They Want Us Dead

Gr 10 Up–Nonbinary true crime vlogger Sam has been awarded the opportunity of a lifetime—a weeklong retreat at a remote mansion in the Hollywood Hills hosted by Teens of True Crime. Sam and seven other teens will be spending the week learning the ins and outs of bringing their true crime channels to the next level. Everything starts going awry when Sam opens the door of their rideshare to find their biggest online troll, Dylan, in the flesh. Discord among the group, the mansion being more than a little creepy, and being assigned as Dylan’s roommate makes for a tense first evening. But somehow, the morning is even worse. Grayden, one of the teen vloggers, is found dead at the bottom of the stairs, all of the staff are gone, their chaperone is missing, there is no food, and the bridge they need to cross to find help has collapsed. As more suspicious things happen, it’s clear that someone wants all of them dead. The teens feel realistically flawed, as do the messes they make as they navigate their harrowing situation. While the ending lags slightly, the rest of the book by Montblanc is a gripping mystery that delves into gender identity, friendship, trust, greed, and more. The clues are there for thriller fans to decode if they read closely. Sam and Dylan are white, and Sam is cued as Jewish.