This review first appeared in Booklist on May 1, 2025.
Mercy Gray has always been resilient. It’s how she managed to save lives—including her younger sister’s—during a mass shooting. It’s how she went on to recover from the bullet that nearly killed her. And it’s exactly why she’s been invited to compete in a high-stakes reality show spearheaded by a tech-bro billionaire with an obsessive survival-of-the-fittest mentality. Mercy is initially skeptical, but the promise of a substantial cash prize in the face of considerable medical debt pushes her forward. When she and the other contestants arrive at the off-grid location, they find the set eerily empty. Then the automated gates trap them inside, forcing them to play an increasingly dangerous game—one that will lead to the kind of bloodshed Mercy hoped to never witness again. Marshall delivers an intense, pulse-pounding thriller that tactfully explores themes like trauma and toxic masculinity while never letting go of the throttle. Full of twists, turns, and catharsis, Marshall’s latest is comparable to her 2018 offering, I Am Still Alive, and The Woods Are Always Watching (2021), by Stephanie Perkins.
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