I received a review copy from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Thriller Age Range: YA Star Rating: 4 stars Series: standalone
Blurb:
When teen reality star Anton Frazer unveils his latest stunt – a live-streamed, citywide game of Tag in which the prize is to be one of his live-in acolytes – his fans go wild. The whole world is watching.
The contestants are kitted out with body cams, GPS trackers and pressure sensors that, if activated by a competitor, will send them out of the running. They venture into night-time London to hunt each other down.
Four contestants in particular have alternative motives for being there, secret reasons to want to win despite the risk: money, revenge, obsession, and fame. And one of them will stop at nothing to be the victor at the end of this adrenaline-and-fear fuelled night…
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
Having loved Kathryn Foxfield’s previous books, particularly IT’S BEHIND YOU, I was very excited for this. It’s a tense murder mystery across London alongside what’s supposed to be a “fun” social media game influence’s game (read: attention seeking grab – I was immediately pre-disposed to dislike the star from the stunt alone) that gets subverted and turns deadly quickly.
This felt, personally, like it fell more on the thriller side than horror, in contrast to previous books. It always felt like it was a human behind it, with a very human motivation (covering up/uncovering a murder and/or secrets) rather than supernatural, which is one of the ways I differentiate between the two.
This is a three POV book – a superfan, a lifestyle influencer’s daughter, and the ex-boyfriend of the gamer’s dead employee. They all have reasons to enter, and like everyone else in the game, a lot of secrets. The author has said she’s expecting you to hate all of them very quickly, and while I wouldn’t say I hated them quite as much as she had implied, they certainly aren’t the sort of characters you like.
They’re very self-absorbed, all caught in self-created (and in Erin’s case, encouraged by those around her) delusions that you want to break down. You’re not following them along because you want them to succeed to achieve their goals, but because you want their fantasies to be ripped apart and then to face the truth (and also find out what the answer to the mystery is.)
I loved following the unveiling of all the many secrets, each one making you question your current guess of who was the murderer – and who was behind the derailing of the game. There are so many layers and twists to it.
Also, set in London! I love books in London that are written by people clearly familiar with it, because all the details are just right. And the way major locations and transport are woven in are so much fun.
Read my reviews of other books by Kathryn Foxfield:
Standalones:
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 