A different twist on the closed room mystery. We know from the start who is killing the people but not why or who will be next. Set in a movie theater on the last night before it is closed forever, the staff must try to stay alive once they realize nobody can escape.

Ugh this sucks to write. But this was not good.

It was way too repetitive. Just a thought, don’t use the term “pretty little white boy” or “forgettable way that rich white girls are often pretty” multiple times in a book because it’s just odd. Like why was that necessary? Why did the author have to do that?

But as I said, way too repetitive considering this is a short book. Phrases used over and over, no real character development, boring. Each character blended together because they were forgettable and dumb. Jo was the dumbest of all. Her inner monologues got so annoying. I honestly didn’t want to continue. The only good thing about this was you didn’t know which four died. I did like that. But my goodness this was a miss.

Review: what a heart-pounding read!! From the very first page, my anxiety was in overdrive. You could feel the anxiety of all the characters throughout this horrible night! I couldn’t imagine being in that situation! OMG. I just can’t stop replaying it in my mind! It’s horrible! But the book was so good! It kept me on my toes and wanting to continue reading more. Thank you so much @sourcebooksfire and @netgalley for my advanced copy! I love Natalie D. Richards’ books and I can’t wait to read more from her!!

This one was definitely not my thing. I hated everyone in this book and it felt like a chore to read it.

It’s the last night at Riverview Theaters. The final guests have gone. In Natalie D. Richards’ “Four Found Dead,” Jo and her co-workers are spending the last hours of their final shift cleaning up and closing down. The end of their time at Riverview Theaters is bittersweet. They are a pretty tight crew, but are looking forward to moving on from a tedious job and a creepy boss. In quick succession, an unexpected visitor, a broken soda machine, and a power outage fray nerves. Then the bodies start piling up. Jo and her friends have to band together and use their wits to save themselves. Will they be able to outwit the one who wants them dead?

The story is fast-paced and full of “no, don’t go in there!” type moments. For the first third of the book there is a LOT of noise inside Jo’s head. It is reasonable as there are a number of triggers that have her reliving past trauma. Just as the noise and her fear become almost overwhelming, both recede and Jo finds her inner strength to push through an event she never thought she’d be part of. I would have liked a longer set-up to build the creepy-factor before the catapult into action. There are some funny comments about how people behave in horror movies.

This story would be great for teens who like thrillers.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for allowing me to read this early copy

*thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my eARC*

I generally enjoyed this book, I was pretty solidly hooked on the story, and I was pretty spooked throughout. I think it was an interesting take on the horror genre to set up the mystery and unravel it pretty early on. I do think the plot was repetitive and it seemed to drag on and repeat itself throughout some of the scenes. overall, generally solid YA thriller, perfect for fans of Stephanie Perkins' mysteries and Karen M. McManus!

omg I hated this book. I've never read a book that made me feel so snarky. This is my first book by Natalie D. Richards and if it's at all indicative of her writing style, it's my last. It's just not for me. Others certainly seem to love it so I would say give it a try if you're a fan of YA thrillers.

Four Found Dead sounded promising, and and I was really excited to start it. Teens running from a killer in a mall/theater after closing? That sounds right up my alley.

But it wasn't.

It was basically just an hours long, high-stakes game of Hide and Seek.

The epilogue was cute, I guess, and at least the action started quickly, but there is absolutely nothing I found redeeming or enjoyable about this book. I love good YA Horror and Thrillers, this ain't it. Sorry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the e-ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this story. It was action packed, and thrilling with a few nice twists and turns. I found that I just kept reading and needing to know more. Definite page turner

I’m going to give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. I thought it was really creative to use a soon to be abandoned mall/movie theaters as a setting for a mystery, but I wish there was more description of the mall. I enjoyed how in between chapters there was a newspaper article or email regarding the incident. I do wish there was more character development with the secondary characters; I felt like besides the main character the other characters had a one word personality traits. I wasn’t a huge fan of knowing who the bad guy was early on, and I wish that the motive was more clear

This book took me on an adrenaline-fueled ride, and I could not put it down!
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The action starts immediately as Jo and her coworkers close the theater for the last time. Their manager Clayton is a complete tool, and most of the time is all bark and no bite. However, today something seems more off than usual with him, and it has Jo worried. When the power goes out, and one of them is found dead it's a race to escape. All the exits they know about are locked, their phones and keys are locked up in the safe, and there is a killer on the loose. The only way to go is through the mall, where hopefully they can find a way out before the killer gets them.

I couldn't put this down, I felt like I was right alongside our group as they navigated the empty mall, and hiding from the killer. I really enjoyed everything about this book, and can't wait to see what Natalie Richards writes next!

Jo and her coworkers are closing at the movie theater they have worked at for some time. This is the last night the theater is set to be open. The coworkers plan to celebrate in different ways, but their celebration is shattered when one of them is found murdered. Who is next? And why are they being killed? Jo and her coworkers will do anything to survive in this tense, locked-room thriller.

Natalie Richards uniquely writes this book; in the story, the killer is known, but the motive is not. The setting is amazing and well-described as the characters make their way through various parts of the mall, trying to hide from the killer. As you read, you feel as though you are trapped inside the mall with the characters. The main character Jo was well-developed, and I enjoyed the flashbacks to an event that happened in her past. Overall, this was a great faced-paced thriller that kept my interest throughout. Although, I wish there would have been some more character development for some of the other characters. I also felt the ending was a bit rushed and would’ve liked more details. However, I recommend this book to anyone that likes fast-paced, locked-room thrillers. I give it 3/5 stars.

Really great premise but the story fell flat for me. I didn't end up finishing it but it definitely shows a lot of promise!

I have read most if not all of Natalie D. Richard's YA mystery/suspense novels. I really enjoy them. This one was different in that the "who dunit" is not really a question. It is more about the reasoning behind it. The characters are trapped in an abandoned and dangerous mall and find themselves running for their lives. The story had a good premise, yet the action and events were very repetitive. I did not enjoy it as much as her other novels since their really was no big reveal in the end. It just seemed lacking.

The premise of this book was so promising. I loved the horror/slasher film vibes that seemed to be suggested by the summary, but it ultimately just fell flat.

I’ll start with the good…the setting was unique. I’ve read many books with this same general premise and an abandoned mall was a new one for me. The set up was also fine. I think the way the characters moved from normal night to danger was sufficiently terror inducing.

However, the twists weren’t really twists. The action was repetitive. And the reasoning behind the murders was iffy at best. Some of what should have been the most tension/terror filled moments happened “off screen.” And a lot of the “tense” moments felt manufactured. How many times can we “hear a door open” or “see a movement on the balcony” before it feels like we’re just being fed the same moment over and over again.

I also think the novel would have benefitted from multiple characters POVs. Jo’s narrating was grating at times and the cast of characters would have maybe been a little easier to connect with if we had seen through their eyes.

This book did not disappoint! I was unable to put it down. Imagine one last shift at your job and someone ends up dead! You will be on the edge of your seat with this one! Highly recommend!

Four Found Dead by Natalie D. Richards

Riverview Theaters, the final remains of a once popular shopping mall, is closing its doors tonight after the final screening. Now that the movie has ended and the patrons have left, Jo and her six coworkers should be packing up and heading to IHOP to celebrate the end of an era. But instead, an angry stranger shows up and makes a scene with their asshole of a manager, Clayton. And then the power is cut. With their phones and personal effects locked in a safe and all the exits boarded up, they have to get creative to find an escape. Jo and her coworkers must trust their wits and instincts to make it out alive.

This happens so rarely but this book absolutely did it - I was gripped from the very first page. I put this down to meet a friend to get manicures and I thought about this book the whole damn time! It made me so nervous and gave me all the heebie jeebies! This has the same high stakes and main character energy as A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. I highly recommend this for YA thriller fans!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 - 4.5/5

Are we in big trouble?

Four Found Dead is a dark locked-room thriller. The uniqueness lies in knowing who the baddie is but not why he's doing this. I'm not sure that it completely landed. On the other hand, it does get right to the good stuff, building the characters as you go.

One of the problems is that it really stalls in the middle. It feels repetitive and overly descriptive, like it's trying a little too hard to be atmospheric and instead dragging on. They repeatedly referred to a prior incident. "This wasn't the first time I left a room with a dead body in it.." okay, tell me what happened or shush about it.

It was supposed to be the end of an era. Their last night closing the theater, which is connected to the once bustling, but now mostly lifeless, mall. Everything they did- trash, sweeping, even cleaning up gum- was for the last time so there was a nostalgia of sorts in the air.

Their manager is a jerk but it's their last night with him too. They just want to finish up and go have fun but the manager becomes preoccupied by something else, leaving the friends stuck there with no phones(their stuff is in the safe).

At first it's an inconvenience, but it soon turns murderous.. not everyone will make it out of this.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review!

At the start of this book Jo and her coworkers are cleaning up a movie theatre, after it’s final show. The theatre is the last business to close in a dead shopping mall. During the clean up, there is a sudden power outage and chaos ensues ending up with 1 dead body and seven people including the violent theatre manager locked in the mall. What ensues is a game of cat and mouse between the murder and everyone else. Who is the murderer? Who will survive?

I thought that this book had an interesting premise, and I usually love locked room mysteries. However, i felt that this one fell flat and dragged. The characters were a bit wooden, and not fully developed. It made it hard to get emotionally attached to them. Unlike most locked room mysteries it was obvious who the killer was right from the start. What was not obvious was why he decided to go on a killing rampage. When his motivation is revealed, it is more of a fizzle than a bang. There was just not enough suspense in this novel for my liking!

The most engaging part of the plot was the mystery of which four characters were going to die. I found it interesting trying to figure out who was going to make it out and who wasn’t.

Others might enjoy this book more, but it was just ok for me. Just not enough suspense to keep me turning the pages late at night especially when compared to “Fierce Kingdom” by Gin Phillips which is the same genre but had me on the edge of my seat.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks fire for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and review.

This novel is pure escapist fun. Seven teenagers are working the last shift before their movie theater closes forever in a mall that’s already vacant. They plan to go for pancakes and move on with their lives when they realize that they’re locked in the empty building, all alone with no cell phones, and pursued by a deranged psycho. Since readers know from the start that four die, the question is who, why and how. I didn’t really care that much about the first ones, because they had not been too established so other than, “oh no, someone died,” I wasn’t too invested. But after two bodies that changed, since we’re left only with a cast of characters that you’re already rooting for. There is also the question of who’s the baddie. Seems pretty obvious but there could be a twist. The thought that maybe one of those teens could be up to no good also made me suspect everyone. I liked Jo, the main character. She wants to be a doctor but at the beginning she doesn’t seem like she’ll make it. A self-described wallflower, she’s scared of everything and just wants to hide. When she’s forced to fight for her life, her transformation is fun to watch. This is a great YA read for adults too, suspenseful and addictive.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Sourcebooks Fire!

✨ Three stars! ✨
What happens when you’re trapped in an old shopping mall with a maniac that only wants to kill you and your friends?
The title tells you how it ends: Four were found dead.

For me, this was a three star book because, while I liked it and I’m very glad I read this book, there were a couple of things that didn’t quite work for me. First, since everything happens in a movie theatre and then in an old shopping mall, it was hard to keep track of the characters’ surroundings. The scene descriptions were a bit confusing and I never had a clear picture of where things were happening. Also, during the first half of the book all the characters seemed almost like the same person and it was only towards the last part of the book that I truly knew who was everybody. Finally, a few key situations seemed a bit far-fetched, but I can’t get into that without spoiling anything.

As for what I liked, I’d like to point out that this book has a really interesting and original premise. Although I do understand that being trapped with an active shooter is becoming almost a trivial occurrence in the US, I’d never seen it told like this. Also, I really liked that we knew who the bad guy was from the very beginning. It allowed me as a reader to focus in other things, rather than being suspicious of everyone else. Three stars and I’d love to read more by this author!

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!