I feel like this book succeeded in setting up an unreliable narrator but never managed to hook me with anything else.

“The Game” is a assassin themed event for seniors before they graduate and find themselves entering adulthood and for Lia it’s her chance to prove that’s she’s good at something other than just quietly existing in her brothers shadow but when some of the targets wind up dead Lia can’t escape the attention and time is running out to prove who the real murderer is.

For me the set up of the game itself was a little reminiscent to a similar game that was played in The Society on Netflix where the kids were running wild and the key to success was to be a little creepy and managing everyone’s schedules to isolate the target so that was fun and even the set up of Lia being 100% in it to win it despite the very real consequences but it never managed to fully deliver.

This sets up a good unreliable narrator and I was really hooked into that even if it has become a bit of a cliché but there were just enough small details that led you to believe that maybe someone could take this game a little too seriously but the final reveal fell flat for me as the motive was a little too simple to justify that much death.

I think with a little more time or even pages added this might have been able to work but it feels like things were wrapped up a little too quickly and the characters, who at times had their moments, never managed to become fully realized beings outside of Lia which made it hard for me to remember who was who and as a result I glossed over plot points because I didn’t care enough to separate the characters.

Not bad but not great which is a shame.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

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...”
Of course that sounds awesome but sadly it didn’t live up to the blurb. I feel like it had a lot of promise-all the seniors play a game called Assassins and need to kill each other (with water guns) and leave one standing. However, there is a real killer playing their own game. I struggled with the dialogue and the motivations of the MC. It didn’t feel authentic.
Thanks to Netgalley and Underlined for the arc.

Everything about this book was lackluster. People were literally dying and all the MC wanted to do was run around and play with squirt guns. She was incredibly selfish and I don't see how this would be a reaction that anyone would have. Her parents were abusive and manipulative and it was never talked about or acknowledged by anyone. The mystery was really farfetched and didn't make any sense at all. The big twist on the last page, yet again, made no sense and I don't understand what it was going for. Not to mention the jacket copy spoils one of the revelations that lead to the mystery being solved and I spent almost all of the book waiting for that to be talked about.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Underline through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

I never like writing such a negative review, but I absolutely hated this book. I was expecting a lot more from it, considering I've really enjoyed some of Linsey Miller's other books, and the plot seemed interesting, as well as similar to a lot of other books I've read and enjoyed. However, The Game fell extremely short of any expectation I had for it.
The first problem I had was the constant emphasis on how Lia was the most average person to ever exist, and everyone seemed to resent her for it. There are plenty of high schoolers who don't make straight A's and who aren't extremely involved in sports or clubs. That's not unusual or special; that's normal. But in this book, Lia constantly beats herself up over being average, without ever thinking she could do something about it other than winning a mysterious high school game.
The second problem I had stemmed from everyone in Lia's life also having the same opinion of her. One of the first things we learn about Lia's life is that her parents favor her academically and athletically inclined brother over her because he was involved in more. However, we also learn that Lia's parents made her quit the debate team and won't let her get a job, even though those are both productive activities to be involved in. That doesn't really make sense and it seems like it was just used as a plot device to prove the point that Lia's parents don't like her as much as Mark. After the murders begin, Lia's parents seem to use the point that she isn't spectacular in any way as almost evidence that she might be responsible for the murders. This just doesn't make sense.
The third problem I had was that the detective interviewing Lia about the murders shared the same flawed logic as Lia's parents. He was suspicious of her on the grounds that he couldn't identify her by sight (out of a school of probably about 1,200 students, since Lia's grade has 317 students), which means she must have never done anything notable. Again, this just does not make sense at all. First of all, whether or not Lia has ever done anything notable is completely irrelevant, not to mention that it makes no sense for a detective to be able to identify every student-- except for this one exceedingly average girl. If anything, the fact that the detective can't recognize Lia (she's never been in trouble before) would probably go in her favor rather than her being suspected of murder because she isn't a star athlete or valedictorian.
These problems basically prevented me from enjoying the book at all, because they kept the book and the plot from making sense. The entire plot was full of things that not only would never happen in real life, but also wouldn't make sense logically even if they did happen. Other than those three main problems, the writing wasn't spectacular, the romance was completely bland and weird, and Lia was annoying, and her entire character was based on her being treated unfairly because she wasn't a prodigy in some way.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this book!
Wow! What a mystery. I enjoyed this book a lot! It was interesting and kept me on my toes the whole time. I had a small inkling of who I thought was the killer and was correct but it still was very mysterious. The ending was crazy and the last couple of pages were just wow. It was a real page turner and I kept wanting to see what was going to happen next!

Review also posted on Goodreads!

This was a bit of a doozy for me. I liked the idea of the plot however the one glaring issue I had was the protagonist. Honestly I could not empathize with her and felt like she was insensitive and bit slow. The mystery was a good one but the glaring issue for me was the characters. It was a fast read and was interesting. I did enjoy reading it till the end, so despite my issue with the protagonist I do recommend this book!

Read this in a few settings and feel it is like an Agatha Christie novel for teens and the younger generation. Good writing and story, it is clear the author likes old school murder mysteries/ who-did-it scenarios. I was actually entertained somewhat even though it is cleat it's for the younger crowd/

Thank goodness I requested this for free from Netgallley, not realizing what this was because I wouldn't purchase this for myself but maybe for one of my nephew or one of my cousin's older kids. Not really for the adults because it was too easy to figure out for an adult that reads a lot of these books.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 8/4/20

Lia has been looking forward to and planning for playing Assassins since she was a freshman. It's a senior tradition where students try to "kill" each other with water guns until there is one student left standing. Since Lia isn't that great at school, she hopes this will make her stand out. But when the game turns deadly and Lia seems like a suspect, she must do everything she can to clear her name and stop the killer before she's next.

This book started out very slowly, but eventually did ramp up toward the end. It was hard for me to get into at first, especially since I didn't like Lia at first and her obsessive nature about the game. About 60% of the way through the book, the action really picked and I enjoyed the twists and turns through until the end. I also liked the last twist at the end of the book. I will recommend this to my patrons, but it was not as fast paced as the other mysteries I've read like this. I also wasn't sure how I felt about the romance, but I did like Devon as a character. Overall, I did enjoy this book, even if it took a while to get into.