This thriller failed to thrill me in any way, shape or form. I've previously read another on of Diana Urban's thrillers and could hardly put it down because it was so suspenseful, but I failed to find any kind of suspense in this story. Frankly, it felt like this was written by an entirely different writer. The characters were beyond annoying, nothing about the plot felt new or original, and the writing was flat-out bad, I'm sorry to say. I should have probably DNFd this, but I kept hoping it would get better, or that there would be some huge plot twist that would explain that everything being so boring had been the point. An enclosed space like a cruiseship could be such an eerie, creepy setting for a book, but the vibes were completely off in this one.

I had read and enjoyed Diana’s precious work, and this one was enjoyable as well!

Having everything take place on a boat was a smart move — it forces urgency and fear on to the characters and the reader.

Overall, this was a good read, thoroughly enjoyed seeing the web that was weaved, and then unraveled.

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Thank you to PenguinTeen for the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

I love to read YA books.

I loved the premise of this book, but found it a little slow at times. This book is about a girl named Jade who goes on a cruise after her boyfriend breaks up with her and her best friend betrayed her.

While on the cruise there is a murder and everyone on the ship has secrets.

This was filled with alot of twists and turns.

3. 75 stars
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TW: Murder, Death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Suicide, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Sexual content
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In Diana Urban's Lying in the Deep readers are faced with a person's worst fear, being trapped on a ship with a murderer. In this YA retelling of Death on the Nile, we follow Jade as she embarks on her COB (Campus on Board) journey in hopes of getting away from her ex-boyfriend, Silas, and her ex-best friend, Lainey after a betrayal has led them together. I really enjoyed the isolation plot and felt it really added to the story, we are quickly introduced to our main "cast" of characters and at first it might be harder to follow along with, but thanks to them being picked off one by one it made it easier to follow along.

Having not known that this was a Death on the Nile retelling I wasn't able to guess the ending, but I have read some mention that to them it was obvious following the original story! I felt like the book dragged on at a few points (often with repetitive plot points that could have been edited out), and really enjoyed how the book picked up in the last 75% and ended with a plot twist!

This book is filled with DRAMA, something I needed at the time but could understand to some readers how it could come off. If you're looking for a fast-paced YA with loads of drama, this one is for you!
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I would like to thank NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group/Razorbill, and the author for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Publication date: May 2nd, 2023

I've been obsessed with Diana Urban's books since I read All Your Twisted Secrets, and this one was no different! I flew through it because I wanted to find out who the murderer was and what was going on.
Lying in the Deep has a unique concept with the characters participating in a semester at sea, where multiple murders take place. They're trapped on the boat with the killer, and the stakes are high.
Normally, I'm not a fan of romance in books, but the splash of romance wasn't over the top, so I didn't mind it.

Lying in the Deep was an interesting mystery that could have been a lot shorter. It was difficult to tell that the characters were college age with all of the drama and immaturity throughout. You wouldn't know the characters were even taking classes throughout the book if they didn't occasionally mention it. They devote all their time to drama that could have been avoided with basic conmmunication.

This book was such a quick hook for me. I really loved trying to figure out the whodunnit (and no. I didn’t get it right!)

This twist was interesting but honestly, I started to suspect it might be halfway through the book.

The premise for this book was so interesting—stuck on a cruise ship and solving a murder?!?! Love the unique setting of it. However, I feel like more could have been done to build tension given that they were essentially trapped the whole time. Sometimes it read a bit young, too—I guess I had expected the voice to lean toward more of an older YA audience. Overall it was a fun read, but it didn't stand out as much as I'd hoped it would.

If you like locked room YA mysteries, Lying in the Deep is a fun one!

Jade is excited to go on a semester at sea-like trip, only to discover that her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, who are together now, are also coming on the trip. She becomes obsessed with figuring out why he broke up with her and what they're doing together. But when her former best friend is murdered and Jade is one of the last people near her room, Jade becomes a prime suspect. She teams up with her new crush to clear her name.

It starts out as more of a contemporary, but then halfway through the mystery ramps up. There are a ton of twists, and yet, everything makes sense when looking back at it. Ultimately, I enjoyed Jade's journey and thought that the end was satisfying.

I went back and forth between rating Lying in the Deep as a 3 star book and 4 star book, but ultimately decided on 3 stars. It was good, but not *great*.

I liked the plot/setting of college students on a semester study abroad on a cruise ship. It was unique and interesting. I mostly liked the characters, though they were flawed and quite immature for college aged students. I kept thinking they were 16.

Some suspension of belief is required to enjoy the book, but it's definitely worth the read. I wouldn't necessarily say it's something to move to the top of your TBR, but I also would not say it's one to skip.

I am not the target audience for this one. Looking forward to seeing it on shelves!

Having read Diana Urban’s first two books (All Your Twisted Secrets and These Deadly Games), I was beyond excited to read Lying in the Deep. I was disappointed to find the plot twists of this book were literally just plot retractions.
The first entire half of the book is just character and motivation development along with plot points that are almost entirely irrelevant. Leading up to the murder, the story is about the main character pinning over the betrayal of two of her friends while also getting close to roughly a dozen characters who are so obviously going to the be potential killers as they are traveling the world on their cruise ship. An overwhelming amount of time was spent developing these character’s backstories and motives, but their role and personalities were entirely dull and uninspiring. Most of the character’s were introduced with a few pages of dialogue and then don’t pop up again until the murder actually occurs which makes their role in the story shallow and obvious. It was overkill, honestly. Moreover, the development of the main character’s personality and background was information overload. Her entire backstory would be offered up with in-digestible paragraphs rather than subtle behaviors and dialogue throughout the book.
When the murder *finally* occurred, all the characters began popping in and out of the story with no logical reason for their sudden presence or absence. Characters that were briefly mentioned at the beginning of the book would suddenly become of key importance and would disappear just as fast. Honestly, it didn’t make any sense that these characters would disappear considering they were on a cruise ship together and there really isn’t anywhere to hide. The speed at which the main character flew through theories about potential killers with no real investigation or evidence would give anyone whiplash. The vague timeline of events leading up to the murder wasn’t thrilling, it was just frustrating and obviously pointed to miscommunication between characters. There were also loose ends that were never tied up. A big bag of money found in someone’s room? No explanation. A broken make up bottle that clearly pointed to one character being the murderer? No explanation. Drugs stashed in the bed of the main character? No explanation.
Finally, the mystery was never quite solved because upon getting to the end you discover the murder never actually occurred! The murdered girl faked her death. Why? Daddy issues. Little miss privileged girl was tired of her big hot-shot Pharmaceuticals dad and packed a bag of money and hopped on a cruise ship. And who assisted her with this plan? The boy who was co-investigating the murder with the main character. Also, let’s talk about the fact that this fabulous plan was constructed so the white privileged girl could get away from her father who was experimenting on and killing people with his drugs but her plan literally got two additional people killed and she still walked away with no consequences? The main character (whose boyfriend was stolen by little miss privileged and who was being framed for everything) forgave her? This BS. . .
Diana Urban seems to struggle to commit to murdering and villainizing her characters. The plot twists of her books are retractions of an underdeveloped story. Her characters lack depth, strong motives, and proper backstories to be relevant in the plot. Her main character really had the “I’m so unique” energy for a girl who really was not unique.
2/5

This had an interesting mystery. I think it will do really well with an older YA audience. It did skew a bit young but I am not the target audience for this one. Looking forward to seeing it on shelves!

I went back and forth between rating Lying in the Deep as a 3 star book and 4 star book, but ultimately decided on 3 stars. It was good, but not *great*.

I liked the plot/setting of college students on a semester study abroad on a cruise ship. It was unique and interesting. I mostly liked the characters, though they were flawed and quite immature for college aged students. I kept thinking they were 16.

And what was with the meth storyline? It seemed very random. I don't understand how they could have gotten it onto the boat. I also got the impression that these were all very intelligent college students, so I think Adderall or maybe even cocaine would have been more believable versus meth.

I did really like the detective vibes the book gave off, and I enjoyed trying to figure out what happened. Definitely gave Pretty Little Liars vibes. There were some great twist and turns, though the ultimate one was pretty predictable.

Some suspension of belief is required to enjoy the book, but it's definitely worth the read. I wouldn't necessarily say it's something to move to the top of your TBR, but I also would not say it's one to skip.

This was my second book by Diana Urban, and I look forward to reading more by her.

I really enjoyed every minute of this book! If you’re looking for a fun ya murde mystery full of twists and turns look no further,

I was fully invested in the plot of this book. I really liked the MC and all the side characters. This is such a good, classic, who dunnit!

The setting of the ship and all the different ports added a really adventurous dimension to this book. I could really feel as if I was there.

The twists were so fun! This book kept me guessing the entire time! The twists and turns were so good.

This is such a fun mystery! I highly recommend it!

This was really good!! I was a little nervous at the beginning because it seemed like it was taking forever to get to the thriller aspect and I was annoyed with how obsessed Jade was with Silas still and I was just dying to know what was going to happen but the second half of this book and how everything came together really blew me away! So much was happening and Diana was able to weave all of the pieces together to make everything make so much sense without it all being obvious! Also the setting on a cruise ship sailing around the world was just so much fun, very Suite Life on Deck but make it college & a murder mystery! Just really recommend this one if you’re looking for a very well developed mystery!

This was a great and fast paced thriller! It was hard to put down - I read it in one afternoon! I hope to read more by this author soon.

3.5 rounded up? This is a fun, easy read and while it was pretty predictable, I mostly enjoyed it. I will say the very end surprised me but it still didn’t make up for the other things. There were two things that I didn’t like though.

1. Not one of these people acted like they were in college. They all acted like 15 year olds. I actually had to stop and think more than once if this was college or high school. They were pretty annoying but not enough for me to stop reading.

2. The meth? This just really came out of left field and I actually burst out laughing at that reveal and had to tell my boyfriend about it. That did not seem realistic AT ALL.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

I loved this book and was really pleasantly surprised, thank you so much net galley for allowing me a copy of this to read!

I almost didn’t read this book but I’m glad I did. I have nothing against the author but with her other novels I guess the mystery immediately. After a while that gets old.

Lying in the Deep though was a different story. I was surprised by the many twists and turns!

I have to say a thriller set on a cruise is a great idea. There’s nowhere to go. Why don’t we have more?! It’s the perfect setting honestly.

The story did not disappoint and it was a quick read. Overall I recommend this if you enjoy a good whodunnit story.

One of the best mystery thrillers I’ve read in a while! This YA novel takes place on a cruise around the world. Jade is lucky enough to get a spot but finds her ex best friend and ex bf there when they shouldn’t be. Having ended terms so suddenly Jade finds herself needing closure. That is until her ex best friend is found dead. So who killed her?

This novel had so many twists and turns it had me wanting to read every chapter. And that end scene was perfect wow so satisfying!

One thing I couldn’t stand was how nosy Jade was and no one bothered stopping or questioning her! She barged in everywhere and everyone just went along with it LOL the middle was a little slow but just push through as that’s how most mysteries are. I thought this one was such a great setting too!

Definitely pick this up if you’re looking for a good mystery thriller!