I had such a fantastic time reading this book! I've really enjoyed her zombie series, but I didn't know about this one, but once I did, and I connected that they were written by the same person, yeah, I was so excited to read this book, and I loved it!

This set up of a private school, on a remote island, with a not-so-secret society that plays a murder game? Yeah, it was such an interesting concept, and when the murders become real, well, I had to know who was behind it all!

I really enjoyed reading Cate's story, she's not one of the popular girls, she has 2 friends, but being a part of Killers, it's something that she really wanted. It's just too bad that the year that she joins, is when all of this goes down.

The intrigue level was high, wondering who was actually killing these people instead of pretending. I really enjoyed the tension, and watching the clues get gathered. Plus the ending came together really well, and I'm pleased with where we left these characters.

This was a fantastic read and I can't wait to read more by Kirsty McKay!

The Assassin Game is a thriller set at an exclusive private school on an island in the Irish sea. The game itself is a bit of hazing coupled with pranks, nothing too serious, though readers will understand that this game is unlike games in the past. This novel escalates quickly into a whodunnit of pranks that are becoming more malicious, with an endless cast of suspects to keep you guessing. The reason I am not rating this book higher is its lack of character development. It was hard to care about what happened to these characters or even the ending without really knowing who they were. It could have been a more satisfying conclusion with more information and empathy. Overall, this is a solid, quick YA thriller with plenty of expected and not-so-expected twists to keep things interesting.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcefire Books for an advanced copy of this novel; I apologize for the belated review.

The Assassin Game by Kirsty McKay takes place in an elite secret society. This elite society hosts rich students like Cate. The school has a Guild where they play a game called Killed. This isn't a computer game, it's for real. Well…. almost real! In this game, members must avoid being “Killed” during a series of thrilling pranks, and only the Game Master knows who the “Killer” is. When Cate’s finally invited to join the Assassins’ Guild, she knows it’s her ticket to finally feeling like she belongs. But when the game becomes all too real, the school threatens to shut it down, and Cate will do anything to keep playing and save the Guild.
This book is more young adult than I was expecting when I started reading it but I did enjoy it. The creep factor/creepy meter is more appropriate for YA horror than adult, but it is enjoyable all the same. My only issue with the book is how it kept going back and forth between thrilling and lagging. It could’ve used a little more tight editing. Overall, it was an enjoyable read. I give it 3.25 stars rounded down to 3.
Thanks to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Honestly this book didn’t capture my attention like I had hoped it would. The description sounded great and like something I would enjoy, but in reality I just couldn’t push through it.

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

This has been on my TBR pile for so long, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I really enjoyed the storyline and seeing the characters change throughout the story was a great character development. The plot was great and kept my attention. I'm glad I got the chance to read this and will be on the lookout for more in the future!

The Assassin Game pulled me in from the very first chapter as Cate was kidnapped from her bed in the middle of the night, Beginning her journey into the exciting but potentially dangerous game of "Killer". A game where friends can become your enemy in a blink of an eye. You will definitely be left guessing until the final reveal.
The story started off strong with an exciting build up to the game, each "kill" more creative and exciting than the last. I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next until the story kind of fizzled. At times I questioned why I had been so excited to read this book and thought about putting it away for later. I am so glad I stuck with it because if I hadn't I would have missed out on one of the best suspense books I have ever read. Just when I thought I knew who the "killer" was a new twist would prove me wrong. and I was back in the game.
My only regret is that I wish the ending hadn't felt so rushed. The build up to the big reveal was so intense that discovering who the "killer" was right before the end left me wanting so much more. I would love to have learned more about the "killer", (back story and motive) as well as his or her fate.
At first I thought the author was setting us up for a sequel to The Assassin Game. I was ready to start my search but unfortunately for me the end came too soon. Kudos to Kirsty McKay! She definitely lived up to the old saying "always Leave them wanting more" because I sure do.
Want to know who the real "killer" is?
Guess you will just have to the play the game for yourself because I'll never tell!

This book is equal parts honestly representative of high schoolers and creepy. My students will adore this story, as it is the exact brand of terrifying that they crave.

This has been sitting on my shelf for ages, just collecting dust. I decided to read it to either love it or just get it out of the way once and for all. I had gotten over this type of book, or so I thought!

The atmosphere of this book was so well written, I could see it so clearly in my mind. I didn't feel like I had to make up a fake map just to understand where things were.

The characters, too, were very well written. I felt like they all had their own personalities, arcs, and voices. Our main character was a tad bit I'm not like other girls but I mean... she wasn't like them and she didn't try to make herself look better because of it.

The plot was different than other books like this because it also had the twist of their online universe which was interesting and made the book seem more realistic than other books with this plotline.

Also, the red herrings! I got caught a few of them, if I'm being honest. The last plot twist, I sorta saw coming but it was awesome seeing how it would play out. If you read a lot of mystery, I can see the ending being an easy one to catch on to, but it was still very well done.

Overall, I very much enjoyed reading this book and I'm glad I finally picked it up!

The premise of this book sounded really good and I was intrigued, but it just fell flat for me. I was interested in the who dunnit but in the end it just felt like it was thrown together and not enough to support it. It just didn’t seem plausible. It also felt like the author tried to shine a light on a ton of people in order to make the reveal a big shock at the end.

The Assassin Game was nothing like I'd expected, in particular because it's set on an island in Wales and is written as though it's taking part in a generic American boarding school. A gang of kids play a game called Killer, but one of them decides that they don't want it to be a game anymore and suddenly the players lives are at risk. I enjoyed the concept, but the Killer was very predictable - a couple of the red herrings would have been far more interesting choices, but instead the most obvious suspect ends up being the culprit, which took the wind out of my sails a little bit.

The Assassin game had quite a good suspenseful build up for a teen YA thriller book. It read like a movie and never had a dull moment. This one needs to be picked up for a movie. The information Kristy adds is so well executed. Definitely recommend

Although I was not able to finish reading this book, I found it an interesting read and am glad I had the opportunity to read some of it.

I have had a copy of this from Netgalley for years before I picked it up. I can’t believe it took me so long to pick this up because the concept is so cool. I love the idea of secret societies, they have an air of mystery to them that intrigues me. When I read the blurb of the novel again I was so excited to read it.

The assassin game is a game that I’ve played before, but never like the way they did, the twist put on it in this book would be so much more fun. The initiation of the Guild is so cool, like initiation to a secret society should be. I found myself wishing that I could play myself, that’s how much fun it sounded like. But soon the game turned sinister, and became a hunt for a real killer.

The idea behind the book was really cool and the plot was fun, but I think it could have been done better. For parts of the book I was on the edge of my seat and excited, but other parts weren’t as thrilling. The characters were okay and the story was cool, but it didn’t blow my mind. As far as mysteries go, this isn’t at the top of my list, but it was fun to read.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with a review copy. This is my honest opinion.

I'll start by saying that I am NOT a mystery/thriller/horror fiction kind of reader. The premise of the English Boarding School (gothic feels) had me very intrigued and had me feeling like it would be a next level version of the Daring Game by Kit Pearson. It was NOTHING like The Daring Game. I feel like the mystery side was very well written, although a little cringy, I didn't figure out who the "real" killer was until near the end. I did however find the characters and romance aspect lacking. I found the characters felt more like stereotypes than actual characters.

This book was ok. It was an interesting concept but I just wasn't feeling the story while I was reading it.

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book, as I couldn't get into it - nothing against the author or book, just not to my personal taste. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

I went into this book not reading the synopsis. Based on the title the book should have been about Assassin's. And it sort of is, but it reminded me too much of Nerve. Nerve is a truth and dare game, but without the truth. The characters complete dares in order to win the grand prize. The main character will do anything to continue playing the game, even when it gets dangerous. Cate the main character in The Assassin Game is just like. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed Nerve, but I expected the book to be about a compete, where Assassin's compete for the top position. Not only that there was some quotations that didn't sit well with me. Honestly, this book had so much potential to be a great read, but it was too much like Nerve for me.

Actually rating 2.5 stars.

Since I started letting my little TBR Jar decide what I read back in early 2016, I’ve gotten hilariously, terrifyingly behind on my review copies. I feel less stressed about reading in general because it’s technically out of my hands, but that’s been replaced by the lesser stress of OH GOD, I HAVE 80+ REVIEW COPIES UNREAD AND MOST OF THEM HAVE ALREADY BEEN PUBLISHED.

The Assassin Game here? Yeah, it’s one of the victims. It was published close to a year ago and I felt so guilty for being behind on it that I actually bought a finished copy of it. If I can’t be on time with the review, I can at least give them my money, you know?

But The Assassin Game is bad. Badly written, throws around microaggressions with aplomb, and simply not fun.

I admit, part of what annoys me comes from personal experience. The kids of Umfraville, an exclusive school for extraordinary students, take it Very Very seriously. A few students are “harvested” every year by older students as new participants and those newbies get kidnapped from their rooms in the middle of the night like the fraternity or sorority hazing ritual that inevitably ends up on the news for killing someone. Every time the players meet in a cave on the island, they have to be Very Very Careful they aren’t followed by non-players.

Look, I watched two of my college roommates play Killer’s sister game Assassin as members of Improv Club. Their version made everyone both killer and target, saw you “killed” when another player marked your skin with Sharpie, and could see its rules change at the drop of a hat if the game master (the club vice president and moderator of the club Facebook page for the duration of the game) got bored or wanted to shake things up. Last one standing wins.

For instance, one standing rule was that you couldn’t kill anyone indoors. The vice president changed their mind one year and simply posted, “I want our president dead. ‘No killing under a roof’ is lifted, so go get ’em.”

Fortunately, war did not break out between my two roommates because one of them had already died and thus was out of the game.

Anyway, after seeing how fun that game was, how was I supposed to take Killer seriously in its over-the-top seriousness? I can’t, that’s how. I’d rather tell these kids to CHILL THE FUCK OUT and have some actual fun because they don’t seem like they’re having any at all. It’s more hazing than game and even even my dorm had better hazing rituals.

(Those hazing rituals were watching Gabriel Iglesias’s routine The Racist Gift Basket and the Shia LaBeouf song as well as being sandwiched in the Awkward Hug, if you’re curious. We were an eccentric dorm.)

The bad writing and microaggressions show themselves as early as the first chapter, wherein game master Alex is described as having an “athlete OCD neatness” (p.5) about him. As someone who has OCD that leaves me with regularly bleeding wounds, constellations of scars, and bitten-up fingers, saying it’s irritating to see the “OCD = freakishly clean” thing yet again in a book is an understatement.

Later on, a girl is described as having caramel skin. Food-based descriptions of POC skin? Yeah, that’s a no from me. Cate’s description of her is also so romanticized with gleaming skin, gentle curves, and lovely hair that I refuse to believe Cate is heterosexual the way I’m supposed to. THAT GIRL IS AS QUEER AS A PRIDE PARADE.

Anyway, Cate also says something super transphobic that ultimately sealed The Assassin Game‘s fate. When the caramel-skinned girl takes a shower, powdered dye placed in the showerhead turns the water red as blood, making the first Kill of the game. It’s while speculating with her love interest Vaughan about the Killer’s gender that Cate says the following:

“The probability is that the Killer is female. This Kill was set up at night, and that means no easy access for anyone with a Y chromosome.” (p. 73)

Did you know some women do in fact have a Y chromosome? THEY’RE CALLED TRANS WOMEN. I sure hope no trans people are attending Umfraville. They deserve better.

It’s a throwaway remark, true, but that’s exactly why it’s so bad: this casual transphobia is seen as nothing. Our chromosomes determine things like hair color, eye color, and what happens to our bodies during puberty, but they don’t determine our gender. They just determine what gender we’re assigned at birth. When that assignation matches the person, it matches. When it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

After that gem of a line, I stopped caring. I did my damnedest to go back to caring so I could see the book through, but Cate’s remarks just kept coming back.

To give the book some credit, what I saw at the end indicated The Assassin Game could be ripe for feminist analysis since part of the villain’s motivation is how he feels entitled to Cate–and that’s not going to give away who the villain is, don’t worry. Cate is quite highly desired by other characters in the book, though exactly why that is escapes me. This book is meant for someone much more determined and who actually gives a fuck what the characters are up to.

So that’s why I DNFed The Assassin Game 141 pages in.

I didn't like this it reminds me too much of pretty little liars which I also got tired of

A super fun thrill ride with a unique plot, The Assassin Game was a great edge of your seat with fun characters and a great story that will keep you entertained until the last page!