I am a big fan of Natalie Richards. I’ve read all of her books, and found “Seven Dirty Secrets” and “Five Total Strangers” to be two of my favorite reads in quite some time. As a result I was very excited to be offered the eARC of “Four Found Dead.” Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed in this book.

The story revolves around a defunct mall in small town Ohio whose attached movie theatre is closing down. There are eight theater workers and by the time the story runs only four survive. It appears that this novel was going to be a cat and mouse,, figure out the killer, style book. Well, that’s half right. There is cat and mouse, for those remaining as they run through the abandoned mall hiding and trying to survive the night, but the killer is an early reveal. That was not what I was expecting and after that, I was bored with the forced banter, and the trying to survive the night yet we know who the killer is?

Natalie’s writing is as always, quick, and edgy. She has a way of drawing you into the story even if it isn’t as good a story as I could have been. The ending was wrapped up to quickly and I felt that additional POV’s would have helped the story be a bit more edgy and suspenseful. As it was, the characters presented were flat.

Not as intense as her others, it’s not that I hated it, I just didn’t much care for the early reveal and then everyone running around in the dark, the mystery and suspense just lacked.

Thanks to NetGalley and SourceBooks for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own.

I really love stories that take place in atmospheric settings (i.e. theme park or mall in this case). It really helps me get engrossed in the story. I live in a metro city and we have 2 malls, but I definitely was picturing one over the other while reading this book - imagining everything taking place there. Great visualizations!

Also, since this is a YA novel, I think I need to mention that I am almost 42 years old and I really enjoyed it! Yes, there will always be some juvenile situations and aspects in a YA book because that is the target audience, but as an adult, I know what I'm signing up for. Some YA books are just too juvenile, but this one was not overpowering in that area.

This was a fabulous thriller that kept me scrolling pages and gave me those nervous stomach knots at times.

Definitely check this one out!

Eight people go into the mall. Only four of them survive it.

Jo is no stranger to tragedy and death. Her father was killed in front of her and her sister when they were younger. When she finds herself in an eerily similar situation, she knows she needs to fight this time. She couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t help protect her coworkers - her friends. Trapped inside an empty, sealed mall with a killer, Jo and her friends must work out what is going and how they can possibly escape a building that’s been completely shut down.

I. Loved. This. So much. The storyline is so unique and also fast paced which is always good. Majority of the plot is action filled, there is suspense from beginning to end. And Jo. She cared about her friends and did her absolute best to protect them. She refused to hide. She put up a fight because she knew she wouldn’t be able to live with it if she didn’t. I love reliable, admirable characters like her. I also noticed there’s a lot of basic but lesser known important medical knowledge throughout this and I thought that was really cool!

I highly recommend this!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out!

Seven employees of a local theater, Jo, Lexi, Quincy, Hudson, Summer, Noemi, and Hannah, are working their last shift under their manager, Clayton, before it closes. It’s the only remaining business left in the local mall, which is about be renovated. The movie-goers leave, and the employees are closing up for the last time.

Instead of finishing up the closing shift and going to get pancakes, there’s a gun, a fight, and a power outage.

The story is told primarily from Jo’s perspective. There are a few new snippets and other thing scattered throughout, but Jo is the main narrator. We get a couple flashbacks to a past experience she had, but it’s mostly a linear timeline.

Honestly this wasn’t my favorite by this author. I felt like something was missing. I get the basic motivation which we discover in the end, but there’s so little backstory about the main plot point.

It definitely kept me interested, but nothing was actually shocking and it left me wanting more.

I’d probably rate this book 3.5/5, but that isn’t an option here so I’m rounding up.

On their last shift at the closing Riverview Theaters coworkers soon find themselves fighting for their lives as things begin to escalate and one by one they are being hunted down. Jo and her six coworkers all want to close their final shift, clock out, and grab dinner but their overbearing, angry, and power tripping boss has other plans. Things only take a worse when Jo notices their boss Clayton is carrying a gun on him and his wife comes in with a chilling accusation... from there things spiral as the power goes out, their manager disappears, and the keys to the lobby doors and the theater safe are gone.... the safe containing all their phones... Tension and terror rise as Jo discovers the dead body of one of her coworkers and another states that it was their boss who killed her... now they have to find a way to escape being trapped in the mall that has boarded up exist and disabled fire alarms... what could have caused their boss to snap and how will they make it out alive before he hunts them down? this was a fun thriller read and you follow Jo with her PTSD of a previous shooting experience she had when she was younger and her father was killed at a gas station robbery. She lives in fear but wants to help people, and despite the horrible situation and her trauma coming at her, she is trying her best to keep everyone alive. This was definitely a fun read that had you wanting to see if they would make it out alive and what their next move was. I would definitely recommend this thriller~!

*Thanks Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire, Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

this was what I was hoping for from a young adult mystery novel, it had what I was looking for. The description worked really well together and worked with the set story. I was invested in what was going on and loved the mystery elements. The characters worked well and were interesting people. I enjoyed the way Natalie D. Richards wrote this and look forward to more from her.

"But he doesn’t have his gun now,” I say softly. “Five against one is very different when there isn’t a gun involved.” Quincy pushes his glasses up, thinking this over. He nods. “Yes. There are too many of us. If he isn’t armed, he won’t stand much chance against five people.”

The synopsis of this story really hooked me! I love a good YA thriller/mystery and this was no exception! This was a quick read and I managed to get through it in one sitting. I really enjoyed the storyline and the plot!

**Thank you to SourcebooksFire and NetGalley for the ARC**

So this book was pretty intense, but in a good way. I was honestly surprised that the killer was made so obvious so early on. Well, maybe not that obvious as for a moment I thought it would be a different character. I really liked the way that, as a reader, we got to learn about the main characters over time. The descriptions of the dark theater, the abandoned mall, and the killer chasing them throughout had the right amount of creepiness.

The story wrapped up nicely in the end though I’m not sure how I feel about Quincy’s ending. I do like the twist of how it ties into the rest of the story though.

A suspenseful story set in an abandoned shopping mall. Jo and six others are closing down the movie theater they work at. It's the last night the movie theater was open before closing along with all the connected stores in a defunct mall. After the electricity goes out, Jo and her co-workers find one of their own dead. With their phones locked up in a safe and their temperamental boss missing with the keys to the door, Jo and her co-workers flee into the mall hoping to find a way out. They find themselves trapped because the exits have already been boarded up and the alarms no longer work. I felt anxious for Jo and her friends as they try to escape and was counting down the victims hoping more would survive despite the book title. I wish there was more description of Jo the main character, I felt disconnected from her. What does she look like, how old is she, what's her real name...small things like that would make me connect with her more.

I loved the concept of a locked-door scenario in a mall, but this book didn't deliver for me. Because of the way the story was structured, it lacked the suspense and pull of a standard thriller. Overall, it just felt really dark and sad — which I'm sure was the point — but eventually the heaviness made me put it down. I'm surprised that some of this subject matter was in a YA book.

Very fast and easy read but for me there was a lot packed in for YA and for how short it was. There was a lot of missing developments

A fast paced ya thriller that makes for a quick read.

We know who the killer is almost right off the bat, but we don't know motivations. The stalking of the group makes for a tense game of cat and mouse with quite a few confrontations. The only mystery is really, who's next?

The news blurbs at most of the chapters were neat, even though I found a few unnecessary to the plot or characters. The italic thoughts were a bit confusing at the end of some chapters because there wasn't a clear distinction that it was separate from the main POV. I don't mind questioning whose thoughts they are but I don't think it was well executed in this instance. That's my only complaint with this read.

A solid tense thriller in the YA reads for sure.

Four Found Dead has a really interesting and promising premise. I love the idea of surviving the night in a theatre/defunct shopping mall. Sadly, this book wasn’t what I had expected at all and fell flat. From the synopsis, I was expecting this story to be a whodunit mystery/thriller, but it’s very clear who the killer is from the first chapter. There’s no element of surprise or twists because the story is very predictable.

The characters lacked development, which made it difficult to root for or care what happens to them. The news paper articles at the end of each chapter would’ve been great, had they not included the same “story developing” or “no further comments at this time." There was just too much mindless wandering and no real action plan. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Four Found Dead is an atmospheric thriller about the last night of a movie theater being open. The reader knows from the title that 4 people die so it’s interesting to follows the suspense of who is next. It’s a cat and mouse edge of your seat story through a closed theater and it’s adjoining abandoned mall. The main character of Jo is well fleshed out but the supporting character are a blur and hard to distinguish between. In the end, there doesn’t seem to be a real deep reason for all the death but I guess that’s true in mass killings. I went into this book not knowing it was YA and I don’t think it really reads that way. A solid read.

In this fast-paced ride, teens spend the last night of their movie theatre job trapped with a killer. For a few, it's the last night of their lives, period.

A group of teens and their creepy adult supervisor are closing up on the last night of their movie theatre-within-a-mall job right before the mall shuts its doors forever. The premise is excellent and rife with possibilities--a potential slasher with the bonus settings of both a movie theatre and a colorful mall. Unfortunately, everything about Four Found Dead was incredibly dull and didn't live up to even the tiniest of my expectations.

The story reads fast, but that's because it's mostly dialogue and mindless action, with very little else. It could have taken place anywhere because hardly any of the setting was described. This was plot over character driven, so we don't get to know any of the kids beyond surface level. I didn't care about any of them.

Don't even get me started on the fact that the identity of the killer is obvious from the beginning and there isn't even a fun twist to counter it.

Thanks to NG and the publisher!

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Four Found Dead releases May 2, 2023

2.5

In Ohio, there’s a defunct shopping mall that’s days away from being demolished. Attached to that shopping mall is a movie theater, where 8 workers just had their last shift, but by the time they all leave for good, only 4 will survive.

This was a really quick read. Not much of a mystery here because the “killer” is blatantly obvious straight away (I’m talking 3% into the story) but there’s still a decent reveal at the end.
Definitely not quite what I was expecting or hoping for, but if you’re looking for something easier to read to get back into the swing of things where the story flows in a sequential order, this could be a great option.

There’s some gun violence involved, severe injuries and blood loss, death, on page seizures, cheating subplot, and past trauma that a character is actively reliving.

There were some discrepancies throughout that didn’t make sense to me — for example, at the start of the book Hudson smelled like soap and cardamom, but then shortly after it changed to licorice and popcorn? When the only thing that’s happened has been them trying to escape a locked building with a power outage…

The addition of post-tragedy articles from the community were a nice touch, but I thought the overall story wrapped up too quickly. Perhaps a pov from Clayton would have added a bit more of a suspenseful edge.


“Because I know this won’t be the last time it hits us. Death is like the tide; it rolls in and out in an endless cycle.”

If you’re not reading YA books, you’re really missing out! Do you want to read about teens trying to escape a decrepit mall while trying to outwit a killer? Yes, you do! I loved the creepy setting in the mall, and I will never look at malls the same way again. The writing made me feel the tension, and I was on the edge of my set the whole time wondering who would die next. I loved how we weren’t hit over the head about the diversity of the characters, but slowly learned about each character. There are certainly surprises, but don’t expect huge ‘twists’, just enjoy the skillful story. Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for the copy of Four Found Dead by Natalie D. Richards.

A very tense read in a fantastic setting. Real Fear Street vibes! The main character Jo is one of the novel's strengths although the antagonist Clayton never rang true for me.

Going to the mall was the place to be when I was growing up. I mean you could just hang out and get food. Win win. Now, malls are closing all over, and honestly, there are too many people there for me.

The remaining business in the derelict shopping mall, is a movie theater, and its their last night. During shift all phones get locked up in the managers office. When the lights go out, tensions rise when Jo discovers the dead body of one of her co-workers. With the mall boarded up, including exits, will Jo and her co-workers be able to escape before it’s too late for them?

I am really enjoying YA Thrillers lately. I have read a few recently and have found them to be super-fast paced and fun! This one was exactly that. This one vaguely reminded me of No-Exit in that it was set in a very short period, but still a ton of action and had you holding onto the edge of your seat. I enjoyed the little blurbs from the news every so often – it was intriguing and interesting. While there weren’t any big reveals, or super twisty parts – it worked. I don’t think you always need that for it to be a captivating thriller. This one was just fantastic, and I thoroughly enjoyed.

This one hits the shelves May 2nd! Thank you so much to @netgalley, and SOURCEBOOKS Fire, @sourcebooksfire, for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.