These Deadly Games by. Diana Urban | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: These Deadly Games

Author: Diana Urban

Pages: 416

Publication Date: 2/1/22

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Categories: Thriller, Mystery, Young Adult, Gamers

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Let’s play a game.

You have 24 hours to win. If you break my rules, she dies. If you call the police, she dies. If you tell your parents or anyone else, she dies.

Are you ready?

When Crystal Donavan gets a message on a mysterious app with a video of her little sister gagged and bound, she agrees to play the kidnapper’s game. At first, they make her complete bizarre tasks: steal a test and stuff it in a locker, bake brownies, make a prank call.

But then Crystal realizes each task is meant to hurt—and kill—her friends, one by one. But if she refuses to play, the kidnapper will kill her sister. Is someone trying to take her team out of the running for a gaming tournament? Or have they uncovered a secret from their past, and wants them to pay for what they did…

As Crystal makes the impossible choices between her friends and her sister, she must uncover the truth and find a way to outplay the kidnapper… before it’s too late.

Content Warnings: mention of anorexia, abuse, alocoholism, murder, death

This one kept me on my toes even though I suspected the right people from the beginning but that doesn’t mean this was totally predictable. Getting to the end was a wild ride!

Crystal and her friends are gamers trying to enter a tournament with a big money prize, so the stakes are high and it seems not everyone in their group is playing fair. On top of her anxiety of trying to be part of the team, Crystal’s sister has been kidnapped and the person who supposedly makes her do all these crazy things in order to get her sister back safe and sound. Talk about stress!

Now let’s talk about the the things this kidnapper is making Crystal do – it’s tasks meant to hurt or kill her best friends! Craziness. And it’s a choice between saving her sister or hurting her friends. The more tasks she does the less control she has over this “game” even though she thinks she can beat the kidnapper at their own game.

My lists of suspects were pretty spot on but the twist in the end wasn’t something I saw. I like that I was kept on my toes, even though my suspicions were right. I read it one sitting.

Character wise, Crystal isn’t someone I came to care for also, she has secrets. She seemed like she was super-focused on making the team for the tournament, but with good reason (to help her family) but she wasn’t someone I’d say is likable. Her friends seem like a tight group until we get more into the story and we see where the problems are between them. So I didn’t quite connect to the characters but the story was intriguing with the cat and mouse game happening between Crystal and the kidnapper.

It’s a wild finish but it was left open ended so is there a sequel? It’s definitely set up for one.

Why you should read it:

• good cat and mouse game to find the kidnapper
• fast-paced, quick read
• you like a good murder mystery

Why you might not want to read it:

• lack of connection to characters

My Thoughts:

I have been reading a few young adult murder mysteries lately that haven’t really wow’ed me but this one had everything I wanted – it’s fast-paced, kept me on toes trying to figure out who was the kidnapper and their motive for making Crystal do some messed up things. I thought the ending twist was great and if there is a sequel, I would definitely check it out.

📚 ~ Yolanda