Author: Linsey Miller
Publication Date: 4 August 2020
Publisher: Underlined
Page Count: 240
Reading Method: Digital ARC
Synopsis:
If you loved American Horror Story 1984, you’ll die for this paperback original thriller mashup of Agatha Christie’s The A.B.C. Murders and Riverdale in which a game turns deadly with a killer who picks his victims one by one, letter by letter.
Every year the senior class at Lincoln High plays assassin. Lia Prince has been planning her strategy for years and she’s psyched that not only does she finally get to play, she’s on a team with Devon Diaz. But this year, the game isn’t any fun–it’s real. Abby Ascher, Ben Barnard, and Cassidy Clarke have all turned up . . . dead. Can Lia stop the ABC killer before he reaches D?
Review:
I don’t really know where to start with this review. I didn’t hate the book, but I didn’t love it either – even though I really wanted to! The comparisons made in the synopsis were so exciting. I mean, who doesn’t want a great mashup of AHS, Agatha Christie, and Riverdale?? Unfortunately, I just didn’t see the parallels or feel the connection.
I think my main issue with this is the writing style. It’s marketed as teen/YA and I think it fell more into the teen category. It just felt a bit disjointed and the phrasing felt off. There were several sentences I had to reread a couple times they didn’t make sense. It honestly made the story hard to read and the characters difficult to connect with.
Speaking of characters, I didn’t love our MC. Lia comes across incredibly insensitive. Real murders are taking place and her only focus is winning a juvenile game. She has spent all her free time following and spying on her classmates, keeping a journal of their whereabouts and routines all in order to win the game. It comes across super creepy and weird, as everyone reminds her far too frequently. And her only real motivation for winning the game is so her parents will finally see some sort of value in her. For a bunch of high school seniors, they acted very juvenile and their characters were pretty unbelievable.
The plot twists could be seen a mile away, and one of them is even in the synopsis of the book. Seems a bit spoilery to me. For a murder mystery, there didn’t seem to be much mystery to it. The killer is predictable and the killer’s motivation is, again, a bit unbelievable.
The game itself is really interesting and the synopsis was intriguing, but unfortunately this one fell flat for me. There are several really good reviews for it on Goodreads, so if this is a book that sounds interesting to you, I’d say check it out! I never want to be the cause of someone not reading something.
You can purchase a copy of The Game here
