Hello! Today, I’m back with another review, this time for a YA thriller novel. I stumbled across this one on NetGalley last year, and it sounded pretty interesting. The premise sounded like it could keep me on the edge of my seat, but unfortunately, I found it kind of meh.
In this book, we follow Jo, a high school senior who has just completed her final shift in her local movie theater before it closes forever. But as she and her friends prepare to go home for the night, Jo sees something that scares her just before the power goes out. After stumbling across the body of one of her coworkers, the rest have to try and get out of the locked building through the abandoned mall before the killer strikes again.
One thing I liked about this book was that it was very slightly mixed media. Between some of the chapters, you get emails or newspaper reports about events that happened because of this book. There are also parts of a letter that one of the characters left for the others, which you read in full at the end. I enjoyed these little bits as they get you thinking about who died and what happened. We’re getting just a glimpse of the future, but we’re still left with questions about what’s happening in the movie theater.
That said, my intrigue wasn’t very high throughout this book. It started well; I was interested in what would happen. And my first evening reading this, I was sure I would get through this book super quickly. Unfortunately, I quickly stopped caring. I can’t pinpoint what or why it just put me off, but reading became a struggle.
The characters were interesting enough. I did feel for Jo; she went through a shooting when she was younger, and dealing with a shooter again must have been horrible. But I do feel like maybe more could have been done with that? I didn’t feel very attached to most of the characters, so even the deaths didn’t bother me much.
Honestly, I’m struggling with writing this review. I only read this book a few days ago, and I’ve already forgotten most of what I thought. It didn’t stick with me, and I just didn’t care enough.
This book was readable, and I’m sure plenty of people will love it. It just didn’t stick out to me.
3/5 Stars
Title: Four Found Dead
Editor: Natalie D. Richards
Genre: Thriller
Age Range: Young Adult
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: 2/5/23
BUY LINKS
Lace and Dagger Books 