Title: They’re Watching You
Author: Chelsea Ichaso
Publication: January 3, 2023
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: Teens, YA Fiction, Thriller
Pages: 384
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
When a secret society has you in their sights, it can lead to power, privilege… or death.
It’s been two weeks since Polly St. James went missing. The police, the headmistress of Torrey-Wells Academy, and even her parents have ruled her a runaway. But not Maren, her best friend and roommate. She knows Polly had a secret that she was about to share with Maren before she disappeared― something to do with the elite, ultra-rich crowd at Torrey-Wells.
Then Maren finds an envelope hidden among Polly’s things: an invitation to the Gamemaster’s Society. Do not tell anyone, it says. Maren is certain her classmates in the Society know the truth about what happened to Polly, though it’s no easy feat to join. Once Maren’s made it through the treacherous initiation, she discovers a world she never knew existed within her school, where Society members compete in high-stakes games for unheard-of rewards―Ivy League connections, privileges, favors.
But Maren’s been drawn into a different game: for every win, she’ll receive a clue about Polly. And as Maren keeps winning, she begins to see just how powerful the Society’s game is―bigger and deadlier than she ever imagined. They see, they know, they control. And they kill.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
I’m a big lover of stories about boarding schools because something twisty always happens! I’m also a fan of Chelsea Ichaso. This story followed Maren as she investigates her missing roommate who everyone thinks just ran off. But, of course, a secret society in the school is involved so obviously not!
Maren was me in this book. I felt a kindred spirit with her because what everyone was saying did not add up and I would have been suspicious of what everyone was saying happen to Polly to begin with. I was also incredibly suspicious of every single person in this book, aside for Maren. Ichaso did a great job of making you start to trust a character and then they would do something suspicious or something would come out that they lied about and all over again I was convinced they were the culprit leading everything. I loved that with all those suspicions, I was never able to guess the ending. This book was full of twists and turns and Ichaso led me down so many possibilities that I was genuinely surprised at the end with the big reveal.
The story flowed really nicely with very little, if any dead time. I was please with how it had little flashbacks of Maren and Polly’s friendship and that leading up to Polly going missing. These little flashbacks added a lot of context that the story would have been lacking without.
On top of that there were two boy interests in this book and I kept flip flopping who I trusted and who I wanted her to end up with. I was not disappointed in the end, whether she ended up with one or the other or neither, you will have to read to find out. The puzzle pieces clicked into place along the way and, yet again, Chelsea Ichaso wrote a page turner. I cannot wait for her next book. This is a must read!
Check out my review of Chelsea Ichaso’s other novels, Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets and Little Creeping Things.
