This book wasn’t really my thing—maybe it’s just because I don’t play games, but to be honest, I didn’t love it. I don’t write full reviews for books I didn’t like, so NetGalley is the only place getting this! Thank you as always to Wednesday Books for giving me a chance to read.

These Deadly Games tells the story of Crystal Donavan, a teenager who loves gaming. However, when she gets an anonymous message threatening her sister and asking her to complete a series of tasks. Eager to save her sister, Crystal initially jumps right in. But as the tasks become more and more dangerous and with deadly consequences, Crystal becomes determined to find out who is behind these games and why they're targeting her and her friends.

I'll be honest: at the beginning of this book, I wasn't so sure about it. But as the book went on, I became much more sucked into the story. As a young adult thriller, I think it delivers. It's fast-paced, it's engaging, and it circulates around a compelling and modern concept of cell phone apps and video games. My only complaint is that I wish I would have gotten more character development of all the characters. They all seemed to have such cool and unique backgrounds, and I appreciated the diversity of sexual identities and races, and I wish we would have learned more about them. And, as with many YA, I found myself shaking my head at some of the character decisions! I think fans of Karen McManus and Natasha Preston will love these.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for both digital and physical ARCs!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Wednesday Books.

I really enjoyed this sly, suspenseful YA read by Diana Urban. It's quick and very clever and Crystal is a pretty likable protag. Very twisted and fun read.

These Deadly Games is a young adult mystery-thriller novel that I could not put down. I came into this with high hopes due to Urban's past works and I was not disappointed.

Crystal receives a message on her phone of picture tied to a chair and the message reads she must complete these tasks to have her returned safely. The book then follows Crystal's journey on these tasks and whether or not she and her sister can make it out.

This book is fast paced and is filled with twists and turns. I recommend this to fans of YA mystery or thriller looking for a quick read.

These Deadly Games is an addictive and high-stakes thriller perfect for YA readers.

Crystal Donovan is obsessed with playing MortalDusk with her friends. They have a big gaming tournament coming up in a few days that has a huge cash prize.

While sitting in class one morning, Crystal receives a video message of her sister bound and gagged with a caption asking if she’s ready to play a game.

The rules are simple. If she calls the police, her sister dies. If she tells anyone, her sister dies. If she doesn’t play, her sister dies.

At first, Crystal’s tasks seem a bit risky, but as she continues to play, she realizes they could be deadly. Soon, Crystal decides that she needs to outsmart this anonymous kidnapper in order to save her sister and protect her friends.

The majority of this YA thriller is fast-paced. I found some parts dragged, but it is mostly an edge-of-your-seat kind of read.

Crystal is a compelling character. Although, I did find myself getting annoyed slightly with her actions. She tended to get easily distracted. You’d think that her sole focus would be on finding her sister.

Some of the twists were predictable, but I still felt intrigued enough to find out how everything would turn out. And what an ending that was! Very satisfying.

I recommend this to readers who enjoy YA and YA thrillers. Those who primarily read “adult” fiction may find that this reads a little young.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press for the arc provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

What a ride! I found These Deadly Games to have an interesting storyline that kept me engaged and invested the entire time with all its mystery and suspense. Really enjoyed this!

First, I want to say that I love the fact that I share my first name with the main character. I don’t see my name in books often, so that was cool. For the story itself, it was great. The “games” that were played were twisted. I did manage to call who the person behind the “games” was, but it was still a bi of a surprise. I really enjoyed this book.

It was interesting enough to grab and keep your attention until the end. Mysterious and suspenseful, with a pretty good cast of characters.

Diana Urban has done it again! For her sophomore novel-what a wild ride! I didn't think it could get any better than her 1st book, " All Your Twisted Secrets". But she has outdone herself!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC version of this book in exchange for my personal and honest review.

This book was very gripping. Every moment felt like a headlong hurtle towards doom and I really enjoyed the fast-paced plot! Crystal was a relatable POV character—and I really loved the mind games she had to go through. It was a great read.

This book was a wild ride!

Crystal and her friends are heavily obsessed with an online game and are training hard to win a competition in order to save her house from being sold, one morning Crystal takes her younger sister to her school to go on a yearly trip and when she gets home the nightmare starts. Crystal receives a text of her little sister in danger and an anonymous person "wants to play a game" with her, Crystal must do all of the tasks this anonymous person says or her sister dies.


Thank you to Goodreads, Author Diana Urban and St. Martin's Press for my advanced copy to read and review.

Interesting enough to grab and keep your attention until the end. Mysterious and suspenseful, with a pretty good cast of characters.

I went into this wanting to like it, desperately, but I was left just feeling like this book missed every possible mark for me.

This book was, unfortunately, impossible to get into.

The main character felt like a voice without a soul to me - she’s saying how she feels about things but it still doesn’t feel like a fleshed out character to me, something didn’t connect with me.

I also didn’t like how the “game” starts and she immediately has a flashback about a party where she has a crush on someone - it took me out completely for her to have that aside when she’s on a 20 minute countdown. Even if her memories take a moment to remember rather than the 10+ to read them, it was so awkwardly placed that I stopped taking things seriously almost instantly.

The catalyst could have been done better - I think a voice modulated call she had to leave class to answer or something would have added tension. The video + text happening while she makes a joke about food poisoning just didn’t felt intense enough

So many asides and anecdotes during what should be tense and stressful moments that I’m not sure of the intended tone- it felt like one of those tv shows where something intense is happening but you're watching a character slip on a banana peel for laughs, and the result was just me not feeling any of the tension overall.

The reveal was obvious but the details about her sister's situation were... past my suspension of disbelief again. I also have a really hard time believing the scenario would work out over the time period - I don't want to spoil the book for anyone but it seemed like something that would only work in the world of Pretty Little Liars, and I don't think this book was trying to be like that.

I feel incredibly bad not enjoying this, but perhaps people who liked One of Us is Lying will enjoy this.

1/5

i was never really part of the one of us is lying craze, it felt a touch slow and halting to me. but these deadly games is a certified banger. quite literally, there's nothing i've read recently that compares to it. propulsive and suspenseful that i personally have only thought visual media could properly convey, but urban's done it. can't wait to read more from her.

These Deadly Games is a fast-paced YA mystery/thriller involving a timed game, the instructions given by an anonymous person who claims to have main character Crystal’s sister. If Crystal doesn’t complete each instruction in the given time frame (with increasingly raised stakes) Caelyn will be killed.

If you’re someone who likes thrillers involving games and puzzles, this is definitely the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC!

I accidentally read this book in one sitting on my phone! What started as reading the first few chapters to get a feel turned into a compulsory need to know what was going to happen next. It's very clear that this novel is well and carefully plotted and I loved all the twists and turns, even if I saw some things coming. There's never enough suspense novels in YA, and I am glad to add this to my collection!

Oh, man. When I read All Your Twisted Secrets, I thought “escape rooms AND a thriller YA novel?! This author could not appeal to me more.”

WRONG.

These Deadly Games combines puzzles, suspense, mystery, and murder, and throws it at high-speed at a group of diverse high schoolers that are part of a video game league. The main character pulls from her experiences playing this game throughout the story, but what I loved the most is her realization that sometimes she was being irrational… because life is not a video game.

Preorder this book now, and save it for a nice spooky October night. You won’t regret it!

This one kept me on my toes even though I suspected the right people from the beginning but that doesn’t mean this was totally predictable. Getting to the end was a wild ride!

Crystal and her friends are gamers trying to enter a tournament with a big money prize, so the stakes are high and it seems not everyone in their group is playing fair. On top of her anxiety of trying to be part of the team, Crystal’s sister has been kidnapped and the person who supposedly makes her do all these crazy things in order to get her sister back safe and sound. Talk about stress!

Now let’s talk about the the things this kidnapper is making Crystal do – it’s tasks meant to hurt or kill her best friends! Craziness. And it’s a choice between saving her sister or hurting her friends. The more tasks she does the less control she has over this “game” even though she thinks she can beat the kidnapper at their own game.

My lists of suspects were pretty spot on but the twist in the end wasn’t something I saw. I like that I was kept on my toes, even though my suspicions were right. I read it one sitting.

RANDOM NOTES~~
Content Warnings: mention of anorexia, abuse, alocoholism, murder, death

Character wise, Crystal isn’t someone I came to care for also, she has secrets. She seemed like she was super-focused on making the team for the tournament, but with good reason (to help her family) but she wasn’t someone I’d say is likable. Her friends seem like a tight group until we get more into the story and we see where the problems are between them. So I didn’t quite connect to the characters but the story was intriguing with the cat and mouse game happening between Crystal and the kidnapper.

It’s a wild finish but it was left open ended so is there a sequel? It’s definitely set up for one.

FINAL THOUGHTS~~
Why you should read it:

*good cat and mouse game to find the kidnapper
*fast-paced, quick read
*you like a good murder mystery

Why you might not want to read it:

*lack of connection to characters

My Thoughts:

I have been reading a few young adult murder mysteries lately that haven’t really wow’ed me but this one had everything I wanted – it’s fast-paced, kept me on toes trying to figure out who was the kidnapper and their motive for making Crystal do some messed up things. I thought the ending twist was great and if there is a sequel, I would definitely check it out.

I overall really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a very pull no punches thriller. This book was one that caught me be suprise in the first half, sort of GRMM... Nobody is safe book. I also really enjoyed the characters we meet in this read. I also really loved all the games at the heart of this read!! It was very quick read and one that I had hard time putting down!! Being in the main character head was hard at points but I am curious to see if we will see thesse characters again. It was really engaging thriller and def a new favorite by this author!!

I liked this one! It wasn't always the most original thing I've ever read, but it was definitely engaging from start to finish.

The characters were a mix of personalities and while most of them were admittedly stereotypes, the combination worked given the plot and set up. The pacing was pretty even and kept me engaged throughout the story. There were a number of red herrings that caught me off guard and although I did figure out a lot of what was going on before it happened, this didn't in any way detract from my enjoyment with the story.

And on top of that, the underlying concept led me into a very interesting conversation with my husband about what, exactly, one does when confronted with the seemingly unwinnable situation... It was a fun read that I burned through quickly. I will definitely look up Diana Urban again!