About the Book
-
Author:
- Maren Stoffels
- Genre:
- Suspense
- Voices:
- Cis Boy
- Cis Girl
- Straight
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Like the Name Says
Drinking Buddy: Must Keep Wits About Me
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (language, cinematic horror, discussion of suicide)
Talky Talk: ‘Four Characters in Search of an Exit’
Bonus Factors: Mental Health, Escape Rooms
Bromance Status: Until Next Time
Content Warning: Suicide
Cover Story: Like the Name Says
It doesn’t get much more basic than that, but still evocative. This book could be about any horror topic. A little research shows the author likes minimalist covers like this. This was a very short book, under 200 pages.
The Deal:
Lexi has been having a hard time of it since her cousin Tess (more like a sister) had a mental breakdown when her friend Kelly killed herself. Determined that Tess will not go the same route, she lives a frazzled life, protecting her best friend’s sanity at the expense of her own.
Beau…sorry, BEAU, is an internet sensation. A singer and YouTuber, he can hardly leave the house without being mobbed by fans. But Beau has had tragedy in his life as well. His agent wants to send him out on tour, but his best friend Zora knows he’s not in a good place right now.
Both Lexi and Beau are approached by a strange woman in red who gives them cards for a new escape room. They’re instructed to bring their best friends. When they arrive, they’re informed there will be two teams: Lexi and Beau vs. Tess and Zora. Hey, it beats another night of TV, right?
You can complete the next sentence on your own: The escape room is evil, with lots of hellish traps and deals with the devil. Will the kids make it out alive?
Drinking Buddy: Must Keep Wits About Me
This was a dual POV book, and we get (often overlapping) scenes from both Lexi and Beau. Beau, who’s delighted that Lexie has never heard of him, wonders why she’s in such a bad mood and so paranoid about her cousin, who’s a big girl, after all. Lexie, who finds Beau’s disbelief that she doesn’t know who he is the height of arrogance, dismisses him as a twit. It’s only when they truly team up for survival (theirs and their friends’) do they start to open up. And who knows? Maybe even a kiss in the dark, before they’re crushed to death by the moving walls of their prison.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (language, cinematic horror, discussion of suicide)
This book had a real Saw feel to it, with traps, puzzles, and the kids being forced to betray the other team. Some of the bits were pretty far fetched, like a shrinking room where all four walls are coming closer…how would that work? When the forces behind the escape room are revealed, I was very surprised and impressed with the resolution, though it strained my disbelief a quite a bit.
Talky Talk: ‘Four Characters in Search of an Exit’
That was a Twilight Zone episode title.
At first, Beau and Lexie do not get along. Lexie finds Beau full of himself, and Beau finds Lexie overprotective of her cousin, especially before things start to go strange. But when they open up about their heartaches and tragedies, they realize they’re not too different. Who knows who might be in store for these crazy kids, aching to return to a more normal life? That is, once they get out of those coffins, of course.
Also, there’s a third POV character. A psychiatrist who’s interviewing a girl who’s been so badly scarred by a traumatic event that’s she’s barely coherent. Someone who implies she’s the the only survivor. It’s Tess, right? Or did the escape room send Lexie around the bend?
Bonus Factor: Mental Health
Tess’s friend Kelly was relentlessly bullied, and one night decided to step in front of a train. The media ran with it, giving lurid details about how Kelly’s friends had turned against her. Lexie knows that in reality, it was just simple bullying. But Tess has mental issues. She sees spiders. She hears voices telling her do things. The loss of Kelly really hurt her. She’s not well. She has to take medication. Lexie told Tess’s parents that she was taking her cousin to the movies. Now Tess is locked in a room with coffins and very overdue for her pills. This is going to end badly.
Also, Lexie isn’t having a good time of it. Keeping Tess above water is taking its toll on her. Some nights she walks out to the railroad tracks and waits for a train to come…
Bonus Factor: Escape Rooms
Locked in a strange building, with only your wits between you and the outside world. Is it a fun way to spend an afternoon with your coworkers, or a dungeon which you might never free yourself from? This book is the second thing.
Bromance Status: Until Next Time
A fun little escape. I look forward to reading some of your other adventures.
Literary Matchmaking
Diana Urban’s All Your Twisted Secrets also involves a room to escape from.
Saint Juniper’s Folly, by Alex Crespo, deals with a boy trapped in a house…a haunted house.
Like Beau, the main character in Imposter by Antony John also is unprepared for sudden fame.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a free book the publisher, but no money or bonus clues.
