A huge thank you to Diana Urban (via her reading team) and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this in advance of publication. A thriller that is predictable in part, but with enough tricks up its sleeve to keep most readers happy.
Our main character is Crystal and the whole focus of the story centres around her love of games. However, this is a game with deadly consequences.
On what starts as a fairly typical school day, Crystal is sent a video of her younger sister who appears to have been kidnapped. She is told to tell no one, not to contact the police and to do everything she is told if she is going to see her sister alive.
Initially these ‘games’ are fairly innocent. The stakes are high enough to keep Crystal playing…and as they escalate in seriousness, it’s ever more apparent that this is part of a much bigger plan.
I found Crystal’s willingness to follow the plan quite unlikely. However, there is a reason for this, and it centres on a secret that Crystal and her friends have been keeping for years. The way the games develop is engaging, though the seriousness of these events took me rather by surprise. Crystal’s reluctance to trust others was adequately explained, and while I may not be wholly convinced by the ultimate plan I found myself desperate to know whether or not we’re going to see more of these characters.