Como vocês já sabem, essa resenha é em parceria com a Random House Internacional, de quem recebemos esse eARC (Advance reading copy: algo como “uma cópia de leitura avançada”, ou seja, o livro ainda pode sofrer alterações antes de ser publicado). Também lembrando que essa resenha terá um formato diferente: por ser um ARC, não haverão quotes, já como os livros podem sofrer mudanças em seu texto antes de serem comercializados. Gostaríamos de agradecer profundamente a Editora pela oportunidade de parceria.

Já falei em outras resenhas que eu prefiro muito mais escrever sobre livros que eu amei do que em livros que foram uma decepção, então vou logo começar tirando o incomodo do meu peito: sabe quando você escolhe assistir um filme de terror/suspense em uma sexta-feira à noite com sua melhor amiga (alô, Julia!) sem pensar muito sobre o enredo, embarcando na narrativa, aceitando as escolhas burras que a protagonista faz, se divertindo com as pistas que são esfregadas na cara da personagem com ela se recusando a aceitar e que tem um final acima da média? Então quando você desliga a TV, você fala que o filme foi legal sim e vida que segue porque você não vai pensar sobre ele e vai ter dificuldade de se lembrar da trama dali dois meses quando perguntarem o que você achou do filme? Pois é, é o que “The Fear” entrega: a trama legal de suspense/terror que você lê, se diverte e vida que segue.

Não há muito o que falar realmente além do que a sinopse traz: Izzy é uma boa garota na cidade de Rock Bay e que estuda o equivalente ao segundo grau no colégio Rock Bay High com sua melhor amiga Syd e sua prima Amiyah e que tem um crush no garoto popular do colégio, Justin, que também é o astro do time de hockey do colégio. Logo Izzy aponta que seu colega de classe chamado Axel é extremamente antissocial e vemos tudo pelos olhos da nossa protagonista no primeiro dia de aula do último ano naquela cidade gelada e pesqueira, compreendendo que o sonho da garota é fugir dali para fazer faculdade em um lugar quente, exatamente como sua irmã mais velha, Lia, fez.

A grande diferença é que o livro começa com o ponto de vista de alguém que se denomina “Fear” (o bom e velho “Medo”, na tradução). A pessoa em questão odeia todos na cidade porque passou por diversos traumas, tendo uma vida familiar horrível, tudo contando vagamente por este ponto de vista no começo da trama. Também entendemos que Fear criou um fake com uma garota bonita para compartilhar em uma rede social, adicionando um dos garotos populares – a questão é que este meme é uma foto do cais da cidade perguntando qual o pior jeito que a pessoa pode se imaginar morrendo e que depois deveria compartilhar com seus amigos. Claro que isto viraliza por algum motivo que eu não consigo entender (eu definitivamente sou menos macabra do que gosto de pensar, pelo visto) e Fear está feliz porque vai conseguir colocar seu plano em pratica, que é… matar todos do pior jeito que são capazes imaginar.

Corta pro ponto de vista de Izzy com todas informações que já falei e de cara você entende que Fear é realmente o grande personagem do livro, quem te atiça a curiosidade, e acho que se o livro tivesse mais pontos de vistas dele, o leitor conseguiria se apegar mais aos personagens. Voltando a trama, não demora para ter uma festa de volta as aulas e os assassinatos começarem a acontecer – sim, de cara temos 2. Izzy vê Axel na festa e acha bizarro, já como ele é tão antissocial assim a ponto de causar estranheza se vai em uma festa (e tem montes de rumores sobre ele) e o vê saindo da festa logo depois que uma garota que é a primeira vitima também vai embora. Izzy encontra o corpo e logo descobre que há outro corpo, e por ter visto Axel saindo da festa logo depois da garota, ela fala para os policiais sobre Axel.

Claro que o garoto não fica feliz porque a policia acredita que ele está envolvido com o assassinato e, no outro dia, na escola (porque as aulas continuaram também por algum outro motivo que não consigo racionalizar mas só embarquei), Izzy descobre que Axel está vivo. Se juntando ao rol de personagens que você deveria se importar está Tristan, o primo do protagonista (pausa: eu nem entendi o motivo desta informação está na sinopse já como é uma informação que é descoberta durante a trama, mas enfim, trabalhamos com o que temos, certo?) que também era amigo (ou não) de Lia e que Izzy começa a se sentir atraída no meio de assassinatos que parecem se aproximar cada vez mais e mais dela.

Confesso que houve uma morte aqui que eu não esperei, o que me faria temer pelos personagens, mas, sendo sincera, eu já falei o que eu achei desse livro no 1º paragrafo: você embarca na narrativa e a autora falhou miseravelmente em me fazer me importar com a Izzy. Eu fiquei muito mais investida na história e passado de Fear do que em todo resto. Enquanto as pistas vão sendo dadas aqui e ali, você cria a teoria e ouso dizer que você vai acertar quem é o assassino porque a trama não é lá a mais inteligente do mundo.

E ai a autora Natasha Preston (a qual eu já tinha lido resenhas ótimas de seus outros livros como “The Lake” e que infelizmente não foi publicado no Brasil) chega no capítulo final e quer dar uma de esperta, fazer uma pequena reviravolta na trama e eu confesso que gostei, mas não o suficiente para me fazer elevar tanto a nota do livro ou desejar entender mais sobre o que foi que aconteceu ali. Posso criar minhas teorias e seguir minha vida sem quebrar minha cabeça sobre qual é a resposta final sobre o determinado acontecimento do final ou o que vai acontecer com os personagens que sobreviveram. Acho que cansei de ver autores escreverem tramas medianas e tentarem dar um final apoteótico em suas tramas, mas foi o que eu achei que aconteceu e não consegui comprar totalmente.

No final das contas, o que eu quero apontar é que “The Fear” é um livro super rápido de se ler (menos de 300 páginas no meu eBook) porque a trama não para, mas não se aprofunda também apesar da escrita da autora ser muito boa e fluída. É o típico livro que te diverte, não muda sua vida e não te deixa nada aterrorizado como a sinopse promete – talvez só do desfecho, que termina sendo bom –, mas um fato é que sem o Medo (o personagem, não o sentimento) esse livro beiraria o insuportável (sim, eu fiz esse trocadilho). Vida que segue.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest, personal review. There is a meme floating around that is asking the worst way to die and tons of teens are responding with answers. The trouble is, someone called Fear is out there and some of those responses are becoming a reality. I enjoy Natasha Preston's books, but while this one started out great for me, by the middle, I just wanted to know who the killer was already. It has plenty of twists and turns, but I wasn't surprised by the ending which was disappointing. If you like teen thrillers, this one is for you.

This books centers around a meme going around a small town asking everyone what their greatest fear is. Kids are jumping on the bandwagon sharing it and then all of a sudden they start ending up dead, just the way their fear was. Izzy decides to take matters into her own hands and try to find who is responsible before they strike again.

What’s your biggest fear?

When a meme starts to circulate in a small fishing town, local teenagers start to share what they think the worst way to die would be. Falling, drowning, being stabbed – all terrifying thoughts, yet fun and games when it’s an online trend to be discussed in the hallways between classes.

That is, until two friends are found dead late at night after a party. And then a few days later, someone else goes missing.

To make matters worse, Izzy keeps finding herself involved with all these tragic events. She finds the bodies of her classmates, finds a piece of clothing that may be linked to the killer, and starts having conversations with Axel, the most uncool, lonely kid at school. Could all of these things be connected? The police don’t seem to be doing a good enough job putting everything together – people keep being killed, after all – so Izzy starts to take things into her own hands.

This book was full of twists and turns up until the very end. I’ve never read any of Natasha Preston’s previous books, but after this one I want to read her backlist, stat! I was so convinced I knew who the killer was, and I was right, until I absolutely wasn’t!!

THE FEAR was a heart-pounding thriller that reminded me of teen slasher flicks. If you read and loved Adam Cesare’s CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD you’ll love this book too. Not familiar with it? THE FEAR also reads like a mash-up of FINAL DESTINATION x I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, for all of you who love those movies.

Or, if you’re looking for a book with an ending similar to E. Lockhart’s WE WERE LIARS, pick this up. The twist at the end left me speechless, and I’m still not over it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but it’s safe to say that I loved it and will be shoving it in people’s faces until they promise me to read it.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. The Fear uses a hashtag, #whatsyourgreatestfear to trick teens into telling a vengeful person what their greatest fear is. When they start showing up dead, the police decide not to take this into consideration. A lot of this book does not make sense nor does it follow coherent structure (why does a blowout party take place on a weeknight?). The twist at the end did not make up for poor execution.

I haven't read a Natasha Preston book before I can definately see how she has been so popular with the age group. The book was fast paced and definately kept you guessing until the end. I am not so sure how I feel about the ending but all in all I did enjoyt the book and it was a quick read.

I tell you Natasha Preston is one of my favorite YA Thriller writers. The Fear cements that

So its a very interesting premise. There is a meme going around a small town and its sort of a morbid meme. "What's the scariest, most brutal way to die"
Kids are going crazy over it. Everyone is reposting it and telling their fears. It seems innocent enough, I mean reddit is full of subs like this. However, suddenly kids are being killed. To add to the mystery, these kids are dying the way they confessed their fears.

There are a million reasons why I loved this story. I'm a true crime addict and for whatever reason I have a curiosity of things like that. If I saw a Meme circulating, I absolutely would read the answers, but I don't think I would contribute. In a weird way it reminded me of the movie Urban Legends where students are killed in manners based off of Urban Legends but in such a more awesome way!

Thank you so much to the publisher and to #Netgalley for the arc!

When a new meme about posting the scariest way to die starts circulating in a small town, all the high schoolers jump on board writing their deepest fears online. When her peers start dying, in the ways they fear most, Izzy knows this is no joke. She decides to start an investigation of her own to catch the killer before they strike again.

This book was entertaining, but you definitely need to leave your believability at the door. I do think the author did a good job keeping the suspense going, as the chapters were very short and always ended in a cliffhanger. I also think the premise was really interesting, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the execution. I thought the killer was way too obvious in the end, BUT I did enjoy the little twist the last line gave. I also found many of the characters to be a bit annoying and made terrible decisions repeatedly, which got old pretty quickly.

Rainy days are meant for escapist, just plain fun to read titles. And most often I like to lose myself in a YA book on those days. The Fear is Natasha Preston’s latest book. This is a first read of this author for me - and it certainly won’t be my last!
You know all those teen slasher movies? The ones where the adults and teachers are a bit useless and the teens are determined to solve things on their own, even as someone picks off their friends one by one. Preston's plot takes inspiration from that idea, but with her own twist on things. Would you repost a meme that asked you to detail your biggest fear about dying?! I for one wouldn't. But a number of teens in the town of Rock Bay have done just that.

You know what’s gonna happen next don’t you? You got it - they're being murdered by the fear they posted online. Our lead character Izzy is one of the few that didn’t post what she’s most afraid of. She's a great lead, determined, somewhat innocent and very likable. Rock Bay is a small town, where everyone knows everyone and their business. School politics, friends, frenemies, hookups, sports, the in crowd, relationships and more. And of course there's that mean girls group, the popular ones. There's some 'love' interests as well. Because it wouldn't be a teen read without one - or two.

Everybody’s under suspicion as Preston waves a delicious 'don’t go in the basement', 'oh my gosh why are you doing that' kind of read. Chances are taken, silly moves are made, but that’s the fun of this kind of book.

We get chapters written from the killers point of view and they’re labelled Fear. I had my suspicions, but was kept guessing as to who the killer was going to be for most of the book. Kudos to Preston for a heck of an ending - I did not see that coming. I absolutely loved The Fear - five stars for a fun, addictive tale

My first Natasha Preston book was The Lake and I knew from there I wanted to read all of her books! Young adult, horror is perfect for me because they are fun and scary but don’t cause me intense anxiety like some adult books do. The tie in to social media and the way memes get spread so easily is realistic for this day and age. I think this book could be looked at as being a scare tactic for children to not use social media, but it might be necessary ;)

A page turning thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. A game of naming your greatest fear goes awry when classmates start turning up dead- victims of their greatest fears. An interesting premise and on point for its targeted YA audience. A sold read.

Love this author, love her books. This was no different. Thoroughly enjoyed this almost as much as the twin.

The fear was a YA thriller involving a death meme which resulted in murder. The premise of the book was very interesting. The books started off great and the suspects were dwindled down to 3 characters. The book switched between dal POV's. One POV was of Izzy, the main character and the other was of the killer, called Fear.

What is the worst way to die? That was the meme. The user had to post the meme and basically confess their worst fear. The killer then used that information to actually kill them in the same way. As it just started off as a trend, many people posted it, until people actually started dying. But it was too late, the killer already knew their worst fears.

Izzy found the first body in the snow and was a witness and she grows very attached to the case. She starts investigating and being very nosy. She was very annoying to read about. The things she did were mostly reckless and illogical and threw off the book for me. I HATE open endings and the last line of the book is why I'm giving the book 3 stars instead of 4. I do like YA thrillers even if the main character is a bit annoying. But I couldn't accept the ending. Do we get a sequel? Or what was the point of reading the whole book!

If you like YA Thrillers with open endings, go for this book.

I couldn’t put this one down. It was my first book by Natasha Preston and definitely not my last. I need to read the, all! Imagine jumping on a trend where you post the scariest way to die and then people actually end up dying that way. I was emotionally invested in this one, and every plot twist had me feeling all types of ways. That ending though!!!

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me an ARC for feedback!

This book had me hooked! I stayed up so late reading it! I love Natasha's writing because it's suspenseful and it dives right into that! Yes it was predictable but that ending was unexpected! I was shooketh and I do feel empty because it just ended so abrubtly and I just wanna know what happens next!

This book is a nice suspenseful quick read! I would definitely suggest reading it if you want suspense in your reading life!

I've heard so many great things about this author I was so happy to have a chance to read my first as an eARC. I was expecting a wild ride of psychological thrills. Unfortunately I found it a bit predictable. It was still a very enjoyable read and I can't wait to get to more by this author.
I think the author has a tremendous talent for characterization. I felt like I knew the main characters inside and out. Sadly they all did that thing where you are reading and screaming NOOOOOO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?!
Overall I found this book a great roller-coaster ride of a thriller. I did find myself getting uninterested in who was "the fear" throughout this middle of the book. Turns out that was because I already had the right answer in my head .

I was shocked at the end. It never happens. Well at least I do not remember the last time. The book is about fear, about what we are afraid of and someone decide to kill. I could not immagine to live that nightmaire of dead young people. That would be my biggest fear. To be among just dead people. The person that decide to kill writes on instagram asking the biggest fear how we die. And the it starts. The main character Izi is there surranded by everyone but somehow left alone. She suspect everyone and hope noone is the killer. But this is not a fairy tale is a thriller and that means, nothing is like it seems.

Thank you PRH International publising for this gifted copy via Netgaĺley.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy of Natasha Preston’s new thriller, ‘The Fear.’

Preston’s books are short (with short chapters), and incredibly suspenseful; grabbing your attention and holding on to it as the story progresses. This one was no exception!

The concept of this story is not only brilliant, but also relevant to the current times. There is a meme going around, asking people what their death fear is (i.e. drowning, starving, etc.) and everyone is commenting on it and sharing it. Then one day two teens turn up dead, being killed by the one way they said they were most scared of, online, on the post. Brilliant!

There is a POV for a few chapters of ‘Fear’ who is the serial killer. My first guess was wrong, but then I quickly figured out who the killer was. Preston’s books can be predictable, but still throws in some sort of twist.

My biggest issue with this one is Izzy, our main character. She gets dumber and dumber as the story goes on. It felt unrealistic at times and she annoyed me. She was convinced it was one person and she wouldn’t let that go, which made her blind to what was really going on, and who it really was. The last line of the book was great but also felt unfinished and abrupt. I would have liked to see another chapter to wrap things up nicely. The writing is also very young adult ish but not terrible!

I look forward to seeing what Preston comes up with next!

I enjoyed reading this book and loved the plot. It was a great thrilling read that I brought on vacation!

Another thrilling read by Natasha Preston. I was kept engaged and turning pages to finish reading to see what happens in the story. It's about a meme that starts going around the internet in a small town about everyone sharing and reposting their biggest fears. When all her classmates start dying and being killed, Izzy knows it has to do with the meme. She starts trying to figure out who the killer is and stop them and in the end when she finds the answer, it comes with a surprise and big twist ending that leaves you hanging.
I'd definitely recommend this. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for letting me read and review this great thriller. All thoughts and opinions are my own.