By Kiersten White

Del Rey, out now

Stay hidden for a week to win a huge prize? Mack doesn’t think that’ll be a problem…

Having to stay out of the way of some sort of unknowable creature that is intent on killing you for reasons you don’t understand? Even before reading White’s author’s note at the end, you’ll get the distinct impression that this is about a lot more than simply a well-told horror tale, that takes some familiar tropes and gives them its own spin. Reading this in the immediate aftermath of the Uvalde massacre – and the many articles about the effects of such events that followed – gave the descriptions of Mack’s backstory an added edge.

White jumps between protagonists’ points of views almost paragraph to paragraph, which can be a little offputting at times – but is a deliberate stylistic choice that allows some key clues to what’s going on to be revealed without the reader realising that’s what is happening. It’s certainly one of those books that a second read will give you a very different experience, and you can see how White parcels out the information.

The abandoned amusement park is brought to life with some vivid phraseology – we definitely feel as if we’re in there with the various youngsters. By diving into the heads of each of the contestants regularly, we build up a picture not only of how they see themselves (or at least the ones that survive any length of time – which isn’t really a spoiler!) but how the others see them, and White captures the feeling almost of imposter syndrome that some of them have by simply continuing to survive. There’s ample scope for a follow up to this and I’d be intrigued to see an expansion of the mythology behind what’s happening.

Verdict: On the surface an 80s-slasher type of tale, but with a lot more depth revealed by the characters. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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