Published by Wicked House Publishing Genres: Fiction, Horror, Mystery
Format: ARC, eBook
Six strangers, a chance to win $150M, a puzzle house. Sounded like an interesting horror/mystery book, but it picked me up and dropped me off in outlier alley.
This sounded intriguing and piqued my “trapped/escape house” interest. This book started on a high note. Six individuals receive notice that they are beneficiaries of Alexei Vasiliev, a puzzle master. They need to come to his house for the reading of his will. For his estranged wife, it makes sense to be there, but the others do not know Alexei Vasiliev or why they are in the will but with a lot of money on the line they agree to attend.
When they arrive, they learn that they must complete six puzzles/escape rooms and that they can leave at any time. But as they begin to play, things prove to be deadly. Already I was annoyed, they are told they are inheriting money and then there is the whole well……you need to do this first, take your chances, and see what happens….
This started strong for me as the author introduced the six strangers and had them arrive for the reading of the will. But as they begin to play alone and ‘escape’ the puzzles/escape rooms, things began to go downhill for me. Toward the last fourth of the book, things get even more deadly and bizarre. The book takes a few big turns, and they just didn’t work for me. I went from enjoying the book to feeling quite meh about it.
Others are enjoying this book more than I did, so please read their reviews as well. It has shock value, I will give it that but at the same time, when it took a turn, I was ready to tap out.
Thank you to Wicked House Publishing 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.