The prize: enough money to change everything.
Even though everyone is desperate to win--to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts--Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she's an expert at that.
It's the reason she's alive, and her family isn't.
But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.
Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.
Come out, come out, wherever you are.
Mack is a young woman, friendless, homeless, consumed with guilt, and with nowhere to turn. Against her better judgment, she enters into a reality show-like competition of Hide and Seek in which she and 13 other competitors will hide for a week in an abandoned amusement park. The last to be found will win fifty thousand dollars. Everyone wants the money but some need it more desperately than others. Some are hoping this will be a stepping stone to fame and wealth, others just hope it will lead to a more normal life.
The synopsis intrigued me, but even though I knew there would be 14 competitors in this deadly game I was not entirely prepared to meet them all. It's a lot to keep track of, but fear not, many of them are throwaway characters that are only here to be killed off, while others are there in case you need someone to hate in order to know who you're rooting for.
I did wonder why it had to be a week and what they would do if thirteen competitors were found before then, but that is sort of explained later.
I was expecting a slasher in the woods story, but that is not exactly what I got.
It becomes increasingly clear to the contestants that there is something off about this competition but with no means of contacting help all they can do is try to survive.
There are frequent changes in point of view which was sometimes confusing but these become fewer as more contestants are eliminated.
I loved the setting, and descriptions of the run-down park, with creepy skeletal remains of rides and concession stands, but sometimes the descriptions of finding a hiding spot and basically staying there all day gave me the urge to skim.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 out of 5 where half stars are not an option.
My thanks to Del Rey Books for the advance copy.
About the author
Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for teens and young readers, including And I Darken, Now I Rise, Bright We Burn, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and Slayer. She lives with her family near the ocean in San Diego, where she perpetually lurks in the shadows. Visit Kiersten online at KierstenWhite.com and follow @KierstenWhite on Twitter.
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