Wow! 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 smartly retold; GenZ version of “And then there were none”!

I have to admit I had second thoughts before jumping into this idea about bunch of young influencers also the killers found themselves in a deserted island, dying one by one just the original manuscript, at first! It could be lame, superficial, unrealistic and boring ! But thankfully this book is none of those! The characters’ dilemmas were told perfectly! I thought I would hate those kids! But I didn’t! Because the author honestly approached true nature of those characters: they are flawed, broken, lonely, suffering, in denial, lying to themselves and to the entire world!
Only one of them is extremely psychopath enough to plan this detailed scheme by providing enough financial source and brain storming to play this cat-mouse game!

I loved the smart and honest criticism of social media, the harsh realistic approach of influencers’ bubbly worlds. The way of revealing the culprit’s identity at the end was genius move!

Let’s give a quick summary of plot:

A place called Unknown Island launched a marketing campaign went viral to attract everyone’s attention. This is private island in an undisclosed location in the South Pacific entered the social media with its slick YouTube video featuring biggest models and influencers cavorting on beaches, laughing in pools, snorkeling, splashing, being sun drenched, aspirational! To be a part of this place you have to under 21 and inspirational social media phenomenon so you get your all expenses paid vacation ticket!

Ten young influencers were chosen for this trip and their names were declared the day before they took the trip!

Here are the list of candidates:
Emma Jane Ohana from LA-18, billionaire financier’s spoiled rich girl, a true crime addict
Justice Wilson from Mission Hills, Kansas :17 years old environmental activist, the child overachiever and competitive family
Robby Wade from Atlanta, 17 years old restaurateur, chef, YouTuber, carrying his knife collection everywhere
Xander Lee from Carrollton, Texas, 19, old collage football star, new social media influencer, becoming famous with his shirtless dancing videos
Chelsea Quinn from LA, transgender, 18, old beauty YouTuber, reckless driver, obsessed with her selfies
Margot Bryant, 20, NY based CEO of the non-defunct SHEmail, business oriented, ambitious
Graham Hoffman, 19, from Minneapolis, old political organizer, nerdy, confused
Manny de La Cruz, 19, producer, DJ from Miami with dreams of being a powerful musician, carrying guilt an armoire
Frankie Rushh, 18, social mega star from New York, most popular It-girl of the group with millions of
And Celia Young who is mousy, smartest, youngest video gamer of the group ( only 16) from Alameda/ California

Those ten did something very bad in the past. Even they deny, they might be killers and one of them is so adamant to get the rest of them!
But who and why?

Overall: absolutely riveting, exciting, heart throbbing, smart retelling of the Agatha Christie
classic! Looking forward to read more works of the author!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s / Delacorte Press for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.229 s megs_bookrack1,808 12.2k

When Unknown Island made its presence known via social media, it hit hard. An isolated, luxurious island vacation destination where young people, of a certain caliber and follower count, will get to stay free for a week at a time.

The claim is that an angel investor is funding the exclusive destination as a way for the best young minds to come together and share ideas. It's invite only and no one over 21-years old will be included.



The initial marketing push is strong and everyone wants to be involved. If they can't go in person, they'll be watching it unfold via social media.

Who wouldn't want a free vacation that the whole world is watching? The potential for publicity is off the charts. For some young influencers, this could be the opportunity of a lifetime. It's so good, they can taste it.



After the First Ten are selected, the chosen ones slowly and complicatedly make their way to the remote island location.

Once they arrive, they quickly discover something is off. The scene they find is not what the promotional materials advertised. What the heck is going on?!



It's soon exposed that these fresh-faced travelers weren't invited to Unknown Island because of their individual follower counts. They were invited for the terrible secrets they hold. Someone knows and is looking to expose them.

Worse than that, it seems whoever is behind Unknown Island is hellbent on revenge. Will any of them be able to make it home alive?



I really what Williams did with Never Coming Home. She gave me a classic-feeling mysterious slasher set on an abandoned island with a plucky group of diverse and unlikable characters.

That's exactly the vibe I wanted going in and it's exactly what I got. There were a few places when it dragged a little for me, but overall it's a super fun Summer Chiller!



In addition to the fabulous horror elements, I enjoyed the underlining modern themes running through this one. It's social media taken to the extreme, but it was interesting to think about.

Of course I couldn't help but think of Fyre Festival with the set-up of this one. It definitely gives off that same sort of skeevy feeling. These poor kids was what I was initially thinking, but once the bodies started dropping, I stopped caring as much.

Williams kills were creative and a few definitely left me picking my chin up off the ground. She held nothing back!



This is the perfect quick read for a Summer Scare. I would definitely recommend it to people who love a good old fashion slasher. It checked all those boxes for me.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I had a lot of fun with this one and hope that Williams continues in this lane with her future work!arcs-read161 s Melissa (Home from vacay but WAY Behind)4,784 2,513

3.5 stars

This is an interesting YA take on And Then There Were None.

Unknown Island has positioned itself to be the next big thing. A splashy resort in a remote location, completely free--but accessible by invitation only to select people under the age of 21. No one knows who is behind the resort, but everyone who is anyone wants to be included. For the soft opening, Unknown Island has invited ten young people with significant social media followings. As they arrive on the island, nothing is as it seemed before they arrived. It's not well stocked, there's no staff, and conditions are very rustic, they have no phone service or internet. We discover why these specific people are there. Then one person dies. Then another. Cryptic photos are posted online via the only connection to the outside world. Can they get off the island alive?

I d the journey, although as is usually my quibble with this type of book, there are just too many characters for me to get invested in them to care about whether they live or die. I was curious as to who was behind everything, and we do get adequate closure in the end. However it feels a rush to pick off the characters, which sometimes felt a checklist rather than a plot point because we didn't really get to know them very well.

Other than that, I did the wrap up and the explanation for why things happened, both in their manner and the motives behind them. It made sense to me, and in a horror novel, this is a great feat. And make no mistake, this is definitely a horror novel. The manner in which each person dies are varied and quite gruesome. The reason why they were invited is revealed slowly, and we understand that most of these people are not so nice.

Overall, this is an intriguing deserted island YA horror novel that will keep you guessing until the end and should change the way you think about social media and what you post.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own. 85 s Chelsea Humphrey1,487 81.8k

"The future of humanity meets the future of travel."

I was not expecting to get so swept up in this one! As a huge fan of Agatha Christie, this is a worthy modern reimagining of And Then There Were None and Selected Plays with a modern, Gen Z twist to it. It's rare that a mystery can keep me changing my guess on who the murderer is for such an extended period, but that is precisely what this book did for me. I'm not young or hip, and ly never was, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment for this story. Please note, you'll have to wholly suspend your need for a plausible plot, but if you are looking for full on entertainment in the form of YA slasher tales, this is it.

I don't want to give anything away, but I feel it's necessary to include some thoughts on things that caused me to bump my review down from a 5 star. I'll include them in a spoiler tag as to give the reader of this review the choice on whether or not they'd to view them. I'm never a fan of the POC or queer characters getting killed off first, so when I found out that the first character killed was the trans female, I almost stopped reading at that point. I am glad that I pushed on to the following chapter, though, as once the explanation for the order in which the characters are getting murdered is revealed, it made a little more sense. I'm still not fond of it, but I was glad it was done in a way to avoid villainizing the one openly non-cis character.

There's quite a diverse cast in this one, and I was relieved that we didn't have the cliche "kill the POC characters first" trauma that is typically seen in the genre. Four of the ten influencers invited to the island are white, and three of those are the first to die. A few portions are rather gory, so if that sort of disturbing content isn't your thing, I'd give this one a wide berth. Some triggers include but are not limited to: poisoning, death by bees, bullying, stabbing, blunt force trauma, strangulation, overdose, suicide, suffocation, gun violence, etc. If you're looking for a campy, influencer filled slasher tale, this one might be worth checking out!

*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.buddy-reads from-publisher netgalley63 s Mara1,794 4,126

4.5 stars - This is one of the best AND THEN THERE WERE NONE retellings I've encountered, and I loved the incorporation of the influencer element as the basis for the themes and the murderousness. This was squarely aimed at me and what I love in mystery thriller - loved it!arc ebook-owned isolated-closed-circle-mystery61 s STEPH319 33

I didn't this. Very underwhelming.

At first, I got curious with the idea of 10 famous influencers trapped in an island with no way out. As we're living in a world where social media is a very powerful tool, this was kind of catchy for me until it turned into something I would've ignored had I known that it would only waste my time. I could forgive the many POV's because I was able to keep up with every character.

I would've d for the murders to be described more clearly but sadly, it was presented in a Reddit convo which was sly and lazy if you ask me, , I think an explanation is owed to the readers rather than someone making a thread to make up for it, but—it's social media and I guess the author wanted to focus on that. Well. Social media is not what it seems. Everyone is fake happy and hiding their true selves. Behind the s and the follows, nothing is perfect.

The ending was rushed and boring. Ugh. Let me get this book on my Read list so I wouldn't have to think about it, ever again.36 s Gabrielle Grosbety 139 90

Never Coming Home is such a well-done story. Ten super swanky influencers are called to a highly exclusive new island resort called Unknown Island. Everyone is desperate for a ticket to this promised paradise to unwind and get away for a week. Picturesque white sandy beaches, sipping fancy cocktails poolside, what could be better? However, little do they know just what they are in for. Nothing about Unknown Island is what it seems as it becomes shadier and shadier by the second. Everyone is there for a reason and one reason alone and that is vengeful retribution. Someone, potentially among them, is a masterminder and a schemer who wants to take them down.

I really enjoyed how each character confronts their struggles, past, internal self-hate, and how social media can be so destructive and deceptive if used the wrong way or over-abused. We all post snippets of moments in time that don’t reflect the ongoing nature of life and challenge inherent within it. And by getting away from 24/7 connection, and specifically curated content, these characters are forced to face themselves honestly and intensely, as individuals and within their relationships, some platonically and others romantically, as a group. Some are fascinated by crime and unpacking mysteries, others can’t stand to be near such horror-filled atrocity for extended periods of time, but regardless, each person is tested and pushed to their limit.

I also, throughout, appreciated the underlying message that just because someone does something bad doesn’t mean they are always a wholly bad person or deserve to get unthinkably punished when complexity and moral gray areas exist. Justice is an admirable, much needed goal in certain instances, but so is recognizing that sometimes the fact that someone has to live with themselves can be just as difficult and painful.

I felt as unsafe and skeptical as the characters while reading as no one trusts each other or fears someone will turn on them at any given moment. The book was action-packed and tightly, consciously paced so that no one word felt wrong or wasted. There was much needed truth in these pages that felt energizing to get lost in, even if tragedy lurked at every corner that simultaneously sobered me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press for my advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review!netgalley prepare-to-be-thrilled26 s Ashley (wickedreads)325 1,232

I d the idea of The Wilds meets Clue but the ending was not satisfying for me. I don’t feel the motivations were enough for why each person were chosen. Only Frankie made sense…202222 s karen3,997 171k

maybe someday i will feel up to reviewing again...

why-yes-i-ya22 s Carrie3,377 1,615

Review coming soon.
netgalley19 s Shauni 365 397

This was intense! I was swept away from the beginning and it was one wild ride until the end. Ten enfluencers are invited to an exclusive island resort, with the promise of a luxurious vacation. But when they arrive, they find it is not what they were expecting. Then people start to die. Soon they begin wondering, who among them is the killer? Or have they all been set up?

I really enjoyed this. It kept me guessing the whole time, and my brain is still puzzling it out.

Never Coming Home will be released June 21, 2022.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.thriller-mystery17 s Erin CraigAuthor 8 books5,096

This sleek and updated homage to Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE was a super fun beach read, full of satisfying twists!17 s Crystal769 154

Unknown Island is the world's most exclusive destination. Not just anybody can get in. It's doors are only opened to the ten most elite social media influencers.
All the contestants have big a following, even bigger dreams, and all of them have a reason for wanting to get away

Justice is an environmentalist who's desperate to escape her parents.
Manny is a Dj with aspirations to became a music producer. He's also desperate to stay relevant.
Frankie is a dancer with a massive Tik Tok following. Despite her other successful ventures, all anyone sees her as is the dancing girl. She's hoping this trip will highlight her other attributes and keep her from fading into obscurity.
Chelsea is a makeup guru with a huge YouTube following. But recent events have caused her to lose a lot of fans and, more importantly, a lot of sponsorships.
Emma Jane has a passion for photography, but has neglected it to post superficial bikini pics in attempt to gain more . Maybe that's why she's resorted to pills and partying. She's hoping trip will help to get her life straightened out.
Margot is the CEO of feminist email company for women (unfortunately named SHEmail). SHEmail isn't the success she thought it'd be, and she's hoping to make connections with the fellow influencers in order to grow her business and brand.
Celia is a famous gamer who was pressured to come by her parents to grow her audience.
Xander is a football players who's ready to leave it all behind to become a high-powered influencer. This trip is a chance for him to get more exposure and gain a larger following.
Robby is a high profile chef with his own YouTube channel and restaurant. He's just glad to have a vacation away from all the pressures of his profession.
Graham is the youth liaison for the trip with a history of dabbling in politics. He's hoping this experience will help him rise up the politic ranks quicker.

Unknown Island seems the chance of a lifetime. But something feels off. Where are the publicists, marketing directors and cameras? It seems pointless to bring together the most influential teens on social media and not have exposure and press.
Things get weirder still when they realize the accommodations aren't as luxurious as expected (in fact they're downright shabby), there isn't any staff and -strangest of all- there's no internet connection. Wasn't posting pics, gaining and giving Unknown Island exposure the whole point of this trip? Paradise isn't quite what they expected and the real reason they were invited to the island will have deadly consequences.

This book is so intense! This is a high-stakes Survivor meets a Gen Z 'And Then There Were None.'
The island setting and it's dark history as a remote prison made for a perfect claustrophobic and tense read. My heart was racing the whole time, and I was glued to the page until the end.
There are a lot of characters, but there was never a point where I was confused. All of them had very distinct personalities, backgrounds and motives. I became attached to them all for different reasons. The manner of death for each character was unique and well done.
The social media angle was well incorporated....despite having an audience of millions, the contestants were still alone. Still helpless. Still completely misunderstood. I found to it to be a great allegory for the reality of social media and influencer culture.14 s Sheena633 293

10 social media influencers are invited to Unknown Island for an exclusive, free trip that is buzzing all over social media. When they get there there’s no internet, no staff, and the luxurious suites are just a shack. They realize they are all stranded and soon learn that they all have some sort of secrets in common. Soon they all begin to die one by one.

Honestly this sounded cool and I picked it up because it reminded me of Fyre Fest but it just wasn’t memorable. It ended up being a generic mystery story. There’s way too many characters just to be there and I couldn’t keep track of them. Plus the chapters were too long. There’s also no creepy atmosphere and I just didn’t care.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.
mystery-thrillers-crime netgalley young-adult14 s Marci477 271

this was oh so very clever! favorites15 s Chelsea | thrillerbookbabe574 831

Thank you to Penguin Audio and Kate Williams for my copy of Never Coming Home. It was about Unknown Island, a luxury island that you can only get to by invite and is totally free. The whole world is watching while the first 10 influencers are invited and arrive to experience this remote location. What they don’t know is why they were really invited, and what they all have in common. Everyone is hiding a deadly secret, and when the influencers start dying one by one, it starts to look no one will survive this deadly vacation.

Thoughts: This book was a combination of teen And Then There Were None and Fyre Festival gone deadly. It did kind of seem a rip off of a classic book with a new and more modern twist. However, it was so much fun, and even though you have to completely suspend your belief, it is maximum entertainment. There were so many fun and unique characters and I d the representation in this book. It was an interesting angle with the influencer aspect and I really enjoyed imagining this as a Fyre Festival type situation.

This was a campy, teen slasher type book with tons of creative deaths (bees, stabbing, overdose, suicide, guns, etc). I don’t want to spoil anything, but the ending was so wild there was no way to believe the theories. I think it works well for YA, but if you don’t have to have a believable ending, it will be a wild and entertaining ride. Even though I didn’t the ending, I really d the story and wasn’t bored for a minute. 4-stars.
alc young-adult13 s Elizabeth (Plant Based Bride)507 6,153

A modern retelling of "And Then There Were None" with influencers that followed the original a little too closely while still managing to miss the mark. Strange pacing, an obvious twist, and characters so flimsy you could knock them over with a feather.

There were far too many POVs and insufficient character-building to distinguish between them. I hate this cliched portrayal of influencers that paints them as flat and vapid without any traits or complexity resembling an actual human being.

I also didn't love a thriller involving brutal murders of such young people (if I had known the victims' ages ahead of time, I would have skipped this altogether). I especially disd the choice to kill off the one and only trans character first.

The book was easy enough to get through and very mildly entertaining (emphasis on *very mildly*), but it just didn't do nearly enough. It was convoluted, and I didn't enjoy the writing style, which focused on a whole lot of uninspired dialogue and not nearly enough action. Never have I had to endure so many drawn-out descriptions of extended periods in which several characters stay together in one room or area doing absolutely nothing. Then the ending slammed in abruptly a sledgehammer, with a reveal that was so absurd I audibly groaned.

This one isn't worth the time it takes to read it.


Trigger/Content Warnings: ableism, queermisia, drug use, overdose, anaphylaxis, murder, gun violence, poisoning, suffocation, stalking, animal cruelty


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PBB Book Club12 s jazmin ?567 802

“The hardest secrets to keep are your own.”

???: *???:* *:???*:???

Thanks to author Kate Williams for providing an ARC of Never Coming Home in exchange for an honest review.

?Never Coming Home in under 20 words

- Social media stars are invited to a luxurious island
- People start dying
- And Then There Were None vibes
- SUSPENSE !

?What I d

This was a unique and exciting YA locked door mystery! I don’t read very many YA mysteries that are standalone, they’re usually adult standalones or YA series, so this was a nice change.

First, I loved the locked door aspect. The characters were trapped on a terrifying island and that feeling of suffocation, felt very real. While there was some gore/blood, this didn’t feel that violent so I applaud that this book felt scary even without that.

“You’re not in Kansas anymore.”

?The Characters

The weaker side were the characters, while I grew to some of them, others I just didn’t know for long enough to really care about them. And I feel there was some missed potential there- there could have been cooler dynamics formed, people teaming up and whatnot. Or even if some kind of relationships had been formed before the island (besides the one) that would have worked too. I just wanted anything that would make the characters stand out a bit more.

?Overall

Overall, really enjoyable, I read this pretty quickly once I actually got into it so you can definitely finish it in a single sitting! (P.S. Try to figure out who the murderer is, its definitely possible to guess accurately!)

*4.25

???: *???:* *:???*:???

my carrd ?2022 genre-contemporary genre-mystery ...more12 s Kori Potenzone891 82

This is what you would classify as a " book of the times" .

We are currently living in a world where influencers make more money than physicians and politicians. So what better plot than to put a bunch of privileged influencers on a deserted island. This book is jam packed with unable characters and I loved every ounce of it.

This was a riveting, mind bending, psychological thriller that kept me engaged the entire book. There were no "slow periods" or any kind of repetitiveness. This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I quickly became addicted to "one more chapter" . I ended up devouring this in one sitting. I could not get enough.

This book is definitely going to be a favorite of mine and I can not wait to see what Kate M. Williams comes out with next. I have become a true fan.12 s Dani715 238

Fyre Festival meets And Then There Were None!

A quick and fun summer mystery. It's very Gen Z but as a Millennial on Twitter, I'm aware of it all lol13 s Tanja Berg2,017 473

Ten young influencers are lured to an exotic, isolated, island that doesn’t lives up to its promise of luxury. One by one, they are picked off - killed - for crimes that they got away with. They were presented with their misdeeds upon arrival to the island.

It’s a moderately entertaining entertaining YA take of “and then there were none”. murder-mystery young-adult11 s buchdate89 110

In knapp 24h durchgelesen!
Dieses Buch war unterhaltsam & zum miträtseln - wie ich es liebe!
Das große Thema Social Media hat mir so gut gefallen, wir stecken da ja irgendwie alle mit drin
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