At its core, This is Where We Die is a chilling, locked-room mystery following a group of teens who have already survived a major crisis, only to find themselves once again trapped in a life-or-death scenario. The story explores themes of trauma, survival, and trust through multiple perspectives—six, in fact—which could have provided a rich and layered narrative. Unfortunately, the execution falls short.

The shifting points of view lack distinct voices, which made it challenging to keep track of who was narrating. I found myself repeatedly flipping back to clarify which character was speaking. While this structure aimed to give us a full view of the unfolding events and blur the lines of truth and perception, the effect was often more confusing than illuminating. Additionally, the snippets included at the ends of some chapters (possibly meant to mimic media posts or offhand remarks) added little to the plot and often restated what we already knew.

Thematically, the book is heavy—it comes with numerous trigger warnings including death, murder, cannibalism, substance abuse, mental health struggles, and more. While I appreciate transparency about difficult content, one major trigger warning served as an immediate spoiler for a key element of the plot, removing a layer of suspense that would have made the mystery more engaging.

There are moments where the present-day narrative mixes effectively with flashbacks, creating emotional depth and raising intriguing questions about memory and guilt. However, the tone of the book felt oddly light given the gravity of the subject matter, and the resolution, while complete, lacked emotional impact for me.

In short, while the premise had potential and the mystery posed interesting questions, the storytelling choices—particularly the indistinct voices and inconsistent tone—made it difficult for me to fully connect with the characters or the plot. This wasn’t quite my cup of tea, but readers who enjoy survival thrillers with complex backstories might find more to appreciate.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with this free eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.

This murder-mystery novel told in multiple points of view tells the story of six high school seniors who survived a horrific skiing accident, the details of which come out during the course of the novel. After returning from their ski trip, the six survivors keep mum about what happened. Eighteen months later, they are graduating high school and decide to have a party on a private island. Once the original six arrive, they start to die off, and none of them know who the murderer is. Or do they? This book kept me on my toes, and I loved the multiple perspectives. I will definitely add this one to my high school library.

This is definitely a fun, well thought out mystery! I throughly enjoyed this book and would love to read more from this author. Thanks to Betgalley and the publisher for this ARC

Eight friends left for a skiing weekend… only six returned. Now those friends are headed out to throw an epic graduation party on a private island. What could go wrong?

If you love, Agatha Christie, you will absolutely enjoy this homage to her work. In fact, the name of the island is. Christie Island and several characters share names with the characters from her classic And Then There Were None (although if I’m being honest, a few characters from the original were left out, and one character’s name was used twice. This is a picky thing that only diehard Christie fans will notice lol). The plot is fast-paced and fun, and while I had the murderer figured out, it was still a fun twist at the end. I recommend any thriller lovers looking for an engaging read!

Thank you to the author, the publishers, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC!

This Is Where We Die follows six friends who rent a house on a remote island to celebrate their graduation. There used to be eight people in the friend group but when they went on a ski trip only the six friends made it out alive. Someone is wanting the friend group to pay for what happened during the ski trip.

I wished that the book didn't have the names for the chapters. I understand why she wrote it the way she did to get everyone's point of view. I think this book was well wrote and keep the readers guessing what was going to happen. The characters will have flashbacks to ski trip and what happened to present. There were numerous times I tried to guess the ending but was not successful how it was going to end.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC copy for an honest review.

This is a fun "locked-room" mystery as the students were once trapped in the snow and now they've been invited to Christies Island which includes 10 bedrooms, a private chef, and a bar. But each of them have secrets--some that others know--and some they keep to themselves And a mysterious painting on the wall continues to have a big red X marking them out one by one! Who will survive, who will die...and why???
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

5 stars – Chilling and addictive

I couldn’t put this one down! This Is Where We Die is a heart-pounding thriller that kept me on edge the entire time. Six friends reunite after a traumatic event, only to find themselves trapped and hunted. The suspense and twists kept me guessing until the very end. If you love psychological thrillers, this one’s a must-read!

Thank you to Harper and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a great popcorn, quick, engaging thriller. It is YA so it has some elements that give “middle school scary movie night” (ie, a little implausible or foolish) but I didn’t find the writing to be immature— actually I think He has improved a bit in her style since Perfect Little Monsters.

I am a massive locked room mystery fan and this riff on And Then There Were None delivered the chills thst I associate with them. I was very lucky to read this on a 7 hour bus ride— I didn’t have to put it down, which was great because I couldn’t. I would definitely recommend this quick read for the summer or for anyone looking to just pick up something that hooks them but doesn’t require a huge emotional or intellectual investment to get going. Perfect popcorn.

My biggest complaint?

If you have ever seen the Clue Movie (with Tim Curry) you’ll know there’s a moment when the characters have seen so much death, they start to barely react every time they discover a dead body. That happens in this book, but unfortunately it happens with the very first death and it just took a level of intensity out of those scenes.

All in all 3.5 stars rounded up.

This was a super fun and suspenseful twist on the Agatha Christie book “And Then There Were None” ( which funny enough, I just finished reading with my 9th grade English class- I’m a teacher). I appreciated having POV from every survivor, but there were a few times I had to scroll back to the beginning of the chapter to remember who was talking at the time. The dual timeline takes you back to the fateful day two of their friends were lost and helps you get the big picture as to why someone is hellbent on killing then all now. The pacing was well done and the tension held throughout. Read this one if you like drama, tension, suspense, isolation and retribution!

This was a different take on friend group killings we see from other authors. I enjoyed the cat and mouse and questioning everyone's motives as the story progressed. It has it all - love, angst, murder, revenge....who will make it out alive?

This was san easy read and held my attention. I was invested in the characters and the story. Thank you for the opportunity and will be keeping my 👀 on this author!

interesting idea and good writing. biggest flaw is the character building. we bounce around so much in perspectives characters can't get much. 3.5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t for me. A locked room mystery has to really be stand out to work. I liked the premise, but had too many issues. The tone is very blithe for the subject matter and the six points of view have no distinction at all. I kept clicking back to the start of the chapter to see the point of view which made the story confusing overall. The little snippets at the end of some chapters (snatches of conversations? Social media comments? Unclear) didn’t offer any information and seemed to only recap what we already knew. There was a lot telling instead of showing. Each character plainly told us their motivation. Check the trigger warnings, but know that they will give spoilers.

Thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and a chance to read this early. All opinions are my own.

2.5 stars.

Will, Isla (I think everyone hoped she died first,) Sadie, Ant, Emily and Charles just graduated from high school. They are the six survivors of a hellish heli-ski (ha!) vacation where two people (really three people. I don’t know why they act like the third doesn’t count. I guess because he was just staff and there to serve the fabulous likes of them? Very nice.) were killed and where the group underwent a major trauma.

To celebrate graduation billionaire Sadie rents an island for the group of six plus sixteen of their classmates. The six arrive the night before the others. The rest never show up and neither does the staff.

Then the murders start. Who is killing them, and why?

SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read any further, though they give this away pretty early, and don’t go into any detail (too bad):


I liked this better when it was called “Yj.” Does it say anything about me that I think I could do this if necessary and not look back? Overall book was fine. I have to admit that I did guess who it was, but this is YA, so, you know.

I was excited to read this, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. There were parts that dragged on for a bit, and I found it to be a bit anti-climactic and relatively unbelievable. I didn't connect with the characters and felt they were two-dimensional.

I appreciate the opportunity to preview the ARC.

Great plot! I figured it out about halfway through, but I wasn’t sold on it being the right answer until about three fourths of the way!

This is Where We Die follows a group of friends two years after they went from eight to six on a ski trip. They’ve never told anyone what really happened on the trip. When an exclusive private island with a mansion equip with staff and luxuries, goes viral on social media, they persuade Sadie to rent it for the graduating class for the weekend. The six friends arrive the day before everyone else only to find the island empty. Matters are made worse when one of them dies and it starts to seem like their past is finally catching up with them.

This was a really fun, modern take on And Then There Were None! I really enjoyed the isolated setting—it’s one of my favourite mystery/thriller tropes. The plot was really gripping, and I loved that there was dual timeline. The reveal of what happened on the ski trip was done so well and I loved the twist at the end. I was hoping the killer would be who I thought it was so I’m very happy about that. Really great tension and intrigue!

I really enjoyed that there were multiple perspectives. I think it really added a lot of drama and depth to the story. Sadie was definitely my favourite, but they all felt very real and made believable choices. And the dynamic between them all was really interesting.

Overall, if you liked your mystery thrillers with an isolated setting and lots of twists, I’d definitely recommend trying this one!

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for the arc.

This book had me hooked from the start. I actually had meant to up load it so it was ready for after I finished my other book and randomly started reading and next thing I knew.. I had abandoned the other book to binge this one. The writing and pacing were spot on and while not perfect, it kept me engaged and wanted to keep flipping pages until the end.

Now was it fairly predictable? Yes. Did I care? No. It was a fun read where it was more about the process than the who-dun-it. It did have some “Yellow Jacket” vibes in the survival part of the story so for fans of the TV series this may be a great read for you. It also reminded me of Pretty Little Island by Rhea Ryan- but without the spice and much more stream lined.

I think this book could have been a touch longer where some of the emotions of surviving a tragedy could have been explored a bit more as it had the beginnings of going a bit deeper but that’s just a personal preference. I think the biggest reason I love YA is young adults and teens make choices that they wouldn’t after their brains are fully developed. It opens up the possibilities of being way more twisted than if you used older characters.

This thriller comes out July 1st 2025 from SourceFire Books!
I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary eARC from SourceFire through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for this arc!

Even as an adult, I like a well written YA thriller book. And this is a very well written thriller. The characters are well developed and the plot is very good! I’d recommend this to anyone.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for this Advanced Reader’s Copy of This is Where We Die by Cindy R.X. He due to be published July 1, 2025.
Eight friends went on a trip. Only six made it out alive. Now a killer has one night to make sure the survivors pay for what they did . . . so that zero make it out alive. The remaining six high school friends go to an exclusive private island and wait for their other classmates to arrive….but they never do. Cut off from everything they, too, are picked off one by one. Will any of them survive?

I am usually not into YA stories, but this one definitely kept me interested with all the twists throughout the entire book. It had me invested with each chapter unraveling not only what happened in the horrible snowstorm that took the first two friends the year before, but the unveiling of what was happening to the other six on the island and who was behind it! A great thriller!

#NetGalley #CindyRXHe #SourcebooksFire #ThisIsWhereWeDie

Oh. My. Goodness. This book was THE most devourable YA thriller! This book is diabolical in the best way!

Six friends plan to throw an epic graduation party on a remote island, in a house that is off the charts luxurious. The six head there the night before to prepare, but it’s very tense. The six of them, a seemingly unbreakable group, haven’t spent much time alone together since they were once a group of eight…

At the age of sixteen, their Canadian skiing trip went horribly wrong. Two of their best friends died. Now, secluded and completely alone on this island, they are in more danger than ever before. Someone is bloodthirsty and none of them are safe. What really did happen in Canada, anyway?

Ahhh!! This was incredible. This was one of the fastest paced, cuckoo bananas books I have read in so long. Every single chapter gets you closer and closer to the ultimate answer, and let’s face it… by the end, you are SO invested.

This is fantastic because it demonstrates the animalistic nature of humans, but they are just teenagers, on the cusp of life… I loved and hated all of them.

This is definitely in the running for top 5 of the year. I can’t explain it. It was just a great time.