The Rules

April 15, 2015
A superrich but neglected teen mourns his equally shy sister and decides to get revenge on the teens he blames for her death. August knows his absent parents care more for their wealthy lifestyle than they do for their children. They supply him and Alexa with abundant cash, planting the teens in a wealthy community north of San Francisco and leaving them there. When Alexa drowns in a swimming pool, August dwells on the disrespect and injuries she suffered from their fellow high school students. He plans a party in an abandoned cannery and invites his victims. They will all participate in a scavenger hunt with individualized prizes. Innocent Robin inadvertently crashes the party, and Kyle doesn't seem to belong there either. Events quickly go awry when teens start to disappear. Readers know they've been murdered, but the teens don't realize that until later, with August swearing he didn't do it-but the teens keep dying. Holder and Viguie keep the action churning along as they bounce from teen to teen for different perspectives on the action, sometimes recording a murder with appropriate gore, sometimes an escape. Many of the personalities tend toward stereotypes; the focus here is on thrills rather than on character development. Though there's blood enough for horror, there's nothing supernatural about it. There aren't clues enough to make this a mystery, but thriller fans should enjoy it. (Thriller. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-August DeYoung hosts the most exclusive parties for the most exclusive clique at Callabrese High. This year, August is pulling out all the stops to make his trademark scavenger hunt the best one yet. When Robin Brisset accidentally crashes August's hunt, she isn't surprised to see underage drinking and over-the-line flirting, but she is surprised when her fellow hunters begin dying around her. Robin is determined to survive the party, but she may have to break the rules to do it. Suspenseful from the start, this novel will hook even slow and reluctant readers immediately. Each chapter begins with a rule a character lives by, which illuminates a core aspect of the character's personality, and proceeds to tell the story from that person's perspective. Readers then see how that aspect most influences the actions in the chapter. This shifting point of view introduces readers to the work's cast of protagonists in a manageable way, while also allowing the authors to pepper the novel with small details that will keep teens guessing. VERDICT With a fast-paced plot worthy of a slasher film, The Rules is a must-read for fans of thrillers with truly frightening twists.-Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson University R.M. Cooper Library, South Carolina

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
Initially a sort of And Then There Were None/13 Reasons Why mashup (August plans an elaborate scavenger hunt to "punish" teens peripherally involved in his sister's death), this thriller quickly devolves into bad slasher-movie tropes. The over-large cast's many perspectives are anchored by that of goody-goody junior Robin. Riddles and red herrings build to an unsatisfying reveal of the true killer and his nonsensical motive.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)