Thank you @NetGalley and @SourcebooksFire for sending me an advance copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own!

I absolutely loved this book!! When I first started reading it, I wondered if the blurb and the information given in the first few pages gave away too much too soon, but the more I read, I realized that things were NOT so obvious. This book had intense suspense from beginning to end that kept me constantly guessing. I felt like I was there in those creepy dark hallways with the countless locked doors and no way out...I could feel the claustrophobia and the fear.

I loved how we got to see Jo change from a young woman trapped by an early trauma to a hero and leader. Each character's quirks added to the obstacles they faced.

Between chapters are newspaper articles about the later outcome of the whole mall situation. I found them distracting at first, but the more I learned about the characters and their actions, the more sense they made to me. There were also lines from a letter from an unknown author between chapters. I was confused at first, but these gave clues to the outcome and kept me trying to figure out whose thoughts they were.

I will definitely be adding this book to my classroom library--the constant action and suspense will keep my students reading!

Wow this book was soo intense with soo many twists and turns. I absolutely loved it, the suspense and mystery was awesome and kept thru all the book. A little predictable but do biggie. The writing flowed perfectly and the details really made you feel the story, you can really feel what the characters are feeling (My heart was beating so fast while reading).The writer did an awesome job. I couldn't put the book down I just needed to know what happened next. It was a fun fast read. I recommend it to everyone that likes thriller/suspense books. I will for sure be checking out more books by this author.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Four Found Dead by Natalie D. Richards in exchange for an honest review.

3.5

Four Found Dead has a great premise. You know the antagonist, you know four will die, but you don't know how or who. If you're looking for a thriller where there's a great mystery that needs solving, this wouldn't be the right book for you.

Instead this plays like a thriller movie where the suspense comes from not knowing if someone is going to pop out of dark corners and not knowing who will survive the night. It's the kind of read that has you staying up late to find out who survives.

I will say my enjoyment of the book was definitely reduced by the number of plot holes and questions that were never answered. The conclusion was predictable but still satisfying enough but it left me annoyed with the obvious solutions.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience to read Four Found Dead but you definitely need to know what you're getting into and be ready for what you'll experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and Natalie D. Richards for the advanced "Four Found Dead" in exchange for an honest review.

With a few adjustments, this book could've easily been a 4- or 5-star read. There was a lot I enjoyed about this book--the tension was done incredibly well and sustained throughout the entire book, the characters were pretty well developed, and I enjoyed their relationships with each other as well. Jo, as a protagonist, was very easy to root for.

What I didn't understand was what made Clayton snap and become a murderer. Why did he strangle the first victim? Was it just because she knew about his relationship with Summer? Is that enough motive? And after that, he wanted to kill the remaining characters just so he doesn't have any witnesses? I wasn't convinced that that was enough motive to kill 7 people.

I also wished the ending was a bit clearer. The cast of characters went from being trapped in the mall to a month later, recovering, and I wish we had seen more resolution to what happened after they got out of the mall, because I had questions about what happened with Quincy in particular; his ending felt surprising and not well established.

Overall, though, I did really enjoy reading this book, and I would recommend it to thriller fans.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was very interesting. I liked it very much. This author is a new one for me. The book held my interesting but it was very intriguing at the end.

Thank you net gally for letting me read this great book.

The Riverview theater is shutting down forever, Jo and her six coworkers are cleaning up after the last showing. A stranger shows up and confronts their manager then the lights go out and the manager goes missing along with the keys to the doors and the office safe that holds all their belongings. Then the first body is found. Their only hope is to head into the abandoned mall the theater is attached to and try to find a way out with a murderer chasing them.

This book starts off with a bang and never lets up. When reading this book I had to stop questioning things like an adult and remember these are teenage kids that might do things differently than I would. This would have been a great book to have a map included because this mall felt huge but luckily the great descriptions had me picturing everything in my head. Make sure when you start reading this you have enough time to finish it because you won’t want to put it down.

A different twist on the closed room mystery. We know from the start who is killing the people but not why or who will be next. Set in a movie theater on the last night before it is closed forever, the staff must try to stay alive once they realize nobody can escape.

Ugh this sucks to write. But this was not good.

It was way too repetitive. Just a thought, don’t use the term “pretty little white boy” or “forgettable way that rich white girls are often pretty” multiple times in a book because it’s just odd. Like why was that necessary? Why did the author have to do that?

But as I said, way too repetitive considering this is a short book. Phrases used over and over, no real character development, boring. Each character blended together because they were forgettable and dumb. Jo was the dumbest of all. Her inner monologues got so annoying. I honestly didn’t want to continue. The only good thing about this was you didn’t know which four died. I did like that. But my goodness this was a miss.

Review: what a heart-pounding read!! From the very first page, my anxiety was in overdrive. You could feel the anxiety of all the characters throughout this horrible night! I couldn’t imagine being in that situation! OMG. I just can’t stop replaying it in my mind! It’s horrible! But the book was so good! It kept me on my toes and wanting to continue reading more. Thank you so much @sourcebooksfire and @netgalley for my advanced copy! I love Natalie D. Richards’ books and I can’t wait to read more from her!!

This one was definitely not my thing. I hated everyone in this book and it felt like a chore to read it.

It’s the last night at Riverview Theaters. The final guests have gone. In Natalie D. Richards’ “Four Found Dead,” Jo and her co-workers are spending the last hours of their final shift cleaning up and closing down. The end of their time at Riverview Theaters is bittersweet. They are a pretty tight crew, but are looking forward to moving on from a tedious job and a creepy boss. In quick succession, an unexpected visitor, a broken soda machine, and a power outage fray nerves. Then the bodies start piling up. Jo and her friends have to band together and use their wits to save themselves. Will they be able to outwit the one who wants them dead?

The story is fast-paced and full of “no, don’t go in there!” type moments. For the first third of the book there is a LOT of noise inside Jo’s head. It is reasonable as there are a number of triggers that have her reliving past trauma. Just as the noise and her fear become almost overwhelming, both recede and Jo finds her inner strength to push through an event she never thought she’d be part of. I would have liked a longer set-up to build the creepy-factor before the catapult into action. There are some funny comments about how people behave in horror movies.

This story would be great for teens who like thrillers.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for allowing me to read this early copy

*thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my eARC*

I generally enjoyed this book, I was pretty solidly hooked on the story, and I was pretty spooked throughout. I think it was an interesting take on the horror genre to set up the mystery and unravel it pretty early on. I do think the plot was repetitive and it seemed to drag on and repeat itself throughout some of the scenes. overall, generally solid YA thriller, perfect for fans of Stephanie Perkins' mysteries and Karen M. McManus!

omg I hated this book. I've never read a book that made me feel so snarky. This is my first book by Natalie D. Richards and if it's at all indicative of her writing style, it's my last. It's just not for me. Others certainly seem to love it so I would say give it a try if you're a fan of YA thrillers.

Four Found Dead sounded promising, and and I was really excited to start it. Teens running from a killer in a mall/theater after closing? That sounds right up my alley.

But it wasn't.

It was basically just an hours long, high-stakes game of Hide and Seek.

The epilogue was cute, I guess, and at least the action started quickly, but there is absolutely nothing I found redeeming or enjoyable about this book. I love good YA Horror and Thrillers, this ain't it. Sorry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the e-ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this story. It was action packed, and thrilling with a few nice twists and turns. I found that I just kept reading and needing to know more. Definite page turner

I’m going to give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. I thought it was really creative to use a soon to be abandoned mall/movie theaters as a setting for a mystery, but I wish there was more description of the mall. I enjoyed how in between chapters there was a newspaper article or email regarding the incident. I do wish there was more character development with the secondary characters; I felt like besides the main character the other characters had a one word personality traits. I wasn’t a huge fan of knowing who the bad guy was early on, and I wish that the motive was more clear

This book took me on an adrenaline-fueled ride, and I could not put it down!
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The action starts immediately as Jo and her coworkers close the theater for the last time. Their manager Clayton is a complete tool, and most of the time is all bark and no bite. However, today something seems more off than usual with him, and it has Jo worried. When the power goes out, and one of them is found dead it's a race to escape. All the exits they know about are locked, their phones and keys are locked up in the safe, and there is a killer on the loose. The only way to go is through the mall, where hopefully they can find a way out before the killer gets them.

I couldn't put this down, I felt like I was right alongside our group as they navigated the empty mall, and hiding from the killer. I really enjoyed everything about this book, and can't wait to see what Natalie Richards writes next!

Jo and her coworkers are closing at the movie theater they have worked at for some time. This is the last night the theater is set to be open. The coworkers plan to celebrate in different ways, but their celebration is shattered when one of them is found murdered. Who is next? And why are they being killed? Jo and her coworkers will do anything to survive in this tense, locked-room thriller.

Natalie Richards uniquely writes this book; in the story, the killer is known, but the motive is not. The setting is amazing and well-described as the characters make their way through various parts of the mall, trying to hide from the killer. As you read, you feel as though you are trapped inside the mall with the characters. The main character Jo was well-developed, and I enjoyed the flashbacks to an event that happened in her past. Overall, this was a great faced-paced thriller that kept my interest throughout. Although, I wish there would have been some more character development for some of the other characters. I also felt the ending was a bit rushed and would’ve liked more details. However, I recommend this book to anyone that likes fast-paced, locked-room thrillers. I give it 3/5 stars.

Really great premise but the story fell flat for me. I didn't end up finishing it but it definitely shows a lot of promise!

I have read most if not all of Natalie D. Richard's YA mystery/suspense novels. I really enjoy them. This one was different in that the "who dunit" is not really a question. It is more about the reasoning behind it. The characters are trapped in an abandoned and dangerous mall and find themselves running for their lives. The story had a good premise, yet the action and events were very repetitive. I did not enjoy it as much as her other novels since their really was no big reveal in the end. It just seemed lacking.

The premise of this book was so promising. I loved the horror/slasher film vibes that seemed to be suggested by the summary, but it ultimately just fell flat.

I’ll start with the good…the setting was unique. I’ve read many books with this same general premise and an abandoned mall was a new one for me. The set up was also fine. I think the way the characters moved from normal night to danger was sufficiently terror inducing.

However, the twists weren’t really twists. The action was repetitive. And the reasoning behind the murders was iffy at best. Some of what should have been the most tension/terror filled moments happened “off screen.” And a lot of the “tense” moments felt manufactured. How many times can we “hear a door open” or “see a movement on the balcony” before it feels like we’re just being fed the same moment over and over again.

I also think the novel would have benefitted from multiple characters POVs. Jo’s narrating was grating at times and the cast of characters would have maybe been a little easier to connect with if we had seen through their eyes.