The Finalists

Unfortunately, this was not for me.

Six college students have gathered to compete for the Hyde Fellowship. They must enter Hyde House leaving behind their devices. They door locks behind them. They must spend 8 hours inside the house with a college administrator and Nicholas Hyde, heir to the Hyde fortune. There is a protest going on outside Hyde House and inside, one of the finalists has died.

I always have high hopes when I see David Bell has a new book coming out. I tend enjoy his books immensely. This is the first time that I have given one of his books a less than 4 star rating. I enjoy locked room type books. The synopsis of this book was very intriguing. Having to be in locked house. I had Disney’s haunted mansion in my mind while reading this “This chamber has no windows and no doors, which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out!” Of course there are doors in this book and the windows are nailed shut, but still, I could not get that out of my head. This is a story of survival but for me it was lackluster. I was hoping for more oomph.

I just didn’t connect with this book in any way. David Bell usually wows me but not this time. But as I have enjoyed the other books, I have read by him, I will be on the lookout for future books. He is a great writer and I believe this is just a one off.

Others enjoyed this book more than I did, so please read their reviews as well.

I usually round up with my ratings and initially I did, but on further thought, I moved it back down to two stars.

2.75 stars

#TheFinalists #NetGalley.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.