These Deadly Games is a twisty novel with high stakes and shocking turns. It pulls you in right from the beginning and leads you down a path you thought it would never take you. I read Diana Urban's first novel, and enjoyed it. Her second novel though, she really steps up her game and keeps you reading page after eerie page.

The lead character, Crystal, wasn't a character that we were made to love, but I found myself feeling for her with decisions she had to make. She came off as selfish and thinking only about herself, but when it came down to it, she really cared about her family and her friends. The author does a good job of making us feel the intense stress and worry that Crystal is feeling with her sister kidnapped and having to make decisions that you never want to make. The twists in the story are varied, some are predictable, and others more surprising. The novel is fast paced, keeping you on the edge of your seat about what will come next. Everything that the author puts into the story is well crafted and has meaning for the story. I enjoyed some of the hints of what was happening sprinkled throughout and enjoyed Crystal figuring out what was happening even more.

This is a good book, especially for those who like to read YA Thrillers. Diana Urban is a master as writing these types of YA thrillers and makes me want to keep turning the page. I will continue to read the books that she comes out with. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

These Deadly Games is hands down my favorite book of 2021 (even though technically it doesn’t come out until February 2022). These Deadly Games is a heart pounding high speed rollercoaster ride filled with revenge and questionable decisions that doesn’t let you breathe normally until the very last sentence. I was left absolutely shook after this one and that’s exactly what I want in my books.

This book is horrifying in a what would you do. Crystal’s little sisters has been kidnapped and the only way to keep her alive is to play a twisted game, and if she doesn’t the kidnapper will know because they’ve backed into her phone. With each new task Crystal is forced to do terrible things to the people she loves most. She grows paranoid trying to figure out the kidnapper’s identity and is horribly gaslighted. There is no good outcome when you’re up against a sick and disturbed individual. This story highlights the dangers that lie with technology whether it’s the over usage of smart phone or the competitive and sexist nature of the gaming community and trolling.

I don’t think it’s comes as a shock as to who was behind it all but with the twist and turns the last line had me fist-pumping. Crystal is such an unpredictable and fierce main character and it made the ending so satisfying. Oh how I pray for a sequel!!

Pre-order These Deadly Games now cause you’ll be thanking me come February.

Read if you like:
- Suspenseful thriller
- Young adult genre
- Revenge
- Morally grey characters
- Gaming community

This one is fine. It gave me the vibe of like a high school, mild version of Saw. Or maybe like if A forced the girls to take dares in Pretty Little Liars. The premise is very interesting, but I only felt myself somewhat into solving the mystery. Will recommend to those who have covered a lot of the other teen mysteries out there, those looking for thrillers with a tech twist, and fans of Pretty Little Liars.

I was not expecting that! Like any of that! This book held my attention for all 400 pages (which isn't easy) and I was never for one second boring!

I'm honestly very surprised by the twist and Diana Urban really got me. Bravo!

Do yourself a favor and go into this one blind!

Thanks to Wednesday books for the gifted copy of this book and also to Netgalley for an e-copy! This book is out on February 1, 2021.

Whew! This book was quite a ride! Diana Urban's 'These Deadly Games' is a quick thriller that follows 16-year-old gamer Crystal as she navigates her worst nightmare, her sister is in danger, and she needs to follow her sadistic kidnapper's every instruction to keep her alive. Fast-paced, intense, and completely immersing, this was a fantastic YA thriller that truly keeps readers on the edge of their seats.

This is the first title I've read by this author. These Deadly Games by Diana Urban is a YA novel that mixes an online rivalry with real world consequences. Following a group of teens competing for a large cash prize in a gaming competition, the stakes get raised when someone starts playing to the death in real life. Suspenseful with good character build up.

At first I found These Deadly Games hard to get into, but boy am I glad that I gave it a chance. It is a great young adult thriller. I liked that many of the twists were unpredictable. I am looking forward to reading other books by Diana Urban.

YA thrillers are so hit or miss for me but These Deadly Games is one of the most addicting, well-plotted YA thrillers I’ve ever experienced. It’s very unique, the characters are actually likable, and the ending was surprising.

Definitely a thrill ride from start to finish and very dark. And the ending was just wow. It was a heart racing suspense ride of a book for sure.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Wow, I could not put this one down! I started it last night, and then finished it early this morning. The story was compelling, the characters can really draw you in, and you can feel the pain of everything Crystal has to do. Each riddle and game seemed so innocuous, but there were always dire consequences. Every twist and turn left me gasping and with wide eyes.

I thought that it was really cool for video games to be such a big part of the story, and of Crystal's character. Reading about the hobbies characters have in books is really cool to me.

Overall, I think if you would really enjoy this book if you are a fan of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, One of Us is Lying, and the Inheritance Games.

***Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an e-arc of These Deadly Games! All thoughts are my own!***

Wow. This book was INTENSE! I enjoyed Diana Urban's first book, All Your Twisted Secrets, when I read it last year. Both of her thrillers have the heart pounding, gripping, and keep you the edge of your seat factors that a good mystery thriller has. I have to say, I enjoyed These Deadly Games more than All Your Twisted Secrets. This is the kind of thriller you can see developed into a Lifetime movie.

One thing I really like about Diana Urban's books is her cast of characters. It reminds me of Karen M. McManus's characters, which is one of my favorite things about her books. They have a great dynamic together and blend well for story development purposes. It was nice seeing the characters bond over the video game MortalDusk and the trials to try to get to the tournament and used the game as an outlet from the outside world.

I think the game itself was very well thought out and how each challenge that Crystal was given would affect the other characters. Although the novel takes place in 24 hours, I was afraid that the book would seem rushed, but the timing was right. Although for Crystal, it was a race against time to find her sister, the story didn't read like that.

I liked getting to see the flashbacks from 5 years prior about Brady's death to gauge how what happened 5 years ago. You can tell the events from then still affects the characters heavily and how Andrew's need for revenge dictated him to create this entire game to frame Crystal for everything and take away everything she loves. I kind of predicted that Andrew was going to be An0nym0us1, but I liked how Diana Urban twisted it even further to making Andrew change his identity to Dylan to get in with the group, since Dylan was the newest member of their friend group. I think this worked great for the book and helped make the book not so predictable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more from Diana Urban in the future. I think she is becoming a great mystery thriller writer that keeps YA readers not wanting to put the book down. These Deadly Games releases February 1st, 2022!

an incredibly fast paced thriller! i did like the intensity behind the threats but the main character, crystal, wasn't as engaging. it didn't help that i guessed the person behind it quite early into the book but the reveal at the end was too convenient. i didn't like any of the characters or their friendship so i guess the thrill of the story didn't entirely settle.

For Crystal and her friends gaming is more than fun, it’s their lives. It turns deadly for Crystal when her younger sister is kidnapped and the kidnapper ransoms her into playing a game for her sister’s life.

If you like the young adult thriller genre, you’ll like this one. It reminded me of the old Christopher Pike books I loved as a teen! Fast, page turning entertainment, with quick and head-spinning drama. It definitely reads as young adult; not necessarily the writing, but it’s pure entertainment without needing to give anything too much thought… just enjoy the ride. And it is a ride!

“There was a monster in each of us. The question was whether you managed to stifle it.”

These Deadly Games come out 2/1.

Sadly this book was a let down for me. It was a quick read so it didn't drag, but. I really didn't enjoy it. I think I am just not the age for it. I don't know any teens personally who talk like this, and I don't like when get to the past pov they sound the same. There no change in how they talk with each other and think at 11 and 16. I also dislike the friend group as a whole. Normally it one of my favorite parts or Ya. But this group seem so superficial. No one really seem to communicate with each other.

Diana Urban is an author that I’ve read and enjoyed before, so I knew I had to check this one out. Her last book contained some twists that I did not expect, and plot-wise this one really intrigued me. I was lucky to get an e-arc of this book last year, and with it finally being out in February, it was time for me to get to it.

This book follows Crystal, a gamer who has hopes of entering a tournament this weekend and winning the money that would help her family. But after dropping her sister off at school, she receives a message on a mysterious app telling her that they have her sister and if she doesn’t play their game, they’re going to kill her. When the kidnapper’s games turn out to be deadly for her friends, Crystal tries to beat them at their own game and track down who it is.

I will say that this book is a little bit predictable. There are a lot of flashbacks to something that happened during their childhood, and it does make it very obvious who the killer is. But whereas in some thriller books that would put me off, I was still intrigued. I wanted to know how the story would turn out and to see whether I was right or not.

Character-wise, I wasn’t really a huge fan of anyone, but that actually worked for me. I felt for Crystal with what was going on. I loved how far she’d go to protect her sister. But she still wasn’t a hugely likeable person. She could be snappish and selfish. Okay, she was going through a lot, but in the flashbacks, you saw that she’s been this way for a long time. I did like Matty and Akira too. But Zoey, Dylan and Randall were all kinds of sucky. They all had their reasons, and some of you may feel a little more kindly towards them, but I really appreciate how much Urban has fleshed these characters out.

The flashback scenes were a little frustrating. At times it did feel like there were a few too many, but my biggest problem is how annoyed I am with what these characters did. I get that they were only 11 and that they thought things were fine. Kids at night who are worried about getting in trouble are bound to make mistakes. But they could have done something about it if they’d just told someone. I want to feel for them as I know they didn’t mean to do it. And their guilt is certainly getting to them now, but it’s kind of like….you could have done better.

In a lot of ways though, these issues were what made me want to read on. It wasn’t a hate-read. I actually really enjoyed it, but the way Urban twisted the tale and how dark parts of the story is just fascinating. I was up until 2am reading this book in one night. I couldn’t put it down, even though I’d only planned on reading up to 50% that night. Just one more chapter became my mantra, and then suddenly the book was over.

It’s really hard to put my thoughts into words. I enjoyed this book so much, yet the more I think about it, the more I was frustrated whilst reading it. I didn’t want to put it down, and I really enjoyed the focus on gaming, but at the same time… I’m wondering why I enjoyed it. It’s a weird one.

Still, if you’re looking for a YA thriller that you won’t be able to tear your eyes away from, then check this one out.

These Deadly Games
by Diana Urban
Pub Date: 01 Feb 2022
Attentions all YA librarians! Here is the next book to suggest to your Karen M. McManus fans! At first, I was a little skeptical. Yes, I figured it out early on...but not quite. It's not so much the "who" in this book, but the "how"...very intriguing for us couch detectives.
Crystal "Crys" is a gamer who, with the help of her teammates, has a great chance of winning big bucks in the upcoming national tournament. She needs that money; her dad has left them and they are about to lose their house. Gaming is her life and her team is her best friends. Nothing is going to stop her from her goals...until she gets an anonymous text telling her about a new game she is going to play or her little sister will die. Her sister is supposed to be at camp, Crys dropped her off at the bus herself. But then again, she didn't actually see her get on the bus. Then the pic comes through...her little sister, tied to a chair, fear in her eyes, and a knife at her throat. Crys loves games, but in this one, no one can respawn.
#netgalley #thesedeadlygames #dianaurban

What a wild, wild ride! I am such a fan of YA Thrillers and These Deadly Games is definitely one of the darker more twisty ones I've read!

When Crystal gets a message from a mysterious app with a video of her sister tied up, she's given random tasks to complete. It quickly becomes clear that what she has put into motion is hitting closer to home than she thought and she's faced with some serious decisions.

Sprinkled with flashbacks to a secret these friends share from five years earlier, author Diana Urban masterfully weaves a story that will definitely keep you guessing. The action in this book never really stops and I was absolutely glued to my Kindle to see how it would all play out.

Thank you to NetGalley & Wednesday Books for an advanced copy of this and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

THESE DEADLY GAMES is another fast-paced thriller about a group of fractured friends. It's a complete mind-twister for who is behind it all, and why - not to mention if it's real or not. I really liked the tension between wanting to save her sister and not harming her friends once she worked out what was behind the seemingly bizarre requests.

The pacing and writing are great, pulling you and making it hard to put down. The question is always "who is going to die?" because it's made very clear early on that Diana Urban is not afraid to kill off characters. And with the friends' life at stake as well as the sister's...

They are really inventive "games" - the apparently harmless nature of some only makes the dangerous reveal of what they were for all the worse later on. It's a twisted maze of horror, and the isolating aspect of it helps play into the first part of the ending. And it also uses social media to great effect, as the route through which the games come, turning the phones we all depend so much on into a villain.

Endings are hard, particularly with thrillers where the ending can really make or break the book. There's the answer to who was behind it all, there's whether justice is achieved (whatever justice means, which is <em>another</em> factor in play), and then there's the tone to end on. So, naturally, endings are not going to work for everyone. This ending didn't quite work for me, thanks to the very very end.

The ending was in two parts. I thought it was going to end where the penultimate chapter ended, that very unsettled note that leaves a lot of questions in the brain. I liked that ending, I liked the unfinished nature of it, the lack of justice and uncertainty. Then the next chapter came and sort of undid it all.

While I can see that the other might be too close to her debut, it felt too... coincidental and neat that it all happened like that, given how meticulously planned the rest of the plot had been to make Crystal doubt herself.

These Deadly Games is a fast-paced thriller and readers won't be able to put it down once they start! A group of teens thinks they are on their way to a video game tournament, but instead one of them is caught up in a heart-pounding game to save her younger sister, and her friends turn out to be unwitting pawns in the game. There's not a dull page in this book and I can't wait to share it with my students!

This YA thriller follows esports aficionado Crystal Donovan, who must complete challenges set by a mysterious app to save her sister from a kidnapper. But when the app starts directing her to hurt — and even kill — her friends, Crystal must outwit the culprit and bring them to justice!

This book grabbed hold of me and would not let go! I was on the edge of my seat wondering what the killer would make Crystal do next, and how it would end in disastrous consequences. I felt like few places toward the middle weren’t as focused on the actual game as I would have liked, but overall I was hooked.

I did sort of guess the culprit by about the 50% mark, but there was another big twist regarding the killer’s identity that I didn’t see coming, so I was still shocked by the reveal! The plot also leans into making the main character — and the reader — question reality given that the killer covers their tracks so well, which I TOTALLY loved!

Overall, if you’re looking for a cracking YA thriller that plays tricks on your mind, keep an eye out for this one when it releases on February 1st!

Well dang. Y'all know when there is a title like that it is going to be a crazy one! Super suspenseful and also just wanting you to not stop reading it. Great read and the characters were fantastic!