Getting Away With Murder is an edgy spin on the high-tech escape room. I am surprised anybody ever attempts these, as they never seem to go well. The plot is a split chapter-by-chapter narrative with two teen sisters whose relationship is at rock bottom; their feud has spilled out into school and onto social media. The story is seen from both ‘Saffron’s’ and ‘Georgia’s’ perspectives and it was fun seeing alternative versions of the same events.

When the story starts, both girls are on work experience, with Saffron based at a gaming company about to launch a new escape room, whilst Georgia is at a local newspaper. Sensing a story, Georgia’s boss wants to ger her invited to the big premier launch of the game, where things go horribly wrong. This is balanced against not only the dangers of AI technology, but the fact that those who are invited to the launch all know each other from the online game ‘Soul Survivor’ which the escape room mirrors in some clever ways. After the first death the group realise the game is very real and there is no escape or pause button. This book is equally great for both those who love and hate technology! Has a lot of F-bombs and a couple of gory kills, otherwise most kids could read it.

Thank you, Sourcebooks Fire for the copy of Getting Away With Murder by Kathryn Foxfield. The premise of this book was intriguing, and I liked the references to The Breakfast Club and Wargames! Unfortunately, the references were fleeting. I like how the characters were recognizable cliches of teens. It would have been fun if the games they had to play were puzzles we could solve along with the characters instead of being foolish challenges that were hard to follow. The characters and story never captured my imagination and the use of AI as a plot device fell flat. This book was not for me and I was bored before the end, so finishing it was a struggle. This is a YA book and I was not the intended audience, and I think teens and young adults would appreciate how it was tied with a game the characters were playing. 3 stars

Getting Away With Murder follows Saffron and Georgia, twins who are complete opposites and have a tense relationship. Saffron has a new job at a brand new escape room run by AI. She’s also obsessed with an online game called Sole Survivor. She gets into an argument about said game and which stereotype would survive the longest: the jock, the princess, the rebel, etc. Unfortunately for Saffron and Georgia, the AI takes it upon itself to create a game to test the argument for real. The AI traps Georgia, Saffron, and their gaming friends in the escape rooms where things turn far deadlier than they thought.

I struggled a bit with this book. It wasn’t awful by any means, but it wasn’t for me. The characters were all so whiny and petty—especially Millie—to the point where I found it hard to root for any of them. I liked the sister’s complicated relationship and the stereotype discussion. But the characters just kept making such poor choices that it was getting a bit annoying for me. I think if we got more perspective than just Georgia and Saffron, I’d have found the others easier to root for since you can understand their motives better, but since they’re only seen from Georgia’s perspective, I found them too annoying. But that being said, I’m sure a lot of people will find enjoyment here, it just wasn’t for me.

The setting and escape room games were really interesting and the plot does move pretty fast. But I did find the constant fighting and bickering to drag down the pace. However, the ending really picks up and the twist was good.

If you love escape rooms, drama, and murder mysteries, I do think this book is worth reading as it is pretty entertaining and a fast read.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun read with some interesting characters. There are certain characters I couldn't help but like and others I felt I couldn't care less about. I've read a few different thrillers with the escape room setting but I really enjoyed the AI aspect to this story. The rooms/games were interesting and kept things from getting too boring, but I think what I really liked about this book was it was one that made the reader think about more about if they were ever placed in a similar situation. Would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA books, looking for a fun read, or wants something that isn't too serious but still makes you think at times.

Saffron and her twin Georgia love to play the video game Sole Survivor. They, and their team of friends have a lot of the regular teen angst as they deal with daily high school drama and life in general when they have the opportunity to play the game in real life! A new AI program has created the game in order to answer their own research questions. The problem is that the AI may be taking the game more seriously than the kids.

Join Georgia and Saffron as they battle the computer brain, their friends, their fears and all of the drama that is part of your teen years. A fun premise, a fun story, although violent. #Sourcebooksfire #sourcebooks #gettingawaywithmurder #kathrynfoxfield

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. You should read it!

I thought this book was super interesting! The way the plot was handled was honestly 10/10 and I loved all of the characters!

Thank you to Netgallery and Sourcebooks Fire for an early release copy of Getting Away With Murder by Kathryn Foxfield.

I found Getting Away With Murder to be rather flat and anticlimactic, the characters that we follow are rather annoying to read from. They start arguments over the stupidest and pettiest things, this makes it really hard to try and get into the plot when every chapter they are arguing over things. A lot of the dialogue comes off as cringy such as this line from Joey “I’d punch that dicklodocus in the face”, not to mention the cringy diary scene or the way in which Georgia annoyingly pins for Joeys attention in nearly every chapter.

All male characters in this book constantly call the females the b word when insulting them, they don’t use any other insults. It’s also really convenient that all the characters suddenly have pockets knifes towards the end of the story. When reading this I was expecting a story that would fall something along the lines of Squid Game where the characters would genuinely try to play the games and things would happen. Instead we get whinny flat characters that pick fights with each other over pointless petty things, male characters that can’t think of anything other then the b word to insult female characters, cringy dialogue/scenes, and rather nonsensical games.

good mystery of a group of friends who play a game called sole survivor and in the mix is stereotypes from the breakfast club. two point of views of the sisters and an AI who plans this escape room . loved seeing the chats of before the game.

"Getting Away with Murder" is a young adult thriller novel by Kathryn Foxfield. Twin sisters Saffron and Georgia don't get along now that they are in high school. Saffron sees herself as "the rebel" and Georgia as "the know-it-all." They both like to play a "last one alive wins" online game with a group of friends from local schools. When Saffron starts working for an escape room company that uses an AI to plan their rooms, she off-handedly mentions to the AI about her sister and friends and the game they play and how if the game were real life, "the rebel" would definitely win. The AI then invites all of their friends to a game session where the obstacles and dangers are real and people can actually die, just to test Saffron's hypothesis. Characters were a bit flat. I liked the idea that people can seem like stereotypes, but are so much more than that when you get to know them. A suggested additional purchase where teen/YA thrillers like "#Murdertrending" are popular.

3.5

I read this book in one sitting because I wanted to know what the ending was going to be lol...So the premise is that an AI puts 9 teenage stereotypes in an escape room to see who comes out victorious and who dies along the way. The stereotypes include: the rebel (Saffron), the know-it-all (Georgia), the princess (Millie), the jock (Joey), the geek (Henry), the criminal (Aiden), the star (Olympia), the weirdo (Helix), and the artist (Geoffry). The story is told from the POV of Saffron and Georgia, who are twins and who start the book completely at odds with each other. Along the way, the group realizes that some of them have secrets and are wiling to go to extreme lengths to keep them hidden.

Full disclosure here, I thought the game was based on the show Survivor and was so so excited to read this...forgot that other games existed. The game Sole Survivor is where people are dropped into a scenario and need to work together to escape but only one person will make it out.

I really loved Georgia. She worked so hard to try to get the group of teenagers to be a team and to get them out of the crazy games the AI put them through, and she was mistreated so badly by all the other characters. Saffron did not treat her well at all--like I get being upset that Georgia got Saffron in trouble, but Saffron neglected to acknowledge that it was her stupidity that got her in trouble in the first place.

I had some minor plot issues. The vast majority of the book was from Georgia's POV, which I don't mind, but it makes it an odd choice to have Saffron as the main character (she's the main one in the blurb and we start w/ her). Saffron had little impact on most events of the book and her perspective was very absent. I didn't mind because I really liked Georgia, but I did notice Saffron's absence.

Overall, this was a fun, fast-paced YA thriller. I highly recommend for people who love escape rooms or games similar to Sole Survivor, or for people who like reading YA thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley + Sourcebooks fire for this ARC!

Saffron is a teenager who plays an online game called 'Sole Survivor" with a group of other teenagers, including her twin sister, Georgia. Saffron and Georgia don't know everyone personally, but Saffron has given each person a stereotype. When Saffron begins working at a new, very high tech escape room, she asks the AI who would win in a real life version of the online game. The AI decides to play it out and see, inviting everyone from the online game to a real life version of 'Sole Survivor.' Everyone comes to preview the escape room only to later realize it is a sudden battle of life or death.

This is a young adult book which in my opinion usually means it is a quick read. It was a very quick read for me. I think I read it in a day total, with work and life. I needed to know what was going to happen and was able to find out as I read. The whole stereotyping thing reminded me of The Breakfast Club. Saffron was the rebel, her sister the know-it-all, and a princess, a jock, a criminal, etc. That is one of the reasons I wanted to read it because it reminded me so much of the movie in that total strangers meet and have to survive. I also sort of got Agatha Christie, "And Then There Were None" vibes.

What I didn't get was enough character development. I felt that the characters were kind of dry and really didn't live up to the stereotypes. I just felt like I needed to know more about each one. The characters were just really starting to annoy me, but the book followed the story line and I was able to finish it. I did enjoy the concept of the book. It's a quick read so give it a shot.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kathryn Foxfield, and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I've never been a fan of virtual reality so I had a tough time getting into this book, but I can certainly see the appeal for those who love it! Saffron and Georgia are twins playing Sole Survivor and loving it. Now the new escape room game has a group of players--all with their own "handles" so I had trouble keeping them straight. But it's clear from the outset that this game is unique as apparently you can actually die in it! It's a fast-paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat for sure!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Getting Away by K. Foxfield is a fast paced, complex, complicated thriller that I loved to read. Suspenseful from start til the last page I was hanging on the edge of my seat, reading as fast as I could, I just had to know what happened. Loved storyline and characters and recommend the book.
Blurb: Cabin in the Woods meets Squid Game - a girl playing a game with a supercomputer unwittingly traps her sister in a deadly escape room. When Saffron is forced to do work experience at a tech company, she gets into an argument with her supervisor over which high school stereotype would survive the longest in a horror film: the sports star? The queen bee? The swot? The drama girl? The class clown? The rebel? Unbeknown to them, the AI robot she is working on at the time decides to determine the answer by testing it out for real. It designs an algorithm to search social media and school records to find the best examples of each stereotype from the neighbouring towns, and the invitations go out - six people, including Saffron's perfectionist sister Georgia, will be trapped in a series of deadly escape rooms and only one will survive the night...

Book:
GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER by Kathryn Foxfield
Thank you Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for the Arc (Out Nov 5)

Review:
4 ⭐
GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER was a thrilling tale of mischief, betrayal, and murder. It follows Georgia and Saffron as well as the other members of their Sole Survivor group as they try to out best the AI that has taken over the game.
It took me a minute to really get into this book, but once I did, it kept me on my toes. It's one of those nail-biting, unputdownable reads that has the reader questioning everything, especially: who's killing the group! Let me tell you, this book was twisted, it was unpredictable, and I never would have pegged the killer as the killer.
As if I needed another reason(No Escape Room 2018 being the primary one) not to want to do escape rooms, then an author goes and writes a book about AI taking over everything. Definitely a must read if your need a mystery that'll send chills down your spine.

What I Liked About It:
*that huge twist at the end
*the puzzles

I thought this book was good! I liked the idea of AI running an escape room and I think the idea behind this was great. I didn't however love the lack of emotion or caring from the characters. Something bad or distressing would happen and no one would react. I think that with some of the characters being more compassionate and deeper this book could really be great.

Too many details and descriptions that led nowhere and added nothing to the plot or the story. The characters were more robotic than the AI running the escape room. They had zero human reactions to the tense and emotional things happening.

Have you ever called somewhere and got a robot that doesn’t listen to a word you say? This was like that. What happens when an AI takes over an escape room, turning it deadly?

Rival twin sisters, Saffron and Georgia, play the game Sole Survivor online with “friends”. Saffron is a prankster who is working at a startup tech company that designs game rooms with AI. Georgia is interning at a local newspaper and can’t wait to get the scoop on the new company. When Saffron asks the AI, lightman, who would win in an irl game of Sole Survivor, he decides to put it to the test. Unknowingly, six of the online players enter the battlefield, but who will survive? Can Saffron and Georgia put aside their differences and help each other out of the AI nightmare?

Most of the characters were vapid and selfish and literally no one reacted when someone died. That was my first problem with this book. The second was the incredibly anti-climatic ending. Besides that I felt like this had a really good premise and could have been so much more than what it was. I loved the idea of all of the different stereotypes, kind of like a breakfast club situation, and seeing which one of them would win in a real life game of survival. Unfortunately, this just didn’t really live up to the hype in my mind.

Overall though, I did enjoy the story and it had some really good selling points. I loved the idea and even some of how it played out. It was fast paced and intriguing and I absolutely had to keep reading to see how it ended! While it wasn’t my favorite, it was a nice little read!

I was very disappointed in this book. It was way too boring.. The details went on and on and added nothing to the book.

I had high hopes that were not met.

I had difficulty getting into the story. The concept of AI is not something I have ever read before. however, the characteristics of the characters help to connect with the story.