"Stacked with shocking twists, this is the perfect YA summer read for fans of super-tense thrillers."
With a classic closed-room set up (in this case, the setting is a creepy closed motel, and an ever-decreasing circle), Kate Francis’ Circle of Liars is an addictive edge-of-your-seat YA thriller from intriguing start to unexpected end.
A group of high schoolers thrown together in the depths of the Californian desert get a whole lot more than they bargained for when they arrive to discover that Motel Loba is run-down and deserted. They’re here thinking they’ve won the top prize in their annual school raffle, but this dive couldn’t be further from the luxury desert retreat they were expecting. What’s more, the trip coincides with the first anniversary of a fatal fire in their school — a fire that killed the twin brother of one of the seven individuals who find themselves at the motel. There’s no staff, no phone reception, and so the group decide to get the hell away as fast as possible, but it soon emerges that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
Hot on the heels of an explosive incident near the start of the story, all seven teenagers receive an ominous text: “I know what you did a year ago. Now it is time to pay the price”. In the wake of this, the group find themselves trapped in a circle, forced to select the guiltiest among them to step outside it at hourly intervals, lest they’ll all be killed. “Happy anniversary”, the message signs off.
Rippling with suspicion, paranoia, and the excruciation of having to make impossible decisions in the name of self-preservation, Circle of Liars is a thrillingly tense and wildly unexpected rollercoaster.
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This book is incredibly tense and suspense-packed with every page.
This book is incredibly tense and suspense-packed with every page.
When Ana loses her twin brother, Danny in a fire at her high school exactly a year ago, the memories and guilt from the past follow her now more than ever when she’s stuck at a motel for a weekend stay with six other classmates who all have something to hide about that night.
All seems like fun and games and just a coincidentally unlucky situation with no cell reception when a note is left for the adolescents: “I know what you did a year ago. Now it’s time to pay the price. Today at 9:58am. You’re going to play the balloon game. Every hour you must choose who is the guiltiest among you.... Read Full Review
When Ana and her peers win a trip to a 'spa' they are all looking forward to some fun and r & r. What greets them is the Motel Loba....
This book had me caught from the start. I loved all the characters, especially Ana, Alex and Raya. I thought it was great that they had included gay and trans people in the story, although their stories didn't take over the whole narrative. It did feel like they were kind of details added just to fit in with today's youths in a way.
I was trying so hard to work out who was behind the deadly scheme but i didn't get it at all until it was revealed, but I did work out the ending when Ana asked Alex to trust her.
Ellis is a slime bag. I thought the story was good, kinda showing how some little thing as you think of it can actually be the big thing that causes a massive amount of pain and destruction.... Read Full Review
