And Then There were Four by Nancy Werlin

Author: Nancy Werlin
Publisher:" Dial Books
Date of publicaation: June 2017

Let's not die today. Not even to make things easier for our parents.

When a building collapses around five teenagers--and they just barely escape--they know something strange is going on. Little by little, the group pieces together a theory: Their parents are working together to kill them all. Is it true? And if so, how did their parents come together--and why? And, most importantly, how can the five of them work together to save themselves? With an unlikely group of heroes, sky-high stakes, and two budding romances, this gripping murder mystery will keep readers guessing until the last page.

I'll be honest, I can't say I loved this book.  It won't be a spoiler when I tell you that this is a YA version of Strangers on a Train.  Five classmates meet in an old cottage on their school's grounds. When there is a roof collapse, it becomes apparent that someone deliberately tried to kill them.  The kids are convinced their parents want them dead.

While the idea for the story was good, I didn't like the execution.  There would have been more suspense had the reader not known who was behind everything until toward the end of the book. The overall story dragged on and took forever to get to the end. The only reason I finished this was I wanted to know motives.  Motives that turned out to be not that interesting.

The story waffles between Sarahlinda's first person point of view and Caleb's second person point of view.  I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind the changes in tense.  It was strange and there was no overall need for it.  The characters were typical teens but I really didn't find myself caring about any of them.  So overall, I wouldn't really recommend this to any YA reader.  I didn't find it all that gripping or thrilling.