A group of friends are getting ready to leave the movie theater in a closed down mall for the last time. An argument occurs and the lights go out. Terror strikes and a body is found. The doors are all boarded up and there’s no way out. They are trapped with a killer. This was an attention grabbing read and very suspenseful. Thanks NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for this ARC!

Jo and her coworkers are set to celebrate their last day of work as the movie theater they have all worked together at closes for ever. The celebration is shattered however when one of the coworkers is found murdered. Jo knows right away what is happened but not why or who is next. As the title states, 3 more are poised to die.
A very tense thriller in which we follow Jo and her friends as they try to stay alive in a mall. You will never look at malls the same way again! If you like a tense and atmospheric thriller, a book about fleeing a killer, or just are a Natalie D. Richards fan, Four Found Dead is for you! #YA #Fourfounddead #NatalieDRichards

Loved this so much, characters were loveable minus Clayton he was just nuts. I liked all the twists and turns, this had me gripped from page one, read it in 2 sittings. Will look out for more books by this author.

I was so excited about this one, I mean a locked in murder mystery in an abandoned mall? Sign me up! Unfortunately for me though I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped. The characters were not really introduced all that well in the beginning so I found myself not really caring when they died. The killer was also pretty much announced at the beginning of the book which took away the element of surprise and it wasn’t super suspenseful in that sense. The main conflict as to why the killer did what they did get like a cop out to me, and, I don’t really enjoy reading about underage relationships, especially when the other person involved is in their 30s. Overall this one put a sour taste in my mouth and I was really excited for it so that’s disappointing. The only thing I really enjoyed was the survival aspect and the fact that the author didn’t shy away from death and gory details.

Found Found Deal is a young adult novel about 8 employees working the last shift at a movie theatre. The movie theatre was the last operating business in the mall. As the employees are wrapping up for that final time, the theatre is plunged into darkness. Since the employees keep their phones, keys and wallets in the vault, there is no way out. In the chaos of darkness, people are on edge and then people go missing. After the first co-worker is found dead, the others realize they have to find a way out of this shut down mall if they want to survive.

As a former mall retail worker when I was a teenager, I was immediately drawn to this book. Closing down the store at night was always spooky and I thought this would be the perfect setting for a cat and mouse type murder mystery. I was a little disappointed when the killer was uncovered in the first few chapters and after that it was more of a “hide and seek” for the rest of the book. The characters really lacked development and I had trouble keeping track of who was still alive and who had died. There is a reveal at the end that clears up a bit of the motive but this wasn’t really a thriller or mystery. Overall, this is an easy, quick read that I still wanted to find out how it would end for our characters.

Thank you for NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for giving me an E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

HOLY CRAP!
Mind blown!
Absolutely 11/10 stars!
I enjoy all books I have ready by Natalie Richards, so I knew I had to read this one too. That being said, this one packs a punch! A run down mall, a closing movie theater, and a psycho manager- what could go wrong!? The plot thickens so fast, it leaves you on the edge of your seat. The suspense build up is a page turner and I could not put this one down!

A fast-paced YA thriller I easily managed in one sitting. The format--revealing key details early on and making further twists more unpredictable--was really refreshing.

A quick read thriller that will keep you engaged throughout the entire story. Our plot follows several movie theater workers on their last night. The mall the theater is located in is closing for renovation. But when one of them is found dead, they must survive the killer and the mall itself. Four will not make it through the night.
I suggest this book to someone looking for a fun thriller that you won't be able to put down.

it was ok. not bad but not the best ya thriller book i’ve read. it was a quick read for sure. wasn’t much of a mystery of what really happened that night cause it was obvious what was going on. i wish there was more twists and turns to the story since it was kinda flat on that. i think having the teens different point of views would’ve made this story better as well. i’m sure they were thinking of so many different things while they were stuck in the mall running from a killer. i also didn’t make a connection to any of the characters cause we really didn’t get to know much about them.we’ll we got very little backstory on everyone except for jo. we got to see a little bit more from her. i liked this book much better than her book seven dirty secrets though!

This is a very easy, quick read. I finished it in one sitting. Overall it’s a good read if you like “slasher movie” type stories (that’s what it reminded me of). You know who the killer is early on so there isn’t any suspense there. You don’t know why but it’s pretty easy to guess. The only negative is the amount of language but otherwise a fast, fun read.

Summary
Jo and her coworkers are closing down the movie theater for the last time. The theater was connected to a previously thriving shopping mall; however, since the mall has been deserted and condemned, the movie theater has followed in its wake.

Jo’s temperamental boss, Clayton, has their phones and keys locked in the managers safe, per procedure, until the team has completed their job for the night.

Just as things are wrapping up and Jo is going to ask Clayton for their keys and phones, the power goes out. Amidst the chaos and darkness, everyone is feeling on edge and searching for a way out. But, rather than an escape, the result of the search yields the dead body of another coworker. The group is trapped with a killer and with all the exits blocked off, they have no way out.

Review
Unfortunately, half stars can’t be added, and I can’t justify giving this book three stars. It’s a 2.5 in my book.

The beginning is particularly rough just because there is a large number of characters introduced in short succession. This alone is problematic but each character is also only vaguely described making them nearly impossible to tell apart when the story gets going. Once people start dying off and we get some more discerning information on each character, and they become a little more recognizable. However, ultimately, we only ever scratch the surface level with each character and the lacking development makes it impossible to care what happens to them. And for a story without any mystery to it, there really needed to be some connection to the characters to generate interest.

The killer is revealed very early on with no real twists or turns to make you second guess. Definitely not a mystery, both motive and killer are revealed in the first 3% of the book. It’s just a straight forward game of hide and seek with a killer. It felt overly repetitious, basically “let’s hide here”, “oh no, he found us”, repeat, repeat.

The articles scattered throughout the story were intriguing but didn’t seem to flow as seamlessly as I prefer for this trope. They were just thrown in and almost feel like an afterthought as opposed to having the story consciously written with the intention of incorporating them.

It’s an easy read but definitely not a twisty, on the edge of your seat, mystery / thriller.

(Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire, Natalie Richards, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be published May 2, 2023.)

I really enjoyed the entirety of this book. The plot was enticing and scary, and you really couldn’t figure out what was going on which I really enjoy in a horror book. One aspect that I really loved was the announcements / news articles that were spread throughout the book. That really stood out and really added to the story as I continued read! I haven’t seen that done much at all before in a horror novel and I loved it!

Free e-ARC provided by NetGalley!

This was my second book by this author- I previously read Five Total Strangers and I thought it was okay. I was more excited to read this one because I liked the premise more- a group of teenagers trapped in a mall with a murderer.

This book definitely gives more slasher film than thriller/mystery. The murderer is revealed pretty early and most of the rest of the book is everyone just trying to survive the night, with secrets among them revealed along the way. I had trouble suspending my disbelief with a lot of the things that were set up so that they were all trapped in the mall with no escape. It felt pretty contrived and I felt like there could’ve been better explanations for some things. I won’t get too deep into it, but I also had a hard time believing some of the characters’ choices and actions. That’s how slasher movies kind of are, I guess, I just wanted a little more plausibility.

It was a quick read, and I imagine it won’t stick with me for very long, but an okay enough way to spend a couple hours.

I found this book to be a pleasant mixture of It’s Behind You (Kathryn Foxfield) and the FNAF novels.
I thought the thoughts we get at the end of each chapter were clever and something unique I hadn’t seen before.

Whilst I thought the pacing was a bit weird, and the environment felt a bit topsy-turvy, I actually liked the characters and how they were written. This was fun to read.

3 stars

14 - 18 years

A good yarn for young people.

The last business to close in an otherwise abandoned mall is the Riverview Theater. Seven teenagers and their curmudgeonly manager are alone following the last show. All the kids have to do now is clean up and go out to have pancakes and celebrate their freedom.

However, following an unexpected visit from an angry woman, things seem to go sour. The young people’s keys and cell phones are locked in the safe and they can’t leave without them. Then things begin to go wrong. People start dying.

Although it is blatantly obvious who the killer is from 2% of the book, it is still a good read. They kids try to stay together and manage to escape to the outer mall area (outside the theater), but it is no good. They are relentlessly pursued. They are being picked off one by one. Why? What is going on?

The plotting is a little disjointed and some events don’t follow logically. But I can see the attraction for a young person.

I want to thank NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire/Sourcebooks Fire for forwarding to me a copy of this book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

This was a really good end of the year read. I am so thankful I got to read this ARC. I sat down and started this book and finished it within days. A YA horror hasn't put me on this wild of a ride since Clown in a cornfield 1&2. I loved the articles strewn through the book that made it almost feel more errie.

3.75 stars

This was an ok thriller novel. I predicted the big plot twist around 100 pages in, and I never did connect to any of the characters. I did like the news articles sprinkled in throughout the book, that added a bit more to the mystery aspect. This book wasn’t bad, it just isn’t something I would read again.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

Four Found Dead is an intense YA thriller about a group of teens who are stuck in the mall with a killer. I found it super tense and the feeling of dread you get really amps up all the way through the book. The plot is great and the characters are strong, each brings something to the story. Excellent read. I look forward to reading more by this author.

This is a thrill-a-minute book about teens "trapped" in a theater the night it will be closing for good. Jo and her co-workers are cleaning up after the last showing when she sees a gun under manager Clayton's t-shirt. Realizing that can't be a good sign, she isn't sure what to do so she remains quiet even as the bodies begin to pile up. Alternating in time between the present and the past where Jo and her sister watched her father die in a robbery, the novel reveals some unseen connection between what happened then and what's happening now. Lots of action, lots of questions and clues, but we're never sure exactly what is going on until the bitter end! Creepy fun!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this book! The way this was written was well done. This was the first time I’ve read a thriller/mystery where we find out who the killer is early on. Typically I find the suspense build up of trying to figure out who the killer is to be one of the best parts of this type of book, but I have to say knowing who the killer was throughout the story worked so well to build the suspense in this novel.
The beginning definitely pulls you in and hooks you for the rest of the story. There were some parts I felt to be a bit drawn out and even some I felt needed more explanation, but overall it was a book that you’ll want to see through to the end.
For me this was a solid 3.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.