This review is based on an uncorrected e-galley of this novel.

This novel was definitely very YA, but I loved it anyway. I felt like the plot hooked me from the very beginning and I binge read the entire novel within a day. A must read!

Fast-paced and thrilling, I finished this book in one day. The premise was really compelling, and cinematic, I had a good time reading it. The pacing was pretty good for most of the book, but I will say the conclusion wasn’t satisfying, and felt quite rushed. The killer didn’t really make a lot of sense to me, their motive was actually kind of weak, and left a lot of plot holes. I feel like the last couple of chapters actually took away some of my enjoyment of the book, which is disappointing. The book is still a worthwhile read, and I would read more from the author, it just felt like the killer’s motives weren’t that strong or realistic.

This served escape room vibes…..thirty three thousand feet…yes, 33,000 feet in the air, on a plane. OMG this his was SO fun!

We had mystery, thriller, high stakes, not-too-young YA, locked room vibes but on a plane and a riveting read…I couldn’t put it down.

Things I love:
-Mysteries
-Thrillers
-High Stakes
-Teen Drama
-Escape Rooms

Things I do not love:
-Feeling claustrophobic

Thin Air checks all the “things I love” boxes without venturing too far into making me feel trapped by the high stakes. Sometimes I have to bail out half way through chapters if I get too worked up or worried about what is going to happen next, but this pacing and tight plotting of this book kept me hooked up and not looking for an escape hatch.

This is YA locked-room thrilling at its finest!

This one really took off for me (lol get it?). I had a new prime suspect every other page! I do think you need to do a little suspending of your disbelief in some scenarios, but honestly that’s what reading’s really all about right??

In true "YA" fashion, there were times I wanted to strangle some of the characters, but knowing this was YA, I can understand they’ve still got their underdeveloped teen brains making decisions. 🧠

I recommend this to anyone looking for a fast-paced, not-too-deep thriller that includes some serious paranoia! Also….obsessed with the cover!

okay you guys... you need to RUN to pick up this new
YA thriller that releases TODAY!!
read this if you like:
* locked door mystery... on a PLANE¥
#* YA thrillers w characters you actually care about
# One of Us is Lying (Thin Air was better! S)
* cute little romance side plot
# very character driven (& in a good way imo!!)
i had SO much fun reading this super quick, on-the-edge-of-your-seat book! coming in around 300 pages it's perfect for your end of the year goals & a book i literally did not want to put down!
this is a YA novel but never felt ~ too~ young like some can tend to be. this book had me guessing the whole time & the author did such an amazing job with keeping tensions high!! it had me guessing right up until the end!
definitely go get your hands on a copy of this one!
huge huge thank you to @penguinteen for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
• : #penguinteenpartner

Absolutely enjoyed this thriller, especially the setting on the plane, and the continued sense of dread - such a page turner.

This was a simple but good YA plane thriller. I think most people will enjoy it, just don't read it on a plane 🫣

3 1/2 stars. A YA locked room mystery/thriller on a private plan flying to Paris with 12 high school boarding school contestants competing for a prestigious scholarship when people start dying. Emily has her own secrets but she will have to find out everyone else's to be able to figure out who the real culprit is before she is the next one left without a parachute...

It grabbed my attention right from the beginning. It was suspenseful and a good mystery. The characters may seem like your stock teenagers that you will find in many stories but they have unexpected depths. Yes, there was teenage drama and angst, some romance, but nothing steamy or explicit and some questionable decisions. Overall, an enjoyable book I think for anyone of any age.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I was excited to read “Thin Air” and had high expectations for the book.
Characters are headed to Paris find themselves vying for a scholarship but find themselves trapped with secrets and an unknown killer. The premises of the book was intriguing; however, I found it hard to get into and had difficulty connecting with the characters. I do enjoy YA books, however, this one feel short, maybe because I did not feel the connection with characters, or the overall plot, however, I could see others enjoying this title.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Razorbill for providing me the opportunity to review "Thin Air” prior to publication. I am appreciative and leave my review voluntarily.

Synopsis

Eight hours. Twelve contestants. A flight none of them might survive. A flight to Paris full of teenagers seeking opportunity turns deadly in this suspenseful, locked-door YA thriller. Perfect for fans of Diana Urban, Karen McManus, and Jessica Goodman.

Seventeen-year-old boarding school student Emily Walters is selected for an opportunity of a lifetime—she’ll compete abroad for a cash prize that will cover not only tuition to the college of her choice, but will lift her mother and her out of poverty.

But almost from the moment she and 11 other contestants board a private jet to Europe, Emily realizes somebody is willing to do anything to win. Between keeping an eye on her best friend’s flirty boyfriend and hiding her own dark secrets, she’s not sure how she’ll survive the contest, much less the flight. Especially when people start dying…

As loyalties shift and secrets are revealed, Emily must figure out who to trust, and who’s trying to kill them all, before she becomes the next victim.



Review

This is the first time I'm reading Kellie M. Parker work, and I can see myself reading more of her work. This book from the beginning I couldn't put it down, it has a solid pacing, the requisite amounts of twists and turns. I found the ending satisfying. I recommend this book to whoever is looking for a thrilling story to whisk them away for the weekend.

Thank you to Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group, Razorbill and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be release on October 17.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Kellie M Parker for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Thin Air coming out October 17, 2023. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Eight hours. Twelve contestants. A luxury flight thousands of feet in the air with no escape. A flight to Paris full of teen seeking college opportunity turns deadly.

Seventeen-year-old boarding school student Emily Walters is chosen for the chance of a lifetime—she’ll compete abroad for a cash prize that will cover not only tuition to the college of her choice, but will almost guarantee that her mother and she will be pulled out of poverty.

But almost from the moment she and 11 other contestants board a private jet to Europe, Emily finds out that someone will do anything to win. Even if they have to resort to murder. Between keeping an eye on her best friend’s flirty boyfriend and hiding her own dark secrets, Emily is not sure how she’ll survive the contest or the flight. Especially when people are picked off one by one…

As the contestants choose their groups and secrets are revealed, Emily must figure out who she can trust, and who’s trying to kill them all. Will she find the killer before the oxygen mask drops?

I’m obsessed with this book! I thought I was getting too old for YA books and in some ways, I’m way too old. But I loved this book so much! It was the perfect amount of mystery and high stakes thriller. I thought overall the characters were fleshed out and they all had their secrets. Some of the references felt more directed toward older people, which was perfect for me, haha. I’m not sure if the YA age group will understand some of the references of the old tv shows and so on, but I loved it. There were some things that weren’t really explained, but I don’t care. The killer on the loose plot was so good! I thought it was perfect!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA survival thrillers!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
4.5/5 STARS

Genre: YA Thriller

Similar Books:
Lying in the Deep
One of Us is Lying

Synopsis:
8 private school teens are flown on a luxury plane to Paris for the chance to win a scholarship when someone starts killing the contestants on the plane.

This was a great YA thriller! Think escape room on a private plane. There are riddles and games to solve plus teen drama. Each contestant has secrets of their own and everyone of them is a suspect. This book will keep you guessing until the very end.

Thank you Penguin Teen for the ARC! ✈️

If Agatha Christie had written angsty teen locked door mysteries it would be this book and I loved every single page of it. Are the characters insufferable at times? Yes. Is it unbelievable at times? Also Yes. Is it a mile-a-minute thrill ride that will have you questioning every character in this book? A resounding Yes.

Thin Air is that kind of story that has you thinking about the mistakes you've made in your life, the things that you have no idea if they'll come back to haunt you or not, the things that you wouldn't even tell your best friend about, and it was fantastic.

I will say I never guessed who our mastermind was, I literally thought of how every single other person on that plane could have been behind it all but the real evil lunatic escaped my radar completely.

Thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this e-book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my
own.

Thin Air is a fun YA mystery. It’s a bigger cast of characters but very easy to keep track of. Each character came alive. As a closed door mystery, this was very successful.

I was hoping for a locked room mystery. Instead I got a girl running around a plane making instant assumptions about every single person. She was either in love with them or convinced they were a killer. Or both. On an 8 hour flight with people she just met. Every character kept making the dumbest decisions ever. “Let’s stay together for safety!” Two sentences later, “I wandered off in the dark alone.” And the killer was obvious, Not the motive. That was just dumb.

A group of students vying for a scholarship find themselves trapped with a killer on a plane to Paris. No one can help them until the plane lands, and they must decide who they can trust in order to save themselves.

This book, by virtue of the setting and plot, was full of suspense and scares. Everyone is seemingly in danger at every moment, and Parker doesn’t pull any punches. Each contestant also has three deep dark secrets the killer knows, which adds another level. This is a good read, especially for Spooky Season.

Thin Air is a twisty mystery 35,000 feet in the air! Emily Walters boards a private jet to compete against 11 other high schoolers in a contest that could change her future. Immediately after takeoff, it becomes apparent that all the contestants have secrets, secrets that they are willing to go to great lengths to hide. Who can she trust? Once one contestant winds up dead, she knows they are all in trouble and no one knows where to turn. The next 6 hours across the Atlantic are a closed door thriller where the clues keep changing. Which one of them wants to win enough to murder?

Kellie M. Parker definitely sucked me in right away with this one. I was immediately drawn into Emily’s story and I kept rethinking who I thought the murderer was until the very end. Entertaining, easy read!

Short and Sweet Review
Emily is chosen for the opportunity of a lifetime, she’s going abroad to France for a chance to win a cash prize that will allow her to choose the college of her choice, and help her and her mother get out of poverty. When Emily boards the plane she realizes that her other 11 competitors are no joke, and someone is even willing to kill to get what they want.
So Emily and her fellow competitors are on this plane for the next twelve hours and someone knows all of their secrets and isn’t afraid to pull them out. When the first game is started everyone notices that something is off and someone must be playing a prank on them but things continue to go down hill, especially when students are being killed. This was an interesting take because there’s 12 people anyone of them could be a suspect and there also stuck on a flight for 12 hours so there’s really no escaping. Emily was an okay character, she’s having some troubles on home and also she really doesn’t belong on the flight for reasons I don’t want to spoil. Anyway Emily does know one person on the plane her best friend Nikki’s boyfriend that she has a crush on for whatever reason because homeboy is the definition of trash. Speaking of her friend Emily loves to bring that girl up but for what reason, she’s not on this flight but it starts to make sense once secrets are revealed. The pacing was okay, but I also think its pretty predictable because you know its someone on the plane and we also know some of them will die, its just learning the secrets and the motives that someone would go out of their way to do all of this. Now the culprit of this book was a hot mess, honestly just mind boggling, because why is a grown person going out of their way to get revenge on these 12 kids?
Overall, this was an okay book, the things I didn’t enjoy would be Emily as a character, her decision making was very questionable and also the ending and the culprit was just a head scratcher. I will say I enjoyed the premise of the book and how they were in this confined space with a killer.

A great teen thriller/drama! It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat, but I'm not sure that I would want to read this while on a plane! Would recommend to teens looking to get sucked into a good thriller.