Rating: 4 out of 5.

This is a fun and creepy story with mixes of horror, mystery, thriller, suspense, fantasy and paranormal elements in it. The tension in the book builds deliciously slow until you get to the point where you want to make sure the lights are on in the house while you read it.

The competition sounds easy: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don’t get caught. The prize: enough money to change everything. So when Mack runs out of options and is convinced to join the competition, she figures she’s got the challenge in the bag. After all, hiding is her specialty. It’s why she’s alive and her family isn’t.

The other thirteen competitors are there for their own reasons. Some want to get famous, others want to escape their past, and others desperately need the money. Whatever their reasons, Mack knows she can beat them all. She doesn’t need anyone’s help, and certainly has no intention of getting close to another contestant. But when people start disappearing each day, Mack realizes that something more sinister is going on than a simple contest. She also realizes that in order to survive, she just may need other people after all.

This is a hard book to review because I don’t want to give anything away. The author does a great job of building characters, especially Mack. You can almost feel how tightly wound she is and how she closes herself off from everyone and everything in order to protect herself. Feelings are not something she can afford, let alone feelings that she needs or wants friendship or companionship. So, she’s surprised when she starts to feel those things for people in the contest. First one person, and then another. Liked a kicked puppy, she doesn’t trust these emotions, or the people, but discovers that she wants to. This surprises her. The author does a great job of providing just enough information about the minor characters to let the reader understand why Mack would or would not align herself with them, or even start to care about them.

There are some shocking and sad parts of the book that will get you in the feels. Some loving acts of sacrifice and friendship that will perhaps resonate with the reader’s feelings about people in their life. The book subtly, and not so subtly, deals with issues of racism and elitism. Issues of the “haves” and “have nots”, and how unfair the world is with the “haves” always seeming to be in charge and have all of the advantages. The “haves” steadfastly work to keep themselves up and everyone else down, no matter the cost. That’s a universal problem that everyone can understand (unless perhaps if you’re a “have”).

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even thought it did give me the creeps – in the best way possible, of course. I highly recommend you read it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Del Rey Books. All opinions are my own.