I didn’t know what to expect but this this book is eerily plausible & creepy. If you were a Fear Street or Christopher Pike fan growing up, this book is up your alley. It’s a fast paced thriller about having to stay alive in crazy circumstances. My only issue (and this is purely what I inferred from the book blurb) is that I was hoping it’d have more of a mystery vibe & more surprises along the way. It’s more of a straight forward book, you know who the killer is & that’s that. However the writing is strong & I was getting a lot of 90’s slasher vibes off it which was fun.

Normally, I love Natalie Richards ability to craft an entire story in one setting. This time, not so much. I think the concept of a movie theater/mail was super cool, but by the end the constant switching of rooms, hallways, etc wore me down. I found myself skimming a lot towards the end and I hate when I feel like I have to do that. The “twist” was really no twist to me in fact it was a tale as old as time. It was an “enjoyable” read I suppose, but not one that I will be raving to others about.

This book was so intense for a YA mystery/thriller, and definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. It gave me more teen slasher movie vibes than a puzzling mystery like other young adult mystery/thrillers can be. It was a super fast read for me with a satisfying conclusion that I would definitely recommend for anyone looking for a new thriller to dive into.

Definitely not my cup of tea. I wonder if the teen murder mystery craze has hit its peak and is now on the downturn end- four found dead is absolutely chock-full of characters, so much so I literally kept a spreadsheet to keep everyone straight. The forbidden love- age gap thing is a Big Ick, and there wasn't nearly as much discussion on how wrong that was as there should have been.

I was absolutely hooked from the off set. I loved the characters & their dynamic for survival was great. I was so intrigued by the premise and couldn’t wait to see how it concluded.

I was slightly disappointed by the reveal and I also found the mall/arcade/cinema description really overwhelming and didn’t make much sense. I struggled to picture it in my head.

Maybe a map would be a great idea!

I am always reluctant to read books about shootings because I am terrified of guns. Plus, in recent years, with the sheer amount of shootings around the world I do not like reading about them even if it's fictional. My anxiety is horrible and sometimes even reading about fake shootings will create massive anxiety for me to where I do not want to leave the house. Therefore, I try to stay clear of novels that involve gun violence.

However, Four Found Dead seemed interesting enough so I thought I would give it a try..... but just like in other novels about gun violence I had an incredibly hard time getting through this book. The novel ran incredibly slow and was gut-wrenching for me. It was just not for me and a topic that can be triggering to my own mental health. I should have realized this and stayed clear of a gun violence book but I wanted to give it a try.

First of all, you find out who the killer is from the first page of the book which I think almost became detrimental to the book. It made the story less interesting. The only thriller aspect the book truly held was you didn't know who would ultimately die in the end or if all the teens would make it out of the mall. Knowing the killer right away took from the excitement. The story is nothing short of predictable. I just did not jive with this story or the characters.

I don't know where to start. I usually like Natalie D. Richards books but I did not care for this one. First off, the amount of deaths expected is literally in the title, we just don't know who they will be. We start the book off with on the last night the local theatre is open, the creepy manager goes into a rage over work not getting done and then they are visited by his angry wife. The main character sees a gun tucked in the manager's shirt but doesn't tell anyone, yet she was traumatized by the death of her father at the hand of a gunman. Now kill the lights and queue a scream. A coworker has been strangled by the manager in front of another coworker but no harm comes to the second? So now we know who the killer is and he is now after everyone else, not exactly sure why except no one likes him. So they make their way into the adjoining skeleton of a mall that has three levels where the second person from our party meets their demise. The group of employees spend a good majority of the book moving around, hiding, listening for the killer, and getting some bumps and cuts but no real action. One of the party goes missing, the group finds some blood and assumes the worst. The party continues to search for a way out, and there are explanations (not really plausible ones) on why they can't find an exit. Then when the group finally figures out how to summon help, here comes the killer with the gun and the missing member of the party. We find out that this all happened because the manager/killer (a married man, so an adult) was having a fling with the 16 year old homeschooled girl (yuck and disgusting). The man's wife found out along with the two dead coworkers (who threatened to turn him into the authorities), and now he has to kill the others because they know he killed the coworkers. So instead of going to jail for paedophilia, he would just be going to jail for murder? To me, this book is not realistic. There is a lot of the group wandering around and listening for the killer, who runs up and down the stairwells a lot. Sorry to say, I got bored. And then when there was some suspense happening, it died quickly. Sorry, I just didn't care for this book.

Four Found Dead is strictly a thriller, and I think that the absence of mystery detracted from this story's allure.
There is certainly a heap of adrenaline intertwined with the plot yet by the end I found myself burnt out. Four Found Dead is one great big mouse chase. The aggressor is the same from the beginning until the end and every time tragedy strikes, there is no surprise. I feel like I just woke up from a nightmare, where I was stuck in an endless loop of unfortune that lacked any true creativity.
It's not a bad story, it just really isn't that great either. Like a dinner with alright food but served at room temperature. Where you walk away, not entirely pleased but no longer hungry.

This was a great book! Fast paced, quick, thrilling all in one! I will definitely be reading more of this author.

Six teenaged movie theater workers are trapped in an abandoned and boarded-up mall with a killer after one of their coworkers is found dead. Their keys and phones are locked in the safe at work by their potentially murderous manager, the fire exits are blocked to keep out vagrants, and construction remnants and gutted stores leave little to work with to find a way out.

For a premise that promises a lot of tension, this flatlined quite a bit through the book. Two high-tension events happened in the first 20% and then next 60% of the book was essentially the trapped teenagers running to different places in the mall to hide, getting found, and then doing it all over again.

The POV character Riley was very one note, her whole personality seemingly tied to a traumatic event from her childhood. Which, like, yeah of course that’s going to come up while she’s experiencing another trauma, but there wasn’t much else to her. Every single scene it seemed she made some reference to what happened when she was a kid. Everything she said, did, or even thought tied back to her memories. I wanted more complexity to her, something else to make her feel more real.

Overall I thought it was an okay thriller with an interesting setting and situation that could have been utilized better.

Did you ever think an abandoned mall could feel claustrophobic? I certainly didn’t before reading this book but now I’m a believer. I love creepy abandoned places so when I heard there was a ya slasher (although nobody was actually killed by stabbing) set in a movie theater and mall the last day it was ever open I knew I had to pick it up. It didn’t disappoint. The tension is high from the very beginning bc our main female mc is very cautious around guns (and with a huuuuuge hero complex) due to past trauma. But don’t worry, like any good teen slasher the action picks up pretty quickly.

What plays out next is a great combo of tension and claustrophobia waiting to see what happens next (which is definitely the scariest part of scary movies/stories imo) and action. The abandoned mall turns into a truly terrifying house of horrors as the MCs try to find a way out while avoiding a man who’s clearly had a mental break.

I enjoyed the formatting of the book too. Most of it is from Jo’s perspective but every now and then you get newspaper reports and letters from the aftermath and bits and pieces of a letter written by one of the MCs about that night.

If you take this book for what it is, a fun ya thriller, you will definitely enjoy the ride.

This book was interesting from the beginning to the end! I couldn’t put it down I needed to know what was going to happen in the end!

I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and were not affected by the free copy.

It's Jo's last day at the theater, and she and her co-workers are finishing up their final shift before heading off for pancakes. But after the lights go out and Jo finds the body of her co-worker, all they can do is try to survive. And in an abandoned mall, with boarded up exists and hiding spots for all, survival looks less and less likely.

I loved the premise; the execution, not so much. We know from the beginning who the murderer is, and strongly suspect the motive, which leaves little to puzzle out. Unfortunately, I didn't make any super strong connections with any of the characters, though I did like the PTSD representation with Jo. The pacing was pretty well done, I didn't ever get so bored I struggled to finish the book.

All in all, it's fine, but not for me.

Natalie D. Richards has done it again, I’ve read every book she has brought out and I loved each and every one.

Four found dead starts off with Joe and her coworkers getting ready to close up the movie theatre for the final time, the manager Clayton is a hot headed bully and we witness him and his wife arguing before they each storm off then the lights go out and the suspense really kicks off.

This book has a very adrenaline feeling to it, you are rooting for the characters but you’re also wondering who is going to be the four who are killed. The premise and storyline were suspenseful and it was a fast paced read which keeps you engaged. The characters were well written and some I particularly rooted for especially Naomi and Joe.

Definitely a quick read but a well written thrill/suspense read that’ll keep you going to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Sourcebooks Fire for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I feel mixed about Four Found Dead.
While it was a quick read and I finished it quickly.
I just couldn't stand the characters which made me struggle to finish the book.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really like Natalie D. Richards' writing style. It's quick and easy and pulls you in. Now, I'm all for a story that gets right to the point but in this case, I wish we'd gotten to know the characters a little bit more before the action started. Most of them were flat while the killer was over the top. I also struggled with visualizing the mall, despite the detail given to it. Overall, it was still an enjoyable, fast-paced read.

I had been a fan of Natalie Richards since she had first started writing these thriller young adult novels. Unfortunately, I feel like the quality of the plot, characters, and writing has gone down. I find myself unable to continue through with this novel. Richards used to be a must read author for myself, I would look forward to her new releases but I can't get into them anymore.

This book had a lot of potential to be a really good thriller and honestly , I thought this was going to go way better than it did.

I loved how we know from the start four people would end up dead. It made me wonder the whole time, guessing who the four will be, so that was a great premise because it makes you want to read to see what happens.

But the fact that we also knew who the killer was from the start took away all the excitement. And a couple of "surprises" we got were not at all surprising, you could spot them very easily, and they were pretty predictable after a while.

The writing was rather repetitive, which was kind of frustrating. At the half way point I kind of lost interest was honestly kind looking to finish it to just finish it.

Although I still did like it, the premise was good and the writing was good as well.

I have read every other book by Natalie D. Richards and they have all been fantastic. This book is no exception. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire book and when I thought I knew what was going to happen.... something totally different happened. I absolutely love this book.

Do you like your book with lots of suspense, a storyline that makes you hold your breath, a who-done-it where you know mid-way through the book who the bad guy is but there’s nothing you can do to save the others?

This is that book. I was hooked from page one. This is the book that I literally started at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and continued to read until I was done. Yes, I was reading on my Kindle at 2:30 in the morning.

The main characters are every boy and every girl you’ve ever met. The bad guy is someone you knew, maybe even know now. It’s that guy that makes you a little uneasy, a little uncomfortable, the guy you know you don’t want to have anything to do with, but you don’t know why.

The setting is amazing, an old abandoned mall that’s been shut down and boarded up, and the author’s descriptions are so visual that you’re there, you’re actually there. This book would make an awesome movie!

There were parts of this book where I was holding my breath, waiting to see what was going to happen. If you like thrillers and suspenseful reads, I highly recommend Four Found Dead by Natalie D. Richards.