I read this book in one sitting.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve actually been to the Paris catacombs, but the terror in this book feels so real. Like the protagonist, I visited France with my French club in senior year of high school, and the catacombs are what I remember most vividly. Our tour guide talked about “running ghosts”—souls who got lost down there and are forever searching for a way out. That concept still haunts me and gives me goosebumps.

So, a spooky YA thriller about getting lost in the catacombs? Absolutely sign me up!

And can we just take a moment to celebrate short chapters? I love them! It was so easy to say, “Okay, just one more chapter,” until suddenly the book was finished.

Anyway, I don’t want to give too much away but I definitely recommend this! It was quick, fun, had solid character development, and just enough spooks to make you want to sleep with the lights on.

Trapped in underground Paris with a friend at the surface racing to save his friends? Count me in! This book was built on an original, exciting premise. Pacing was a little hit or miss. Parts were slow to build and others happened so quickly. I had to reread that section. The story was exciting overall and a quick weekend read.

Honestly this reminded me of a YA version of the scary movie As Above So Below. This just wasn’t for me. I thought it was going to be a little bit different but it just wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be in my opinion. Friendships, broken friendships, lies, romance, suspense, and teens missing.

Are you the type of person to break the rules?

Under certain circumstances Ruby is, but her friend Val is definitely the type to break the rules. Flaunt them, even. Val’s an attention-seeker and a risk-taker. When on a school trip to Paris, Val nabs them an invite to a party down in the catacombs, but that’s a bridge too far for Ruby. When Val decides to risk it and go by herself, Ruby chases her down to try and stop a possible disaster before it happens; however, her ex-bestie and the class valedictorian insist on coming with to make sure both girls return. Val is excited, Ruby is reluctantly intrigued, and their escort is promising they’ll only be gone for a few hours and when else will they get this kind of adventure? Doesn’t a lack of fully-formed impulse-control centers suck?

I was never a person that felt a need to conform when I was a teenager, but I’m familiar with the feeling of chafing at the bit, of wanting to be let loose from the restraints that are holding you back and explore the world without constant supervision over your shoulder. That’s what this book reminded me of: The rush of adrenaline that comes from being out in the world for the first time but also the feeling that follows soon after once the adrenaline wears off resounding throughout your psyche telling you it’s too much too soon and you still need your support systems. At your age you shouldn’t have to be alone. You weren’t meant to be.

Diana Urban never lets me down in writing perfectly-paced and well-plotted YA thrillers. My favorite of hers still remains These Deadly Games for the sheer mind-screwiness, but the pacing and suspense in this book absolutely thrums with intensity. Part of the genius behind this book I guarantee is due to Urban’s love of the subject in conjunction with her dedicated research to the topic. The other part of the credit I feel can only be due to her insane dedication to atmospheric detail: the darkness, the claustrophobic nature of the catacombs, humanity’s inherent fear of being trapped underground, our collective beliefs surrounding the dead and death, and engagement of the senses in such foreign spaces.

This book is definitely more plot-forward than character, but that doesn’t mean the characters are flat. They’re not fully-realized, adult humans, but no teenager is. I liked that they’re not completely cynical, world-weary, or sexualized. They’re not without their trauma at the start of this book, but it’s the manageable kind. Which is good, because they’re not leaving this book in that shape.

It’s another really solid read from Diana Urban, and now I’m going to have to sit here and wait until she delivers another great thriller.

I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. I was also provided a finished copy by the publisher and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: YA Fiction/YA Suspense/YA Thriller

This was a fun, fast paced read! I really enjoyed it. It was creepy and intense sometimes, but always action packed. I enjoyed the characters, and I loved the setting. I will definitely read more by this author!
Thank you for the opportunity to review this book!

4.25 stars

"As Above, So Below" meets "Anna and the French Kiss" is not a combo I knew I needed, but This. Was. So. Good. 
Ruby and Sean, best friends on the cusp of something more, are on a trip to Paris with their high school French class. Ruby is a travel YouTuber hoping to make it big, so when a local boy invites her other bestie, Val, to a secret party in the famous catacombs, the temptation is too great. Ruby, Val, and two of their classmates follow the boy underground, telling no one where they're going. On one hand, I really wanted to be mad at these girls. But on the other, I'm pretty sure all someone would have to do to get 18-year-old-me to dive into the Paris catacombs would be to dare me, so.

The group quickly gets lost trying to find the party, and when something starts chasing them and the injuries are racking up, the situation gets dire. Ruby is pretty sure they're all going to die in the dark under the City of Light. Meanwhile, on the surface, Sean is panicking. Why would Ruby have gone somewhere without him, and why aren't their chaperones and the Parisian police more concerned about this? Positive something is really wrong and the girls didn't just run away, Sean posts on social media and Ruby's YouTube channel about the missing girls, bringing down an international media firestorm. People fly in from all across the globe, and all eyes are on Paris as the world comes together to try to find four missing teenage girls. 

This was so atmospheric and genuinely creepy, I was surprised at how claustrophobic and tense I felt while reading, like I could really see and feel the catacombs. I read it in a few hours and couldn't put it down, and most of the twists really got me. I gasped, got choked up, the full range of emotions. I will say I was not very interested in Sean, or the romance plotline really, but the thriller parts more than made up for that for me. If you're into YA thrillers, horror, or adventure, definitely check this out. Thanks to Penguin Teen and the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

It should have been the greatest trip of their lives as a high school French class travels to Paris to take in all the sites. That changes as a few students sneak out and find themselves lost and fighting for their lives in the infamous underground catacombs.

This book had me biting my nails and my stomach in knots. An absolutely heart pounding thriller that takes you deep into the “off limits” catacombs beneath the city of Paris. The detail Urban uses to describe and set the scene was so extraordinary, I really felt like I was there with those kids.

Oh what a RIDE!!! Most def this book is a YA through and through, with the teen drama and getting trapped in the catacombs in Paris, how this whole thing unfolded pissed me off, I wanted to smack them, but I had to keep on going. The survival mode that these girls have to go through kept me up all night, I had to finish this book and see how it ended, had anxiety wanting to get to the point. I had to remind myself that this book is a YA and that I won’t like certain things and I will not relate to any of the characters, lol.

Thank you Net Galley and the publishers forgiving me the opportunity to read this book.

A young adult version of the movie “As Above, So Below” and “Catacombs”, I was excited to finally get to this one. As a fan of Diana Urban with these “These Deadly Games” and “Lying in the Deep” still waiting on my shelf to be read, I went in with a little higher expectations. And Diana did not disappoint.

Ruby, a YouTube sensation with her channel Ruby’s Hidden Gems, gets an opportunity on a class field trip in Paris to explore catacombs. Definitely influenced by found footage horror movies, the interesting parts of the story lie with Ruby and a handful of her female classmates down in the catacombs. There really didn’t feel like much of a point to pause that journey and flash back to Sean’s point of view. In fact, the Sean chapters were boring and to a point almost distracting from the actual story. I’m glad there were just a few but would prefer none.

Many scenes were written very well, the swimming scene, I could feel myself nervous and rooting for all the girls at the same time. The big reveals at the end did feel a little lackluster. Most of the scares from this book will come from claustrophobia. But if tight spaces and dark places isn’t something that can terrify you, this book may bore you. But I liked it.

I would round this up to a 3.5 star. It was a little boring at the beginning, but once we started to get to the middle and the ball was rolling, I was hooked.

I do think this is one of those suspend your beliefs types of novels for a few things:

1. You have four girls who are smart (at least one 3/4 are) and they should have deduced that this was some rando in France that likely could be a murderer. Are you seriously gonna trust him to take you underground with people you don’t know in a claustrophobic place where you can’t find your way out? It’s giving…. Bffr
2. If my friend was making a dumb ass mistake and was not listening to me or the two girls I brought for back up…. I’m taking my ass home. I’ll have regrets later, but I’m not doing something stupid asf
3. Val was an awful person but what happened to her was foul.
4. Olivia….
5. Should this have been for a YA audience? Idk
6. The ending was not good at all

Thanks ᵕ̈

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up. 0🌶️ I’ve been looking forward to reading this book ever since I stumbled upon the author promoting it on social. I was super excited to have the opportunity to read an eARC. The plot sounded super intriguing and I love everything Paris!

This book definitely kept me hooked as I was reading, wanting to know what would happen next and how they would get out. I think the author does a lot of telling instead of showing, but overall I enjoyed this book. An easy, fast thriller. I preordered the book months ago and I’m excited to receive it when it releases next week.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I think it’s OK just this one time. When I saw the Eiffel Tower with the skull-shaped tunnels hidden away below ground, I was already hooked. When I zoomed in to see the characters so close yet hopelessly separated from each either, I couldn’t wait to read this story.

Beyond the cover, I really enjoyed the setting and the premise for this YA thriller. The non-stop action had m hooked from beginning to end.

I did find a small amount of the dialogue to be a bit cringey, and I was slightly confused when the teens referred to innocent kissing as “hooking up.” Overall the characters are immature, but of course they are because they’re high schoolers in a YA novel. We can probably chalk most of these feelings up to my millennial-ness.

If you’re into CW shows and action-packed thrillers, you’ll loved Under the Surface.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for providing me with an advanced copy. All opinions expressed here are 100% honest and my own.

I was not sure how I was going to like this but boy did I! Getting lost in the Paris Catacombs is a scary fate but she will do whatever it takes to survive and he will do whatever it takes to find her. This kept my adrenaline going and very much enjoyed this read.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book early!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book. I'm not into thrillers, but when I came across an Instagram post about the upcoming book, I instantly knew I had to read it. The premise and the book cover basically sold me.

What do you do if you are lost in a dark labyrinth of ancient burial grounds? Under the Surface is an anxiety-inducing YA thriller that follows four teenagers trapped in the infamous Paris catacombs. With their survival and freedom on the line, will they be able to navigate the fear, betrayal, and danger lurking in the shadows?

I don't love the book, nor do I hate it. I liked the unique setting, and the plot twists were intense and gripping. The descriptions and the high stakes fight for survival were immersive, but the characters' emotions and their personalities needed more work. The focus on teenage drama was a bit too much for me and I wasn't really invested in the romance. I also felt like Sean and what transpired above ground were unnecessary, and the story should've zeroed in on what happened in the catacombs. Also, I was really annoyed with the lack of logic in some of the scenes/details that I just skipped those parts.

I really enjoy Diana Urban's books! Under the Surface was thrilling and fun. The storyline was inventive and fast paced. I’ll always enjoy her books!

I read this book in less than two days. I got so absorbed into the story that it triggered my claustrophobia a couple times.
And that is a compliment to the book; the storytelling had me feeling as if I were right there with the characters. It got so intense at times. I couldn't stop reading because I had to know what was going to happen. Do they survive? What is down there with them?
Talk about thriller, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!
I did enjoy the breaks when we'd get the second pov of the friend on the outside.
This is about high schoolers so there was some teenage drama. It surprisingly wasn't annoying for me. I think it really added to the story.

I could not put this book down!!! It was so gripping, and the setting was so immersive. I loved seeing the growth in the characters, watching them fight for each other (and sometimes against each other!), and following along as certain bonds strengthened. I'll read anything Urban writes!!!

2.5✨

Writing this review breaks my heart, because I went into this with such high hopes. If I could've given this book 5 stars for the premise alone, I would've. It sounds like such a gripping and promising plot, with the Paris, France catacombs playing the eerie backdrop. But after that initial excitement over the plot, once you actually start reading... it fell flat in almost if not every way.

<i>Under the Surface</i> by Diana Urban is a young adult mystery thriller, with some horror elements that come into play further in the story, and a "romance" subplot that is so lackluster I question its inclusion to begin with. A cast of characters is introduced, but two "main" characters emerge from the pack, Ruby and Sean, and those are the two POVs we move back and forth between; with Ruby in danger in the catacombs and Sean on the outside, so it's split perspective.

Sean's POV and the outside world story wasn't engaging at all. It was BORING. I never felt a sense of urgency around any of the outside characters, and to have basically high school seniors running over your investigation, it's not how it works. The idea of Sean doing anything and everything he can to save Ruby is laughable because while he does make some great connections via technology, he's not the one actively investigating or on this mad hunt searching the catacombs for her. And maybe I've been out of high school for too long, but all the teachers were WAY too blasé about everything. Was this just done to make it easier for the HS characters to sneak around and have their own silly plots? Seems kind of obvious.

If you think Ruby's POV trapped in the catacombs with her group would be any better, you'd be wrong. There were 5 people trapped in the catacombs, and if you removed their names from all the lines, I wouldn't be able to pick out who said what, because there was either nothing there, or the most basic and OTT dialogue that felt soooo out of place. Every character was like a cardboard cutout, no personality. I wasn't drawn to anyone, no one got me to like them in any way, and I wasn't invested in their outcomes whatsoever.

This book was also ALL tell and no show. Every emotion or thought the character was feeling was written out exactly as is, "He was scared" "She was happy". It was just like reading a stream of consciousness, without letting the reader pick up on the nuances themselves.

My biggest complaint is having the main plot conflict of the story, being lost in the Paris catacombs, have the same weight of the subplot, the falling out of Ruby and her former best friend. To act as though that stupid, petty, high school conflict over a boy had the same weight as being LOST IN THE PARIS CATACOMBS... it would go from crying about dying in the catacombs to wailing about losing her bff over a boy, and there was NO DIFFERENCE IN EMOTIONAL REACTION BETWEEN THEM. Maybe I have been out of HS for too long, but if we are LOST IN THE PARIS CATACOMBS WITH LITTLE FOOD, WATER, DIRECTION, AND DANGER AFTER ME, the drama from HS would NOT be coming up on my mind as a pertinent topic.

To end this review, while I can't recommend this book (although I'm sure there is an audience out there for it), I don't think Diana Urban is a bad author. I can see sooooo much potential, just based on the awesome plot idea. Just needs some fine tuning to plot pacing and logic, characterizations, and showing, not telling. I wanted to FEEL trapped, FEEL claustrophobic, as these characters traveled underground, but the story just never went there.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.

This was riveting from the jump. Teenagers lost in the underground catacombs in Paris? It was also much scarier than I anticipated, but I was obsessed with Sean and Ruby and questioning everyone else throughout the whole book. The mystery of this book was more than just how to escape the catacombs, the addition of a mysterious death cult added some added tension and fear throughout the whole story. I read this book in one sitting and was shocked the whole time. Definitely would read more Diana Urban books!

Ruby is terrified to cave to her feelings for Sean and risk him crushing her heart.
Sean is pumped to spend a week with Ruby in Paris on their senior class trip, and he’ll wait however long until she’s ready to take things further.
But when Ruby’s best friend sneaks out the first night to meet a mysterious French boy, Ruby goes after her with two classmates, but caves to another temptation: attending mystery boy’s exclusive party in the Paris catacombs, the intricate web of tunnels beneath the city, home to six million long-dead Parisians. Only they never reach the party.
Underground, as something sinister chases them, they get lost in the endless maze of bones, uncovering dark secrets about the catacombs…..and each other. And if they can’t find a way out, they’ll die in the dark beneath the City of Light.
Aboveground, Sean races to find the girl he loves as a media frenzy over the four missing teens begins.

this book pretty much ended me. it had a incredible pacing, complex characters with plot twists, and the most extraordinary setting ever: the paris catacombs. ever single word had me gasping, and looking for more, and i didn’t want to stop reading. a thrilling, new and addicting YA mystery, this book delivered on everything it promised.