I never connected.
Even though the book hangs a bit to the horror side, it's more of a psychological and dramatic thriller. Who is doing it? Why? What will be of the friends? Those are the questions. It's not a long story but because what I said, I'd feel tired after one or two chapters, even when I needed to keep going to know what would happen. The writing is pretty straight but I can't call it a quick read. And yet, it doesn't drag either.
Although it's not a fantastic book and it's a bit dark to be called refreshing, it is still a genre we don't see everyday in YA. There's also romance, which is actually cute despite all. I'm still fascinated by Nijkamp's writing and I think you should give it a chance if you don't mind the horror-flick-esque side of this.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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