They're Watching you by Chelsea Ichaso is a gripping young adult thriller book. The pacing was fast, and the stakes were high. I also loved the main character, Maren, which seems to be a rare feat in thriller books lately.

The secret society aspect of the book was so intriguing, but this book turned out to be much darker than I thought it would be—it surprised me in the best way! Parts of it also gave me Hunger Games vibes.

I became a fan of Ichaso after reading Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets earlier this year, but with They're Watching You, she completely blew away my expectations. Fans of young adult thrillers will love this book! After greatly enjoying two of her books now, it's safe to say I'll read anything she publishes!

*Thank you to Chelsea Ichaso, NetGalley, and the publisher for the free eBook ARC in exchange for leaving an honest review!

Dang. A terrifying secret society with reaches far past the school grounds, and you’ve just become their latest obsession. This was such a great read and did have me second-guessing my predictions at times!

I loved this book so much! I read her other book, Little Creeping Things, and was drawn into her world in the same way as this book. The secret society, friendships, betrayal, and unpredictability kept me wanting more! I literally didn't want to go to sleep because I just had to keep reading. Without spoiling the book, it was one unexpected turn after another. A must read for any suspense and mystery fan!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for the review copy of They're Watching You. This was a entertaining quick read for me but also a read filled with a lot of themes I feel have been done recently and a lot of plot points that were both a blend of predictable and predictably unbelievable (for me). Does this mean I wasn't entertained? This was pure escapist fun so yes, I enjoyed it but at the end of the read, I felt there were so many twists and unexplained/too quickly dropped and not returned to plot points that undermine my enthusiasm for the plot (points that really could have been so fascinating if developed, particularly with the resolution to the missing girls plot line).

Everyone at Torrey-Wells Academy believes that Polly ran away. Except for her best friend and roommate Maren. She finds an invitation to a secret society amongst her friend's things. Thinking they know what happened to Polly, she decides to find them and join. She succeeds and partakes in their dangerous games with the promise she will get a new clue about her friend with every win. As she gets in deeper, she realizes how deadly they really are, in more ways than one.

The author gifts us with a grounded, relatable protagonist and a smooth-sailing, to-the-point narrative, that has you going through so many pages without realizing. The 1st person POV makes you feel like you're walking through the storyline along with the protagonist. I really liked the premise and the games were elaborate as hoped and as fun to experience through Maren as expected.

The plot thickens in ever-growing fashion, making you more and more invested as the story proceeds. Love the way it keeps turning the tables on us — kudos to the author — until the exhilarating finale.

I liked Maren's thought process on what was going on, but sometimes spelling it out for us presented repetitive. Also, the 'triangle' misfires or seems forced in parts.

This book is about greed, faith, the dangers of fanaticism and trusting in yourself. A clever, suspenseful mystery with deliciously devious twists and secret society antics.

I loved the concept of this book - a secret society, riddles, intrigue, a missing girl - so many great concepts in a thriller! Unfortunately, this one fell firmly to the middle of the pack for me in execution.⁠
What I did enjoy was that it as a quick read; I was never bored, and it's not a slow burn, which is something I appreciate. Thrillers that keep you engaged are essential to me. ⁠
I also truly didn't know how it would end. Hell, I didn't know if the thing was even going to turn out to be real. I definitely didn't predict anything and was surprised.⁠
As far as what fell short for me I have two bigger issues. The first was that these were high school kids. It just felt really misplaced to have literal minors involved at this level of stakes. The setting, the games, the level of maturity - all made for college-aged people.⁠
I also felt like it was a big miss to just jump into the story with the missing friend. Not only was it an abrupt start, but I think that had the book opened before Polly's disappearance and built up to that I would have been much more invested in not only where she was, but Maren's push and sacrifices to find her friend.⁠
Overall some hits and misses but its sure to be a quick read if you decide to pick this one up.

Maren knows her roommate and best friend Polly's disappearance has something to do with Annabelle, and when she discovers that Annabelle is part of a secret society on campus, she finds a way to get invited. The Gamemaster's Society promises advantages to its members, so long as they can win the games. When her classmate and fellow initiate Remington says his ex-girlfriend is also missing, Maren decides to work with him to try to save their friends. But these games are more deadly than she expected...

This had the elements I loved from [book:The Inheritance Games|52439531] - mysteries and a bit of a love triangle - along with a private school setting and a secret society, and a little more danger. Maren had many reasons to suspect Remington of double-crossing her, and Gavin (her friend who she discovers is in the society) of not being forthcoming. The elements of Maren's fear of water and Remington's colorblindness could have been worked in more thoroughly, but it was enough to up the stakes in the final game. This was a quick, fun read (it only took me as long to read as it did because I had to stop and read a book club book in the middle) and kept me guessing the whole time.

Story of the book-

It may result in power, privilege, or even death when a secret group has you on its radar. Polly St. James hasn’t been seen in two weeks. Even her parents have labeled her a runaway, according to the police, the headmistress of Torrey-Wells Academy, and others. but not her roommate and best friend Maren. Polly was ready to tell Maren a secret about the affluent, elite Torrey-Wells clique when she vanished, and she is aware of this.

Then Maren discovers an envelope with an invitation to the Gamemaster’s Society tucked away among Polly’s belongings. It warns not to tell anybody. Despite the difficulty of joining, Maren is confident that her fellow members of the Society are aware of Polly’s true fate. Maren learns about a world she never knew existed at her school after surviving the dangerous initiation, where Society members engage in high-stakes competitions for unheard-of rewards, including Ivy League connections, privileges, and favors.

Maren, meanwhile, has been sucked into a separate game where each victory nets her a Polly-related hint. Maren starts to realize how strong the Society’s game is—bigger it’s and deadlier than she could have ever imagined. They perceive, know, and exercise control. And they murder.

My review-

This book is great fun! This was so much pleasure to read! Throughout the whole reading process, I found myself continually doubting everyone and everything, as well as every move they performed. I loved how this book had me guessing right up to the very last page! It has everything I’m searching for in a young adult thriller. Every new revelation in each chapter prompted new questions, and nothing about this book was what was anticipated. There were no graphic moments, and the primary characters are adolescents. Perhaps you’re searching for a lightweight item for the beach. This is a fantastic one that will keep you engaged without making you gag.

The characters have depth and are well-rounded. Although there are quite a few of them, it wasn’t hard to tell one from the other. Both the wealthy and powerful students at private high schools as well as the less well-off ones were perfectly portrayed by author Ichaso. Ichaso captured the high school students so realistically, in my opinion. There are also a lot of individuals to snoop on because one never knows who can be trusted or not. Okay, so I did it. I had no notion, and I was completely baffled. Because of this, I could only hope for Maren’s efforts to unravel Polly’s secret to success.

Maren may be impetuous, and occasionally I worried that she had chosen the wrong person to put her faith in. She is a dependable friend, but I was impressed by how hard she worked to get through the challenges and discover what had happened to Polly. I would play some of the games if they weren’t so lethal since they sound like a lot of fun. A love triangle also appeared, which I didn’t mind, but the main character chose a partner I didn’t like. With the boarding school and the secret organization, this has romantic overtones and a serious intellectual feel. The tension of going through tunnels and vaults kept the book’s tone exceedingly gloomy and unsettling.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

They’re Watching You is my first read from Chelsea Ichaso, and I’m intrigued to read more. I love a twisty secret society story, especially within an academic setting, and this absolutely delivered.

I admit, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into within the first couple chapters, but I was soon reassured, and was swept up in the many twists and turns. The narrative is fast-paced and the plot remains engaging, keeping me guessing throughout.

Maren is a cool main character. She’s very much a badass who is able to roll with the punches and is able to take what is thrown at her. She can be impulsive and a bit too trusting at times, but it all makes her a layered, compelling thriller protagonist.

I really enjoyed this, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a solidly plotted YA thriller.

I am a huge fan of clue and who done it murder mysteries add in mixes of cults and I am sold.
This book included all of that.
I loved the play on the secret society actually being a cult and the nerd that I am wished that they would have gone into more detail about how and why the group was formed. But the story movies along fine with out all that extra details. But if Chelsea ever needs another book idea I would be first in line to get a copy of that!

Did I see all of it coming, no. I love when books do that and I am not able to predict everything that happens, to me that is what makes a book so great. Maren did get on my nervous a little because of her going back and forth about people but then again I have to remember if I was in her shoes and was dealing with this I would constantly second guess myself too.

Overall it was a great read. I am giving it 4.5 stars and not 5 because I am super picky and I would have liked a little more backstory as to why this cult was around and how it got started. But that is just me.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the digital copy of this ARC. Review to come.*

"Remington's figure is hunched on the side of the pool. His look pleads, saying what he can't shout in front of the cameras."

Summary:
Maren's life is already busy. She plays three sports, goes to school, and constantly studies to ensure her grades are good enough for her scholarship. But when her roommate and best friend Polly goes missing after months of distance, Maren adds something else to her plate: finding Polly. In the months leading up to Polly's disappearance she had been befriended by Annabelle, a popular, devilishly clever girl who runs the school chess club. When Polly joins the club, she begins to distance herself from Maren, and suddenly can afford expensive new clothes, is out all night, and ignores her former best friend. Yet when Maren searches through Polly's things, she discovers that the chess club isn't what it seems --it's a secret society.
Maren schemes her way into the Gamemaster's Society, desperate to find clues to Polly despite the costs. The Society meets at night past curfew, and breaks nearly every rule the school has in place, but the school doesn't seem to care. Even sketchier, each meeting centers around a game, where the consequences are far too dire, and the members of the Society seemingly have boundless power: At initiation Maren must solve clues to determine if she drinks poison; letters appear in her dorm room while she's sleeping; she misses an exam but scores a 100%. The society members could get away with murder, and no one would care.
Already suspicious of the Society and it's members, Maren teams up with her chemistry lab partner Gavin, who joined before her but for a good cause, and Remington, a fellow initiate who is looking for his missing ex-girlfriend Jane. Convinced that Annabelle and the Society are hiding Polly somewhere deep in the catacombs where the group meets every night, Maren is determined to move up the Society ranks to earn more clues about her friend, hopefully before it's too late.
But as she continues to win, Maren sees how far the Society stretches. What she once saw as Ivy League connections turns into breakthrough medical experiments, money, get-out-of-jail-free cards, fame, and more power than a person could handle. Suddenly, with shadows lurking in every corner, and tricks down everyone's sleeves, Maren doesn't know who to trust, or what to believe. The Gamemaster's Society is far more than a chess club--it's a deadly cult, and Maren only has so much time before they get to her too.

Thoughts:
While I normally love any book that deals with the occult and dark academia, there was something about They're Watching You that didn't click for me. I'm a big fan of an unreliable narrator, but in this case, it wasn't Maren who was unreliable, it was everyone else, which is necessary to a certain extent, but by the end of the book, I was tired of constantly wondering if Maren should trust Gavin or Remington.
I also found the pacing to be all over the place. The meetings take place at night, so of course most of the book does as well, but I never felt like I had the right timeline. Maren never seemed to attend classes, and I wasn't sure if this book took places over months or mere days. Furthermore, with nearly every scene taking place in the catacombs, it was hard to keep track of the clues she had earned or the games she had played, since they all were described the same way.
Nevertheless, I love a creepy setting, and did enjoy the use of catacombs under the school as a meeting place. I do wish they were used more sparingly, as sometimes the endless maze of rooms and tunnels could be used as a deus ex machina, but overall, the setting of a remote private school and dark, cold passageways was a plus.
I liked Maren as a character, but wanted more development from her. We know that she's athletic, on a scholarship, and that Polly was her best friend, but throughout the book we don't really learn anything else about her. Her dad is mentioned once in reference to his company not bringing in as much money as anticipated, and I wanted more from that. Or when Maren refused to give up on Polly, I wanted more about what that relationship meant to her as a person, not just the same stories and reminiscing over and over again. I also found the love triangle of untrustworthiness to become very old very quick. Gavin and Remington were both characters that could be perceived as sketchy or trustworthy an equal amount of times, and it frustrated me to not know anything more about them. In the end though, I did appreciate where Ichaso took the relationship.

Overall:
Of all the young adult thrillers I have read, this isn't my favorite, but it wasn't a bad read at all. The classic young adult mystery beats were hit--it was creepy, culty, and definitely had a Big Brother vibe. Add in the ever-present love triangle trope mixed with the time constraints of impending death, and you have a great novel on your hands. I look forward to seeing what Ichaso writes in the future.

They're Watching You by Chelsea Ichaso comes out January 3, 2023.

Thank you NetGalley and SourceBooks for this e-ARC! Unfortunately, this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention.

Wow! I don’t even know where to begin other than to say that this is one of the best thrillers that I have read in a while. They’re Watching You is the epitome of a novel that keeps you guessing, keeps you gripped, and keeps you on the edge of your seat! I really enjoyed this idea – it was very unique and creative, at least to me as I haven’t read it before. The best part about this book? I was completely blindsided by the twist. I read a lot of thrillers, and sometimes I can figure out the twist, or I have a few ideas of how things are going to go, but with this book, I had absolutely no idea. I didn’t even formulate a thought. I was so engrossed in the experience of the book, that I was just along for the ride with Maren. This is an absolutely MUST READ for any thriller lover!

First off, thank you so much for letting me read and advanced copy in return for honest feedback. This book, like many others I've read recently, all have the deadly elite club concept. I think that this has then lead to me comparing it to those instead of reading this and developing an independent opinion of it. The book is really good and has a wonderful concept and characters, but it lacks a special quality to make it unique from the other books with similar plots and structures. It was a good read, but not my favorite.

Set in an elite boarding school, after discovering that her best friend went MIA, Maren is super determined to find out Polly's whereabout as she senses something just doesn't add up when everyone believes that Polly has runaway.

She stumble upon an invitation from the secret society where Polly had received right before her disappearance. To dig out the truth and unravel the ambiguity behind her best friend's vanishing, Maren team up with Remington to participate in the Gamemaster's game, in order to get clues to save their loved ones.

Who to or not to trust? And who is the mysterious Gamemaster behind the secret society?

They're Watching You- a YA Thriller highlighted friendship, dark secrets,betrayal and courage.
It has dark academia vibes with a secret society trope.

We reviewed Chelsea Ichaso’s impressive YA dark thriller debut Little Creeping Things for Ginger Nuts of Horror back in 2020 which the author followed with two other titles in the same ballpark. Her fourth novel They’re Watching You does not stray too far from the same teen blueprint, except for this novel being set in an exclusive American boarding school which has a powerful secret society pulling the strings in the background. Although They’re Watching You was an enjoyably fast paced thriller it was derivative of so many other similar books which are set in boarding schools. However, its content will undoubtedly be much fresher to genuine teen readers than it was to myself. The main character Maren does not come from the same rich background as many of her classmates at Torrey-Wells and her life takes a major jolt when her best friend and roommate Polly disappears. The police believe she has run away, but Maren had seen changes in her friend prior to the disappearance which she suspects is to do with a secret society. She often spoke of ‘chess’ which was perhaps code for something else.

Most of the novel revolves around Maren’s investigation into what happened to her friend and after she finds an old invitation to the Gamemaster’s Society she is off and running and the conspiracy runs deep. They’re Watching You does not do anything at all I did not expect and the games of dares, chance and having your wits about you were nothing special, even if they did take the normally quiet Maren out of her comfort zone. This novel could definitely have gone darker, but was still an enjoyable conspiracy thriller, with a love triangle thrown in, with a number of very unlikable privileged fraternity type rich kids to dislike. Some of the twists and riddles were fun, it was tricky to know who to trust and if you enjoy novels where institutionalised privilege is weaponised They’re Watching You will hit the spot. AGE RANGE 12/13+

They're Watching You was a delightful surprise read for me. I devoured this book; it was a quick and engaging read.

This story is a dark academia thriller involving a secret society at Maren Montgomery's school. When her best friend and roommate, Polly, goes missing after diving deep into the secret society, Maren figures the best way to find her friend is to get herself invited into the society. They're Watching You portrays how much a person can mean to you and the great lengths you will go to find them, as well as showing how some people can be very delusional.

Ichaso wrote this story in a manner that truly grips the reader into wanting to know what happens. I enjoyed the many games that Maren and the other members of the society had to play. With every challenge, they risked their lives, making it even more thrilling to see who would go on to the next game. The twists were executed nicely, and I did not guess any of them, making the story even more enjoyable. The book is very YA, and it could have gone darker, more profound, and even more in-depth with the games and how the story ends. That is the main reason for my rating, but regardless, it still wrapped up nicely, and it was so fast and fun to read that I still enjoyed it a lot.

Thank you, NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire, for providing an eARC of They're Watching You. This review is being left voluntarily, and all opinions are my own.

Wow,I couldn't put this book down! So many fun twists! I really enjoy books that are set at private boarding schools. Very well done!

I thought this book had very strong dark academia tones to it, following Maren, a scholarship student at a prestigious school, whose roommate suddenly disappears.

Looking for clues, she joins a secret society, and all hell breaks loose.

I can definitely appreciate a book about a secret society running rampant through a school but it seemed a bit far fetched in some cases to me - like murdering students and getting away with it ? The master of the society being a high school student, when some adults don't even make it past the 3rd level?

The pacing was also very quick and it felt difficult to connect to some of the side characters, as we love them one page and hate them the next, and back and forth and back and forth.

Otherwise, a solid read!

Thank you Netgalley for the free eARC !

I was not a fan of this mystery YA, despite it having a good plot, it did not suck me it.