These Deadly Games

by Diana Urban

Overview

"A propulsive mystery with high stakes and devious, masterful twists that will leave you guessing until the very last page. Diana Urban's latest had my jaw on the floor." —Jessica Goodman, bestselling author of They Wish They Were Us

Let’s play a game.

You have 24 hours to win. If you break my rules, she dies. If you call the police, she dies. If you tell your parents or anyone else, she dies.

Are you ready?

When Crystal Donavan gets a message on a mysterious app with a picture of her little sister gagged and bound, she agrees to play the kidnapper’s game. At first, they make her complete bizarre tasks: steal a test and stuff it in a locker, bake brownies, make a prank call.

But then Crystal realizes that each task is meant to hurt—and kill—her friends, one by one. But if she refuses to play, the kidnapper will kill her sister. Is someone trying to take her team out of the running for a gaming tournament? Or have they uncovered a secret from their past, and wants them to pay for what they did...

Author of All Your Twisted Secrets, Diana Urban’s explosive sophomore novel, These Deadly Games, is a must-read, propulsive YA thriller with deadly stakes, stunning twists, and a shocking ending you'll never forget—perfect for fans of I Know What You Did Last Summer and One of Us Is Lying.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250797193
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	267,442
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.70(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Diana Urban is an author of dark, twisty thrillers, including All Your Twisted Secrets and These Deadly Games. When she's not torturing fictional characters, she works in digital marketing for startups. She lives with her husband and cat in Boston and enjoys reading, playing video games, fawning over cute animals, and looking at the beach from a safe distance.

Editorial Reviews

02/28/2022

In Urban’s (All Your Twisted Secrets) sometimes grim mystery, 16-year-old Vermonter Crystal and her six-person team of esports gamers prepare to compete in a statewide MortalDusk tournament. The stakes are high—a $3 million prize—but official rules stipulate that only five players may play, leading to an internal competition amid the group. As Crystal attempts to beat out the others, including Japanese American bestie Akira, she has bigger problems on her mind, including her parents’ divorce, a dark secret she holds, and, suddenly, a text message saying that her 13-year-old sister has been kidnapped and will be killed unless Crystal takes part in a deadly real-life game—“React to this, and she dies. Show this to anyone, and she dies.” Accepting the challenge, the teen begins a series of strange, frequently harmful tasks that target her friends. Crystal’s gaming skills prove useful as she works to understand who is behind the setup, but her tormenter is always one step ahead in this occasionally predictable but interpersonally strong, frankly told thriller that toggles between the present and the past. Main characters read as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

BUZZFEED, "40 Highly Anticipated YA Books Releasing In The First Half of 2022"

GOODREADS, "The 68 Most Anticipated YA Novels of 2022"

THE NERD DAILY, "72 Upcoming YA Book Releases To Add To Your TBR"

SEVENTEEN, "The 10 Best Young Adult Books Arriving in 2022"

SHEREADS, "Best YA Thrillers Coming in 2022"

"Twists and turns abound." - Girls Life

"A chilling and engaging thriller." - Kirkus

"Meet the ultimate psychological thriller." - Seventeen

"A propulsive mystery with high stakes and devious, masterful twists that will leave you guessing until the very last page. Diana Urban's latest had my jaw on the floor." —Jessica Goodman, New York Times bestselling author of They'll Never Catch Us

"A heart-pounding race against the clock filled with unexpected twists, betrayal and danger, These Deadly Games asks the terrifying question: who would you be willing to hurt to save your sister’s life? Filled with Diana Urban’s trademark morally grey characters and fast-paced reveals, this book is a must-read for fans of race against the clock thrillers that leave you unable to tear your eyes from the page." —Sophie Gonzales, author of Only Mostly Devastated

"Ten points for twisted. Ten points for razor sharp. Bonus points for addictive. These Deadly Games is an expertly plotted, spine-chilling read that's wickedly suspenseful and shockingly relatable. Trust me, you've never played a game this devious, clever, or full of hairpin turn surprises. Urban elevates the YA thriller with her astute insights into friendship, guilt, and the secrets we compulsively keep..." —Rebecca Hanover, New York Times bestselling author of The Similars

"From nail-biting beginning to jaw-dropping end, These Deadly Games delivers an intense ride fraught with mystery and surprise. A tightly wound thriller that makes you second guess every character's motives, this book left me completely breathless by its final shocking twist." —Wendy Heard, author of She's Too Pretty to Burn

"Non-stop, addictive, and utterly compelling. These Deadly Games hooked me from minute one, and didn't let me go until its smart, twisty conclusion. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it." —Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling author of Illuminae and Aurora Rising

"I read this so fast with my heart so fully in my throat it felt jarring to come back to the real world. These Deadly Games is a thrill of a ride that’ll keep you guessing on the edge of your seat to the very end."—Emma Lord, New York Times bestselling author of You Have a Match

"Diana Urban has done it again! From the very first pages of THESE DEADLY GAMES, the tension begins to build, and Urban deftly navigates the puzzle-filled plot toward a truly satisfying conclusion I didn’t see coming. Readers will race to the end, guessing along with Crystal as she faces one impossible challenge after another, in a race against time to save her sister. The stakes are enormous, the twists are shocking, and THESE DEADLY GAMES is as thrilling as it gets!" —Tom Ryan, award-winning author of Keep This to Yourself

From the Publisher

02/01/2022

Gr 9 Up—Misdirection during an intense opening scene launches readers into a twisting roller coaster of a narrative. Protagonist Crystal Donovan is desperate to win the upcoming video-gaming tourney in order to help her single mom pay off their substantial debts. But the competition puts a strain on her team; her friends also need to win for their own reasons. Then her little sister is kidnapped, and the villain makes it clear that she will be killed if Crystal doesn't play the twisted game he has planned or if she asks for any help. Secrets multiply, forcing past lies to the surface, and Crystal's list of suspects gets longer and closer to home. She can't trust anyone, not even herself. Crystal must keep these secrets balanced or face lethal consequences. Despite the fast pace, red herrings, and the many deadly plot twists, the mystery of what happened five years previous and the current kidnapper's identity is predictable from early in the story. Readers who finish will get less of an "aha!" moment and more a confirmation of what they've already solved. Crystal is wildly inconsistent in her both her capabilities and decision-making, a shortcoming that may leave readers confused and struggling to empathize with her. Some racial diversity is mentioned. VERDICT An abrupt, too-tidy ending makes this flawed mystery an additional purchase.—Kristen Rademacher

School Library Journal

2021-11-16
A gamer is forced into the deadliest challenge she will ever engage in.

When the first anonymous message comes through her phone, Crystal thinks she is being trolled again, but she soon realizes that her sister has indeed been kidnapped and is being held hostage, while the person who took her forces Crystal into playing a game of increasingly bizarre and violent tasks with a 24-hour time limit. Even though she and her sister seem to be at the center of it all, Crystal’s best friends and esports teammates start to fall victim when her tormentor makes her choose between their lives and her sister’s. As the hours pass, Crystal uses her gaming instincts to discover who is behind it all and why she and her friends are being targeted. She must succeed before her sister dies—and her own secret is unveiled. Urban’s novel doesn’t pull punches as readers follow a thrilling cat-and-mouse game between Crystal and an anonymous figure. A few predictable twists don’t ruin the overall experience, as its strongest feature is Crystal’s rich and complex relationships with her violent, alcoholic father; her friends; and her sister and the ways they intertwine with her own past mistakes and the secrets she and her friends are keeping. Crystal is assumed White; there is some racial diversity in the supporting cast.

A chilling and engaging thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews