All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban

E-Audio, 09:31:49

Narrated by: Kate Rudd 

Release Date:  March 17, 2020

Published by:  HarperTeen
Read from: April 27-28, 2020

Stand-alone

Source: Library (Overdrive) 

TW:  Death, Suicide

For fans of: YA, Thriller, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction (Kind of)

     This thrilling debut, reminiscent of new fan favorites like One of Us Is Lying and the beloved classics by Agatha Christie, will leave readers guessing until the explosive ending.
     Welcome to dinner, and again, congratulations on being selected. Now you must do the selecting.
     What do the queen bee, star athlete, valedictorian, stoner, loner, and music geek all have in common? They were all invited to a scholarship dinner, only to discover it’s a trap. Someone has locked them into a room with a bomb, a syringe filled with poison, and a note saying they have an hour to pick someone to kill … or else everyone dies.
     Amber Prescott is determined to get her classmates and herself out of the room alive, but that might be easier said than done. No one knows how they’re all connected or who would want them dead. As they retrace the events over the past year that might have triggered their captor’s ultimatum, it becomes clear that everyone is hiding something. And with the clock ticking down, confusion turns into fear, and fear morphs into panic as they race to answer the biggest question: Who will they choose to die?

*MY THOUGHTS*

     All I had to see from the synopsis was the title One of Us is Lying in the synopsis, and I knew I needed this in my hands. And it definitely gave me vibes of that story with the "escape room" troupe. Definitely interested in seeing more from this troupe! 

     A variety of students have been chosen to attend a scholarship dinner. Well,  trap disguised as one. Once there, they realize someone has locked them in with a ticking time bomb, a syringue, and a note saying the only way to get out without the bomb blowing is to pick someone to kill. Amber Prescott is the only one who is determined to get everyone out of there alive, but as they try to figure out who would want them dead, they find that many of them are hiding much more than they are letting on. 

     I liked the way this was told. I'm normally not a fan of the flashbacks, but I think it fit this one. It made the reader concentrate on getting to know the characters instead of trying to figure out whodunit. I liked the time intervals as well. It went from early on in the story and ended right before the dinner. It was intriguing to see the way time passed in this novel. 

     As for the final reveal, I was not at all happy with it. Yes it's twisty and turny, but man you're able to call it at 23% in! Or at least I was. Had it turned out differently than I thought I might have given it 5 stars, but every time another clue rolled in, I remembered I had called it way in the beginning. I even remember tweeting about it and someone said, "It's probably right." She had had the same issue with the book. Now I'm older and have read my fair share of thrillers/mysteries, so maybe that's why I was able to call it so early, but come on.... 23% in? 

     And let's just be for real.... Who would really classify this as realistic fiction? There was just so much of this that was unbelivable. I mean the toe thing? There is absolutely no way that person pulled that off in the middle of a high emotion time like that. I don't care what anyone says. And [SPOILER] the fact that no one got in trouble?! Like really? Someone died. [/SPOILER] I just don't see how that ended like it did. There should have been something there to make it more believable. 

     As for the characters, I did like the wide variety of them. They were all different and they all brought something new to the story. I liked the way Urban showed that really any of them and none of them could have been the one to do it. It makes the reader not really connect to anyone, which I feel is very important in thrillers. No one should be able to be trusted. 

     Although I liked everything else, I was just really unsatisfied with the ending. I hope there's more coming from Diana Urban because I'm super interested in seeing what else she has, but I also hope her endings are a bit more polished in the next one. 

Overall, I give this