This was a fun murder mystery. It was an easy read and kept me entertained the whole time. I thought that the answer to the murder mystery was a little easy to realize. I do like that I was able to guess, as that means that the author did put enough foreshadowing in her book to make the payoff worth it, but I thought that there could have been a little more misdirection to make the answer not quite as easy to guess.

All in all, a fun mystery. Since the ending seemed to lead towards their being another possibly, I do hope there is and I would like to read it.

This ARC was given to me for a fair review by Netgalley and the publisher.

I really liked the premise of The Game. High school murder mysteries seem to be pretty big right now and I had high hopes for a twisting tale of whodunit. Unfortunately, I figured out the killer very early on. For a main character that took the time to map out and track her classmates' usual whereabouts just to win a harmless game of glorified tag, you'd think Lia would have also been able to crack the case as early as the reader. The whole mystery was a little too on the nose, but I did still enjoy the thrill. I read it in one sitting on a plane, so if you're looking for a quick thrill check it out!

The Game is a young adult mystery/thriller about a small town that hosts a game called "Assassins" for the seniors. Seniors are teamed up and must take out their opponents using water guns and our main character Lia wants to win and prove she is good at something and be better than her older brother. Usually harmless, the game takes on a sinister turn when players end up getting murdered in real life. The synopsis for this book is a little misleading in my opinion as it is described as a mash up of American Horror Story, Riverdale, and The A.B.C. Murders. While the characters are murdered in the AA, BB, CC... order it is not referenced until almost the last 10% of the book and doesn't actually play in to the killer or their motive. Lia was not very likable in her quest for victory - she was very single minded and couldn't let the game go even when people have been brutally murdered.

I liked the premise of the book but it just wasn't executed well enough for me to have really cared about what happened to the characters. The motive of the killer seems apparent from very early on in the book and I was disappointed that the motive really was what I thought from the beginning. The characters weren't very well developed which made it hard to get in to the book and care about the characters. The writing style seemed geared toward younger teens but one of the murder victims injuries are graphically described which felt out of place in the writing style. The characters also felt like they acted a lot younger than seniors - they felt much more like younger teens so some of the story felt out of place. I would only recommend this book to reluctant readers as the fast pace and simple writing style might draw them in than some of the more complex young adult books.

Whew! That was a game turned nightmare! I went into this wondering how exactly a high school game turned real life murder mystery was going to turn out... and while I think that the author somehow pulled it off, there were still some parts that didn’t seem quite as genuine as I was hoping.

I knew that my biggest problem was going to be having the young high schoolers deal with a very mature topic such as the deaths and murders of their friends and classmates. And to be honest I think that’s exactly where my issues lie. While I was really into the assassins game, and the whodunnit aspect, it also felt awful knowing that even though kids are dying right and left I didn’t want the game to end. And to me that kind of puts a red flag on the way my thoughts were pulling when you could care less that kids are actually dying just to continue a silly high school senior tradition.

I also felt like these kids felt soooo young. Like almost too young to be dealing with death when they’re still trying to get their first kiss? I mean, I felt like I could live on my own and conquer the world by 18 and these kids are barely even ready to move on from their parents homes. It just felt like they were very young and sheltered. Maybe I’m too used to reading fantasy fiction where characters are saving the world at age 17. So these characters felt a little naive and less equipped to deal with such huge topics of the real world.

I did find it intriguing enough to want know how it ended. I actually read most of the last 70% in one sitting because once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down! The pacing is fast and hooks you into the story. I like the subtleties that once you know who the Killer is, you start to realize all the little hints that were dropped along the way. I did guess the correct killer a little early on but it didn’t take away from the ah ha moment once it all comes together.

I have had to DNF another book by this author a while ago so I was happy to see that I liked this book enough to continue on to the end. Still, I’m not sure I would put this in my favorite reads of 2020 by any means. A fun and interesting read though, and worth the short amount of time it took to read it!

Lia has been waiting her whole high school career to play Assassins. Her grades are mediocre, she doesn’t excel at sports and she’s always seen as her brother’s little sister. When she finally gets a chance to play, someone takes it to a brand new level. Instead of shooting people with water guns, high school students are being murdered.
This was a pretty slow book. I wasn’t taken by it. I figured out the alphabetical names and the culprit pretty quickly. I thought the body count would be more evenly spaced out. It seemed like it didn’t quite know what it wanted to be, a fun game book, or a murder mystery.

Thank you Netgalley and Underlined for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Game is being toted as Riverdale meets Agatha Christie mystery in this YA novel. While it does have a murder mystery plot, the killer is easy to figure out early on and the motivation doesn't really make sense once you find out who it is. There is a game that the high school students play and the main character will do anything to win. It was kind of off putting that the MC still wanted to continue to play the game even though her fellow classmates and friends were dying.

Even though the identity of the killer is easy to figure out early on, it is still a mystery/thriller learning why the murders took place.

2.5 stars ("Mostly solid to solid. May have some issues.") I liked the premise and the references to Christie's The ABC Murders. (I especially liked the clever use of the ISBN for Christie's book in this story.) I loved the idea of a harmless game turned deadly. While it was stressful, I liked that Lia was a suspect because of her obsession over the game. The ending wrapped the mystery up (the culprit was pretty clear early on), but a weird little moment at the end of the book could be setting up a sequel. We'll see.

My hangups with this were all character-based. I didn't like Lia, and I didn't get a good feel for any of the other characters, either. I wanted to SEE more of how Lia was this great puzzle-solver rather than just be told that about her. I also didn't get a good feel for WHY Lia was so obsessed with the game. She gave her reasons several times, but I never felt them at an emotional level. Again, this could be a show-more-than-tell sort of issue.

Readers who already love books like #MurderTrending or One of Us Is Lying might be disappointed with this one, but if this is your first time reading a YA thriller, this might work as an introduction to the genre.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book. It was an okay story. I wish the author gave more of a back story so that the reader could solve who the murder was. At times the story slowed down to a snail’s pace. Probably would recommend it to individuals 6th grade and up.

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.

Lia Prince is determined to win this year's game of Assassins, a top-secret endeavor that the seniors in her small town undertake every year. But what Lia doesn't know is that there's an actual killer playing this year. One who's painted a target on her back. An intriguing premise and fast-paced plot make this a great choice for fans of Christie as well as Clue.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the Publisher for allowing me to review this book. I did not like this book. It took me 3 months to read and then I decided to listen to the Audiobook. Our main character Lia only cares about winning the game that there school play every for the senior class. As her classmates are dying she still wants to play. Her reason to continuing playing is ridiculous.

The Game by Linsey Miller follows a group of high school seniors who are playing a game of assassin. The game becomes literally deadly when students start being suspiciously murdered. Based on the synopsis, I thought this would be an amateur sleuth about Lia, the main character, trying to uncover the identity of the killer. Instead, Lia is determined to continue the original game that isn't the slightest bit exciting. If that isn't bad enough, Lia is also intent on stalking every member of her senior class even after they start dying. It doesn't concern her in the least that this is highly suspicious behavior to law enforcement. There were other elements of the plot that annoyed me, but I don't want to spoil what little there is in this short book. The character development in this book was also nonexistent. Lia is such a neurotic main character. But, I almost can't blame her given the way the adults in her household and school pit the children against each other. Lia's friends all sit back and watch her make increasingly poor decisions.

If you're looking for a mystery/thriller for a younger reader who doesn't want anything too intense or intricate, this may be a hit. But the story as a whole is lackluster so they will most likely be disappointed. As always with negative reviews, just because I did not like the book doesn't mean you shouldn't read it. These thoughts are my own opinions and should not affect your enjoyment of the work. If the synopsis sounds interesting to you, please read it and support the author. Hopefully, you will have a better experience than I did.

Lia has been waiting all year to play a senior's only game called Assasins. She has made a careful plan and hopes that all her strategy will give her a chance at winning. At first the game is fun, but then people start really turning up dead, and Lia is tasked with trying to stop the murders before they reach the people she is closest to!

I love a good Ya thriller. The Game was fun and even a page Turner at times, but the characterization seemed to suffer at the hands of the plot and that kept me from enjoying this story as much as I could have!

I love these kind of cat and mouse books, where you hunt to find the killer while they’re sitting you up. In this story we have 3 main characters who sign up for Assassin’s. It’s a game seniors play where you have targets you shoot with a water gun and can’t be found. The winner gets a scholarship prize and it’s something competitive and fun to do while in your last year. That is until a student ends up dead. Made to look like an accident, players keep playing until another student is killed. Now fingers are pointing at one of the main characters, Lia, as she’s made a list of fellow students and their activities. Sure she’s meticulous and wants to win that money, who wouldn’t, but is she losing her mind and killing others to get it or is someone else setting her up.

One thing that jumped out to me from the get go was the address used by “the council” to contact the assassin’s, it was in the form of an ISBN address. It didn’t take me long to put that together and I instantly went to Amazon to see what book it belonged to. And funny enough it belonged to Agatha Christie’s “The A.B.C Murders.” How fitting for this book. That made me giggle and wonder if anyone else has or will notice. I loved the concept of the book and about 60% in I figured out the killer. It’s a fun who-done-it YA book

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. Thank you, Random House Children's and Underlined for the chance to read this book.

Every year in Lincoln High, the senior class plays Assassin. In teams, they have a target to eliminate, with water guns, until the next target and next and the next. Lia Prince is determined to win. She has been planning her strategy for years and she wants to be recognized. Not only now she will play, but she's in the team with her crush, Devon Diaz and her best friend, Gem. But slowly they start to realize this year the game isn't a game anymore when the targets are killed and somehow Lia seems to be the common denominator. Who is the killer? Why is he/she/they blaming Lia? What would she do to protect her friends and herself?

The game is a very interesting and eerie novel, with well written characters and a captivating plot, full of twists and discoveries until the end.
Lia is a young woman, who is been struggling all her life to be seen and recognized. Underestimated and in conflict with her parents, who don't understand her passion for games and prefer her older brother, Lia is convinced to be mediocre and she's determined to prove them and herself wrong by winning the game. She's stubborn, a bit obsessive and smart, focused on what she and her friends have to do to win the game and then, to catch the killer.
The romance is a sweet and cute one and I like her relationship with Devon, their flirting and joking and Lia's relationship with her best friend, Gem. Set in an high school and in small community where everyone knows everyone,the story has crushes, high school homework, college applications, jokes, friendships, fights with parents and friends and so on. It's a really nice book and I recommend it to those who wants a gripping thriller, interesting characters and a game that slowly becomes deadly.

It fell short for me. I felt as if things were missing or just out of reach. Not my thing. The writing is solid and the story was promising but just didn't deliver. Would I read another book by this author? Yes because that next book can be the one that hits it out of the park. Check it out. It might be your thing. Happy reading!

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

The game is known by many names - Assassin, Tag, Human vs. Zombies. The ways to "kill" vary greatly - water gun, dart gun, steal a spoon, steal a rag, etc. The one constant is the concept of the game - people join a game in which someone is ordered to "kill" either a specific target or a different team. The winner is the one left standing.

The Game by Linsey Miller is a YA version of a 1982 movie, Tag: The Assininasion Game. In both, the game becomes deadly, when one of the players decides to "kill" the players in real life.

Miller moves the age group to High School seniors playing the yearly game before graduation. Lia has been following in her brother's shadow and knows Assassin is her opportunity to outshine her brother's record in the game. She has been planning this for years by following and gathering information about her classmates' schedules, hobbies, paths to school, etc. She makes the perfect fall guy for a killer who uses Lia's detailed notes to track down their targets.

Readers in middle school would enjoy the story. While enjoyable, the story felt short and would need "more" to attract older YA readers.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 8/3/20.

The Game was an interesting read, although everything seemed to happen a little too quickly. I really enjoyed the concept of it, but it seemed to lack a bit of detail and depth, but was still enjoyable.

I'd like to begin by thanking NetGalley and Underlined Paperbacks. I was provided an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Game should have been right up my alley. 1 part Battle Royale, 2 parts whodunit. Shake well. Serve cold. I was enticed by the blurb on the jacket, and the campy, bright color scheme of the cover, reminiscent of 1980's slashers. Unfortunately, far from being a high octane thriller (I'd have settled for a campy romp,) The Game suffers from an unimaginative plot, slow pacing, and predictable tropes.

If lackluster scream queens, Scooby Doo style villain monologues, and whitewashed happy endings are your thing, then The Game is a solid read. As it stands, however, the sense of deja vu (that you've read this before, in this case,) was too strong to warrant a game saving score.


Writing quality/readability - 3/5 Scoring on a purely technical standpoint. It seems to be a common trend in YA to omit as much description and detail from the writing as possible. While I can certainly see the appeal for those who struggle to focus on more descriptive narrative, it makes for a bland read. In this case, it made it difficult to distinguish characters; it also made it impossible to determine time transitions. I often had the impression that the action was occurring later that day, only to be informed that an entire day had passed. The writing was bland, and suffered heavily from poor pacing. However, the writing itself is clear to understand, and appropriate for younger readers, in terms of simple sentence structure and vocabulary.

Plot - 1/5 The Game isn't particularly original, despite its interesting premise. The plot centers around Lia, a bland protagonist, and her senior year of high school. Lia is a repetitive narrator, with a frustrating habit of reminding the reader that she's not like other girls perfectly average. Average in looks, average in grades, average in her ambitions. Her one ambition is to win Assassins - a popular game played by each graduating high school class - in order to feel less set apart from her peers. And that's it. That's the plot. Most of it revolves around Lia's constant feelings of inadequacy, her resentment towards her classmate's achievements, and a competitive drive that borders on obsessive.

The plot doesn't pick up until halfway through the book. The identity of the killer was, admittedly, one of the few genuinely unpredictable and surprising twists. For the most part, however, the plot was highly a pioneer in the YA thriller genre. Most of the plot twists were predictable, and the plot itself was over-saturated with common high school tropes. The reaction of the handful of adult characters was offputtingly unrealistic, to the point where it took me out of the narrative completely. (Particularly the police station interrogation scene. It's clear the author took her inspiration from far too many dramatized true crime television specials.) Don't get me started on the "t'was I all along!" villain monologue towards the climax; it felt stilted and was so unrealistic, it was hard not to have secondhand embarrassment.

There was no real character growth by the end of the novel. Overall, the lack of development or growth for any of the characters left me feeling played, alright.

Characterization - 0/5 It's rare for a novel to fail so spectacularly at what it sets out to accomplish, that I have to score under 1. This, unfortunately, is one of those times. The characters felt flat. They were undeveloped to the extent that I struggled to keep track of who was who. Physical characteristics are not a stand in for a personality, and unfortunately, the majority of the characters were about as riveting as mayonnaise, and just as bland. In many cases, the characters felt interchangeable. There was nothing to distinguish them or set them apart, outside of their names.

The vague exception to this is Lia's obsession with the game. Her lack of empathy and extreme focus on the game unwittingly gave her traits in line with sociopathic behavior. This would have been a unique twist, and absolutely something to applaud, if it had been the author's intent. Unfortunately, I doubt that was the intent; it was just a misguided attempt to make Lia seem driven/quirky.

Overall, this book narrowly avoided being a DNF on more than one occasion. Between the predictable plot, poor pacing, and characters who failed to be engaging or earn my sympathy, The Game was an entertaining time waster, and little else.

A book about students pretend killing each other that turns into really killing each other? Sounds fun, right?

Where do I even begin with this book?

My main issue was that the writing and the demographic didn't match up at all. This book felt like it should be middle grade, or specifically in the "teen" section of a bookstore marketed to 15 and under. Yet the characters are about to graduate high school and are facing (or have already made) important decisions about their lives.

It seems like a lot of people hated Lia, and I can totally understand why. Her obsession with the Game was extreme and the stalking journal she kept was concerning as fuck. But in the beginning I related to her, surrounded by friends that were great at so many things and knew where they wanted to end up in the future. She felt like she was getting left behind, as if there was something wrong with her for never excelling at anything that would help her map out her own future. And here I am, a 33 year old woman, who has spent my entire working life in food service, because I don't like change but boy do I like going home with a lot of cash and I am damn good at my job. So I appreciate the message about not living your life according to other people's timelines, that college isn't for everyone (and I did, for the record, attend college and have an incredibly high GPA, but in Florida I'll still make more money as a server in half the hours and I like immediate rewards 🤷🏻‍♀️), that you shouldn't be resentful of your peers' achievements.

Here's where it went from an at-least-I-had-fun-reading-it 3 star rating to a 2 star wouldn't-recommend-wasting-your-time-and-money rating: The killer is so uncomfortably obvious that I spent about two thirds of the book wondering if the author was going to somehow dupe me and blow my mind with a crazy plot twist. But no. It's exactly who you think it is. The motivation and method of victim selection is, again, impossible not to predict. And at the end the reader has to suffer the dreadful villain monologue. I could possibly forgive some of these issues IF the main character didn't declare herself a master puzzle solver and then turn out to be the embodiment of the confused lady surrounded by floating equations meme.

I wouldn't recommend this book to older YA readers, but I think if you are, or have a child who is, a high school freshman, this book could be enjoyable and help the reader gain more confidence in themself as a person versus what they have to offer society.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for me to review