This claustrophobic thriller was incredibly fast-paced and gripping! As some other reviewers noted, it took me a bit to get into the plot, but by the 20% mark, I was hooked. By the 40% mark, I knew I had to finish the rest of the book in one sitting.

The story follows four teens on their high school trip to France who become lost in the catacombs of Paris. The book was intensely claustrophobic and stressful, but so captivating! I had to take occasional breaks to remind myself I wasn't actually trapped in the catacombs with the characters. As someone who is very claustrophobic, I questioned why I kept reading, but ultimately, I just couldn't put it down. I recommend potential readers look up content warnings, as some aspects may be triggering.

While this thriller is classified as YA due to the characters' ages, the plot, characters, and events felt more mature, aligning closer to the new adult genre. If you usually avoid young adult books but are intrigued by the plot, don't let the YA label dissuade you.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for this ARC of Under the Surface by Diana Urban in exchange for my honest review. This book is a teen survivor thriller that was great from beginning to end. I loved the cover of this book the first time I saw it and when I found out it was about the Paris catacombs, I was instantly intrigued. I definitely had really high expectations when I started, but this book absolutely exceeded every one! It's every thing I could want in a thriller with brilliantly written suspense, excellent twists and turns, and characters I genuinely cared about. Under the Surface had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I couldn't put this book down until I knew what was going to happen next!

Our two main characters Ruby and Sean are on a class trip to Paris. There, Ruby ends up lost in the catacombs with three other classmates and a French boy who was taking them to a party before they all got lost. Now they have to figure out how to escape the catacombs, while trying to survive both the difficult environment and the scarier problem -something dangerous is chasing them. Sean is still on the surface, and he is doing everything he can to help find Ruby. Both of them have a POV in this book. I found that to be a great way to tell the story. I would've thought Sean's part of the story would be weaker, but honestly Sean's chapters were a needed breathe of fresh air from the claustrophobic peril Ruby was in. And yet his POV never stalls the story. I loved the progress being made from both sides and it was great to be able to check in on how things were going with his search efforts after a chapter or two of never-ending fear and danger with Ruby.

I think it almost feels like how a director would do a survivor/thriller film. You need those slightly calmer moments. I really thought it was well-done all around. It helps that both characters are great! I really enjoyed them both! And while the romance aspect of the story is by no means the main point, their growing relationship and the care they have for one another is really sweet and well-shown. This is another reason I appreciated having both POVs. Their feelings towards each other helped make them feel real for me, As did their more complicated feelings for their classmates. I really liked the friendships and conflicts in this book and I appreciated what they added to the story!

The earliest chapters of the book are a little slow as they set up the plot, but once the story gets going it really doesn't stop! It's such a fast-paced book which really helped me immerse myself in the adrenaline inducing moments and the suspense. That's what made this book so gripping for me! You don't know who to trust or what's really going on, but you understand that the situation is dire! There's no time to rest and you won't want to! This is easily a book to be read in one sitting!

I don't think I'd go so far as to say this book is in the horror genre, but there are frightening moments that are maybe a little borderline. Keep that in mind if you scare easily (maybe don't read at night). It is a very contemporary novel and I definitely enjoyed the way that Diana Urban used the internet and the media as elements in the story. I also will say that it's also definitely a teen book and is absolutely appropriate for any teen fans of thrillers and suspense! Again if you frighten easily, you might get a little spooked. Several moments are pretty intense! That being said, I would've devoured this book as a teen. It's exactly the kind of nail-biting story I still love! So even as an adult, I would definitely recommend Under the Surface to all fans of thrillers!

Under the Surface was a perfectly haunting story full of urgency that kept me clinging to every word. This book was so spooky and full of danger at every turn but a bit of hope every so often. I loved these characters and was on an emotional roller coaster for the last half of this book. It was such a great edge-of-your-seat thriller that will keep you in suspense till the very end.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group for the arc!!

I was hooked on this book before I even picked it up - when I saw that this book was about four teens on a high school trip that get lost in the Paris catacombs, I just knew I had to read it. And really, that's all you need to know about this book going in, anything else would really give this chaotic fast pace story away.

This book blew my mind and I'll be thinking about it for years to come. It was a simple, but the events that happened underground were interesting, flowing easily, making this a page turner. You would think that with a story being set in the catacombs would bring feelings of claustrophobia, however, there was only one time near the end that I truly felt claustrophobic, with the feeling of entrapment. I have taken a tour of the Paris catacombs (which was really cool!) and think the author made you feel like you were really there, and what it would feel like if you were lost in the 200 mile network of underground tunnels.

Having this story written with high school teenagers was absolutely perfect and wouldn't want it for any other age group. There is more to the story than being trapped. The girls' insecurities, friendships, familial matters, wonder, excitement, and self-driven ambition created the perfect brewing ground for conflict and unfortunate things to happen underground. In this book, we also get a point of view from above the surface, which rounded out the story bringing it together.

I highly recommend this if you're looking for a fun yet suspenseful survival story set in a unique place and don't mind a bit of morbid bones and it's history.

Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for the advanced eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion!

wow this gave me anxiety. i couldn’t put it down. absolutely chilling. this was my first book by this author and definitely won’t be my last.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Under the Surface by Diana Urban is a dual first person-POV YA contemporary thriller set in the catacombs of Paris. When Ruby’s French class goes on a class trip to Paris, she plans to find a few hidden spots for her YouTube channel and maybe do something about her crush on her friend, Sean. When Ruby and three other girls (Val, Selena, and Olivia) follow Julian, a Parisian native down into the catacombs for a party, they get lost and wind up in something bigger than they expected.

A major theme of Under the Surface is the impact of parent-child relationships on all other relationships in the child’s life. Ruby's mother died very shortly after giving birth to her and that makes Ruby afraid of getting close to people because they might leave her, too. Her father is extremely protective of her but also rarely talks about her mother, leading to Ruby bottling up her own feelings much of the time. This is reflected in her relationship with Selena, her former friend, and how she misses their friendship but cannot fix it, and in Ruby's budding possible romance with Sean as she is afraid to lose him once he goes to West Point.

When the girls are discovered to be missing, Sean and Aliyah, Selena's girlfriend, are convinced that the girls didn't disappear on their own or that Selena would go somewhere with Ruby after their falling out unless something else had happened. As Sean worries about Ruby and Aliyah about Selena, it becomes clear that Olivia, their class valedictorian, and Val, Ruby's current best friend, don't really have anyone in their French class who is actively searching for them. Olivia is intelligent and kind and outspoken, but seems to be on the fringes of their class while Val has a history of moving around a lot and not getting close to people. Aliyah highlights how the media attention that comes from her single TikTok is mostly because three of the four girls are white while Sean notes that one girl going missing is far more usual than four in one go. Through all of these pieces, Diana Urban points out how easy it is for missing people to fall through the cracks and how important it is for people who care about them to bring forward what information they can.

One thing I really liked was how Diana Urban explained the darkness of the catacombs, how it's the kind of darkness that slithers down your throat and makes you believe that you'll never see light again. That's going to stick with me for a long time. It's evocative, it's sharp, it's wonderfully put. You know exactly how dark that is if you've ever been surrounded by pitch blackness.

Sean and Ruby's POVs both shine in Under the Surface, but it's Ruby's that really takes the cake. From her complicated relationships to her regrets to the constant running around the catacombs to find a way out as someone is hunting the girls and Julian down, it's a real ride with twists and turns that leave you hungry for the next chapter. The chapters with Sean, however, are absolutely necessary for the narrative Urban set out to do, of how important it is to do what you can when a friend goes missing, and if we hadn't gotten Sean’s POV, some of the major themes would have been quite different.

I would recommend this to fans of YA thrillers set outside America, readers who love books exploring the catacombs of Paris, and those looking for a fast-paced book that explores the complexity of relationships.

Novel Concept: 5/5
Execution of Novel Concept: 4/5

Title: 4/5
Characterization: 3/5
Dialogue: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Atmosphere: 5/5
Theme: 4/5
Prose: 3/5

Does this pass the Bechdel Test: Yes


Title
I think what worked best about this title is the literal nature of it, being that the majority of this novel takes place beneath the streets of Paris, France. I think where I am held back is the thematic implications that come in right at the end, about problems beneath the surface that needed to be dealt with. It doesn't feel like this novel was interested in thematic interior beneath the surface problems--like genuine psychological problems--and so it's weird for this title to not be what this novel is thematically about. All of the issues for the most part are fairly teenager and almost surface level in its exploration--we're not delving into the depths of the psychological elements. Which is fine! We don't have to.

Characterization
There is something so frustratingly trivial about the devolution of the friendships between Olivia, Val, Selena, and Ruby that refused to become serious. The parallel of the forbidden kiss felt less like a parallel and more of an unnecessary repetition. Like what do you mean it happened almost the same way and twice? And here's the thing, I loved the sinister hand moving things but we didn't get enough time to really sit in this betrayal--to fully envelop ourselves in the devious nature of one of these characters. I feel like the author was a little nervous at making one of the girls full villain and as a result, there's a lot of attempted empathy that fell flat. She was a heartless bitch. Let her be that.

There is also something so particularly Generation Z that I loved about this novel and that's having so little faith in seemingly apathetic police that they turn to social media to get this rescue mission the attention they think it deserves.

I think all the characters are interesting enough and unique enough that I can tell them all apart. Val seems to be the only one who's got any flaws--but I loved her. She pretty much stayed true to character up until the very end and I loved that about her. Ruby is supposed to be notably clingy--she is in her past for sure, but it never really felt like she was clingy in the present. Her flaws never seemed to catch up to her.

Dialogue
Oh my god--the lengths at which Sean and Ruby wax poetics about each other is nauseating. It's the only time that this novel felt overwhelmingly tell and not show. It's so easy to see that Sean loves Ruby with how he becomes Action Hero Man without even blinking. And Ruby's hesitation felt stated--several times in fact--but I never really breathed into it.

Beyond that--the French was seamlessly integrated into the novel. My mediocre French I could figure out vaguely what was going on at sections left untranslated. Though there is one point where I'm unsure if Julian is saying bastard or son of a bitch. Either way--loved the French 10/10 would French again.

Plot
I think this book really balanced the duel perspective really well. In Sean's side of the story things were always happening despite the fact that his actions are limited, and we were always learning something interesting on his end of the plot. It's not like we were hitting wall after wall of nothing and that's really refreshing especially because it's not like Sean is a cop and has access to things a cop would have.

Ruby's side almost feels like a fever dream at points with the directions it takes us and honestly my only complaint is that I think we spend too much time on the already mediocre dynamics between characters and not enough ON THE THING THAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON DOWN THERE. This book significantly increased in entertainment when it started playing ball in the weirdness and insanity that is what is actually going on--and we don't spend enough time there. I wanted MORE OF THAT. and Less of "oh my god she kissed the guy I like," like GURL. There ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS GOING ON AT THE MOMENT.

That's another thing--this author is too coy with her secrets. Eluding to "the thing that happened that broke up the friendship." came either way to early or the payoff came way too late. I don't care about this thing when I have to spend like ten and a half chapters getting to it. Just hearing like "oh I destroyed our friendship" over and over again was much like getting a lobotomy over and over again. I just wanted to know. Just tell me. There wasn't anything particularly pressing that warranted it not to be discussed.

And the minor nitpick (there's always one--sorry) is that I felt Olivia's inhaler needed more than one moment. Even if we got a scene about her asthma like an asthma attack that Ruby had witnessed. The asthma needed a bigger stage presence. In Until Dawn, if Sam gets attacked by the crow she spends the rest of the game absently picking at the wound and when her back is against the wall, she picks at the scab instead of turning her flashlight off, thus allowing her to be found. It's good environmental storytelling because she's constantly picking at it, reminding us it's there. So I think maybe Olivia should have used her inhaler more often or was fidgeting with it, or was reminding them she couldn't run or do x y z because of Asthma. It needed more stage presence because at this point, the significance of the inhaler and her asthma doesn't feel earned in the way that other payoffs do.

Atmosphere
The catacombs were fucking terrifying as they should be. There's always a challenge that comes with a plot in corridors that look the exact same--how do you keep things interesting? And the author handles this with ease. Every new hallways is interesting. The limitlessness of the catacombs, the levels and twists and turns. It's all overwhelming in a very good way. It's also fairly well researched--I can tell that the author poured a lot of love in trying to give us an accurate portrayal of Paris and the catacombs and what kind of horrors might persist inside.

Theme
I don't have a lot to say about theme because I think the lackluster execution of the dynamics between characters failed at what the novel might have been attempting, which is a look at problems beneath the surface in a psychological sense. We didn't really lean into anything psychological and honestly, I don't know how you could have. It's not like any of these 12th graders are psychologists. The only only character I can see placed under a microscope to be examined by readers is Val and perhaps Julian but definitely Val. She's a jagged edge on this novel's pristine paper and that makes her interesting and interesting to talk about. Julian holds a similar interest but he feels like a rush job more than anything else. Everyone else's character on a thematic level is, and no pun intended, surface level because a lot of the lore is stated and not felt. Spoken but not experienced.

Prose
While the duel perspective is fairly effective it fails in the "will they / won't they" of the romance because the romantic dialogues both internal and external are nauseatingly cliché. The drawback of having both perspectives is that we do know how Ruby and Sean feel about each other--so it's not really like there's anything new to uncover. Everything feels like already treaded ground.

And as already mentioned, the author is too coy with the secrets of this plot. So I wasn't really invested in learning why Sean feels about Val the way he feels or the dynamics between Selena and Ruby because I felt like any time we inched near it, the character cast their eyes to the sky and refused to name the event that transpired. And I can only go through that so many times before I'm disinterested in that plot point on the principle of it being deliberately kept out of reach.


Conclusion
I had fun reading this novel--I think that's the most important part. I am critical here because I have faith this author can handle my skeptical eye--but make no mistake I did have fun reading it. Especially when we got to the cool stuff towards the end. It was like the background music finally kicked in and I was fully submerged into this story. And I wished that more of this book had been about that stuff.

Most important to me, I think, is despite what I am critical about, something was always happening in this story. We weren't hitting walls in such a way that I wanted to hit myself against a wall. Sean was always making decent progress and so was Ruby.

The cover is also gorgeous. I'm not a cover girlie I'm a title girlie but Oh my god, that's such a beautiful cover.

Honestly I have nothing but amazing things to say about this book!! I love thrillers but quite often they feel very repetitive. This one did not. At no point did this feel like a story that I had read before and I loved that!!!!

This was an incredibly good fast-paced action-packed young adult thriller. You have people who are lost in an epic chase of life and death in the Paris catacombs and those who are searching to find them and That is just the tip of the iceberg of what happens in this book.

You know you're in for a good thriller when you only get about 30 to 40 pages into the book and you're already obsessed. At no point did I want to put this book down. I absolutely devoured it. It only took me a matter of hours to finish this book because I was so obsessed with finding out what was going to happen next.

Do yourself a favor and pick this book up. You will not regret it. If you are at all a fan of thrillers mysteries books full of intrigue, this is definitely the one for you.

WOW! I don't even know where to start... Under the Surface was fast-paced, a little bit creepy and so engaging I couldn't read it fast enough. I laughed and cried, and the descriptions were so well written that I felt like I was wandering the catacombs with them. Diana Urban did a meticulous job of switching between viewpoints, giving us just enough of each one to have me rushing to find out what happened next. This YA thriller is an absolute must-read because even with all the feelings it evoked when it comes to an end and you realize it is based on a true story.... everything you feel is magnified.

Thank you Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly don't even know where to start. The entire ride of Under the Surface is something you won't want to miss! I enjoyed how in depth and descriptive Ruby's perspective is and could nearly feel the damp Cole catacombs!
I also thoroughly enjoyed the alternate perspective and the unexpected friendships made (and rekindled) through the story!
There were so many twists and turns I didn't expect and am entirely planning on re-reading once published (if not sooner) to just pick up every little inkling left before each reveal!
Genuinely, this was such a good read! Spooky at times, but also very heartfelt and very real. Once you're on the other side of the read, and remember this is based on true events, your heart will break just a little more

Thank you Penguin Group and NetGalley for access to this advanced copy!

In this book, a group of American teenagers go on a French class trip to Paris. One of the girls has a travel YouTube channel and wants to get great videos of interesting places ro visit, like the catacombs under the city. But then she and some friends get stuck down there after going with a French boy who says he will take them to an underground party.

Okay. It was like these teens have never watched the movie "Taken" and the main character didn't have Liam Neeson as a father, so once the girls are lost, they are LOST.

A good thriller. I thought there were too many characters to keep track of, but I enjoyed rhe story.

This heart-pounding book is a mix of survival thriller, tense teen drama, and twisty mystery, with an overarching romantic theme. I’m in awe of Urban’s skill in crafting a suspenseful, incredibly creepy and emotional story that does not let up until the very end. Five heartfelt shivers for this amazing book!

Thank you Penguin Teen for a free advanced e-copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Diana Urban for my early copy of Under the Surface.

I enjoyed this YA thriller mixed with a bit of romance. A group of teens get trapped in the catacombs in Paris.
It’s def a locked in vibe and a bit creepy. It was dark and I’ve always thought the catacombs would be a great atmospheric setting for a locked in.

“I never thought I’d die alone in the dark under the City of Light.”

Ruby is trapped and her crush Sean is doing all he can to find her and save her. Alternating POVs so we get both sides here.

Down in the catacombs teenage gossip, secrets and tested friendships steal the show. Add in a secret society of sorts that operates there, and you get a fun creepy read. I enjoy this author!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
4.5/5 STARS

Genre: YA Thriller

Synopsis: A group of American teenagers on a school trip in Paris, get trapped in the catacombs after they agree to go to a secret underground party.

I recently went to Paris and toured the catacombs and thought it would be cool to make it a setting for a thriller. The description of the catacombs was very accurate and I enjoyed the tidbits of history sprinkled in!
As for the plot, the beginning wasn’t entirely believable that they would willingly go with a random guy in another country to a secret underground party. I would have preferred them being kidnapped or something more sinister. Other than that, it was very suspenseful and I had no idea what was going to happen. If you have been in the catacombs, you can easily see how someone could get lost or trapped there and she did a great job of showing that. With any YA book, there is some teen drama, but it wasn’t overly done.
This is the second book by this author that I have read and I enjoy her writing style.

If you like trapped/survival YA thrillers, check this one out! Thank you Penguin Teen for the ARC! ☠️💀

Okay, this was amazing. A claustrophobic YA thriller…I couldn’t resist.

I cried, I grinned, I got a little scared, I read so fast I accidentally skipped sentences and had to tell myself to slow down…😂

There was the perfect amount of going back and forth between POVs that kept me super engaged. The eerie factor was SPOT ON throughout many different parts of the book. The description of the catacombs and what the characters’ were going through physically, made me feel like I was right there with them. I had to remind myself to take a breath…because I was not stuck underground. 🥲

Thank you to the author and publisher for this book. All opinions are my own.

Whew! This book was intense for a YA book. I was enraptured from the first page, and this book had a hold on me the whole time I was reading it.

This was a unique twist on a locked room type mystery. It was so cool to me to set a book in the French catacombs, something that I didn't even know was a thing until this book. Not only that, the fact that the characters were trapped and running for their lives in this dark, confusing, and terrifying below-ground maze.

I have read Diana Urban before and loved her work, but I think this has been my favorite so far. I found myself second-guessing all of the decisions all of the characters were making throughout the story, and I liked that I couldn't guess all the twists and turns. I thought the characters were all unreliable/had ulterior motives, and overall just genuinely enjoyed this book.

5 stars!

This is a rollercoaster of a thriller/romance book. Ruby, the main character leaves the hotel when her friends Val goes to meet up with a random guy in Paris to go to a party. She goes to try to stop her and on the way grabs to other girls from their class so as not to get caught. They end up getting lost in the catacombs of Paris with people out to kill them. Up on the surface Seth, a boy from their class sounds the alarm and does everything he can in his power to try and find the girls. This book kept me turning the pages and I enjoyed it

What was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime ended up being a torturous filled disaster for Ruby, Olivia, Val, and Selena. When ruby notices Val is missing, she goes in search of her, but runs into both Selena and Olivia. They end up sneaking out, intending to bring Val back to the hotel. Only they end up in the catacombs instead. This was a fantastic thriller mystery. It kept me hooked from page 1 until the end. Highly recommend for fans of intense mystery thrillers.

This book was so good! After a chapter or two it picks up, like A LOT. It was gripping and had me trying to figure out what was going on, and what would happen. Firstly, I thought this was a romance thriller but really it was just a straight-up YA thriller with a romance in the background. Like miniscule. Like something to look forward to at the end. This also was really more about friendship and facing your own insecurities. So much growth for Ruby and her friends. Let me just say, at like 30% I was confused about how this book would continue because so much had already happened. This book had no dull moments for me. If you thought Ruby was alone in the catacombs, she isn't! She's lost with a group. And Sean does what he can on the surface but he isn't like leading the mission so to speak. The romance aspect seemed so cheesy. But because they were just seniors in High School and it was a first love situation I didn't mind it! I also loved seeing the perspective of someone who wasn't lost. There were a few moments that hit me like "What did I just read" and "That can't be right" mostly because I went in thinking it was a love thriller with a HEA. There's a happy ending but also there are a lot of twists and turns I didn't expect but kind of expected but then I was thrown off but then ..... well you get it. I won't spoil it but some moments I just did not expect from this. Anyway, this book was great and you should read it!

Obsessed! I knew I was going to love this one from the second I saw the title! Paris Catacombs, Mystery, Suspense, and even a little bit of romance! I have loved Diana Urban's books so far and this one is no exception! If you want a fast-paced book with a little bit of everything this is your book!