Review: We Won't All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall

Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication date: July 2025

Two years ago Mercy Gray was hailed as a hero for saving lives during a mall shooting. She still carries souvenirs from that incident: the fragment of a bullet lodged in her back, a mountain of medical debt, and guilt for ignoring her sister’s warnings that the sweet boy next door was anything but.

When billionaire-turned-TV-host Damien Dare recruits Mercy to compete on his new survivalist reality show, she can’t turn down a chance at the whopping cash prize that could send her sister to college—but when she and the other contestants arrive at the off-grid location, something isn’t right. The set is empty. The gates close without warning, trapping them inside. Then one of them turns up dead. What appeared at first to be a tragic accident quickly transforms as more contestants start dying. With time and resources running low, surviving this show takes on a new meaning.

This author has always been a hit or miss for me.  Unfortunately, this one was a miss.  The premise for We Won't All Survive seems like a thrilling time.  Mercy Grey is invited by an influencer to join in a survivor type competition.  The prize money is something she can't pass up.  When she arrives at the abandoned town, it's clear something is not right.

I wasn't thrilled with this book.  The characters were forgettable and kind of boring. It was hard to keep them all straight.  Since the entire book is told through Mercy's perspective, it was hard to get to know them and frankly care about any of them. There is a lot of foreshadowing in the book as to one of the reveals. I think I actually rolled my eyes when it was revealed. There was also a reveal in the last part of the book that seemed to just be there for diversity check mark and really added nothing to the overall story.  I'm still not quite sure what the motivation was for the bad guy.  If you are a fan of this author, try it out.  It just wasn't for me.

Review: A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: February 2025

 A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.

A Killing Cold finds Theo heading with her new fiancé to his families retreat in the mountains.  She keeps getting strange texts warning her to stay away from Connor.  But love has her ignoring the messages.  When things start seeming familiar and suspicious, Theo knows there is something sinister going on.

I really enjoyed this thriller.  There are so many twists and surprises that it had my head spinning.  I did call one of them, but the rest I was completely wrong about.    I liked Theo's character because she wasn't a "shrinking violet".  She was strong and determined.  My favorite part of the book was the ending.  It was really happy that it turned out the way it did and that the author didn't cop out with an overly used twist.  I don't want to say much more so I don't spoil it.  I highly recommend this one.

Review: No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall

Author: Kate Alice Marshall

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication Date: January 2024

Emma hasn't told her husband much about her past. He knows her parents are dead and she hasn't spoken to her sisters in years. Then they lose their apartment, her husband gets laid off, and Emma discovers she's pregnant―right as the bank account slips into the red.

That's when Emma confesses that she has one more asset: her parents' house, which she owns jointly with her estranged sisters. They can't sell it, but they can live in it. But returning home means that Emma is forced to reveal her secrets to her husband: that the house is not a run-down farmhouse but a stately mansion, and that her parents died there.

Were murdered.

And that some people say Emma did it.

Emma and her sisters have never spoken about what really happened that night. Now, her return to the house may lure her sisters back, but it will also crack open family and small-town secrets lots of people don’t want revealed. As Emma struggles to reconnect with her old family and hold together her new one, she begins to realize that the things they have left unspoken all these years have put them in danger again. 

No One Can Know finds Emma returning to her childhood home with her husband.  She hasn't been back since high school when her parents were murdered.  The entire town think she is responsible but no one could prove it.  Now that she is back, she decided she wants to figure out what really happened that night and how her sisters are involved.  Finally, I have a thriller this year that Ii can say I really enjoyed.

The story was really good.  I was kept guessing and didn't call what really happened.  I kept changing my mind and, in the end, was completely wrong.  I thought the use of "then" and "now" was really effective in laying out what happened that night.  I also liked that we get a perspective from all three sisters.  Surprisingly, I wasn't annoyed by any of them.  The one person I didn't care for is murdered and I wasn't upset about it. I do recommend this one and suggest going into it with out knowing to much about it. 

Review: What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication date  January 2023
They were eleven when they sent a killer to prison . . .
They were heroes . . . but they were liars.

Naomi Shaw used to believe in magic. Twenty-two years ago, she and her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, spent the summer roaming the woods, imagining a world of ceremony and wonder. They called it the Goddess Game. The summer ended suddenly when Naomi was attacked. Miraculously, she survived her seventeen stab wounds and lived to identify the man who had hurt her. The girls’ testimony put away a serial killer, wanted for murdering six women. They were heroes.

And they were liars.

For decades, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods—no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be.

I was really looking forward to What Lies in the Woods.  I have enjoyed this author's YA books and was eager to see how she faired writing an adult book.  In this one, Naomi survived a brutal attack when she was eleven.  She and her friends put the man responsible away.  ow hs has died and she returns to her hometown because she has always felt something was wrong about what really happened that day.

I'll admit, I didn't really love this one.  It was kind of slow and boring for most of the book. I called the major reveal very early on. I had a hard time connecting with Naomi.  She made some questionable decisions, especially regarding one particular character after she learned the truth about him.  It was weird and creepy. I won't give away anything, in case you still want to read it.  It was OK, but not as enjoyable as her previous books that I have read.

Review: These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall

Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 2022

Helen Vaughan doesn't know why she and her mother left their ancestral home at Harrowstone Hall, called Harrow, or why they haven't spoken to their extended family since. So when her grandfather dies, she's shocked to learn that he has left everything—the house, the grounds, and the money—to her. The inheritance comes with one condition: she must stay on the grounds of Harrow for one full year, or she'll be left with nothing.

There is more at stake than money. For as long as she can remember, Harrow has haunted Helen's dreams—and now those dreams have become a waking nightmare. Helen knows that if she is going to survive the year, she needs to uncover the secrets of Harrow. Why is the house built like a labyrinth? What is digging the holes that appear in the woods each night? And why does the house itself seem to be making her sick?

With each twisted revelation, Helen questions what she knows about Harrow, her family, and even herself. She no longer wonders if she wants to leave…but if she can.

These Fleeting Shadows follows Helen, who is brought to her mother's childhood home for the funeral of her grandfather.  When she learns that she has to stay on the grounds for one year in order to collect her inheritance, it's a opportunity she can't pass up.  

The beginning of the book was kind of slow. However, it quickly turned in a creepy, dark and wild ride. This book took a turn that I definitely was NOT expecting.  I really liked the twist and it made the slow start very worth it.  The author did an impressive of setting the creepy atmosphere. I would almost love to see this as a movie.  I say almost because they always ruin good books when they make a movie.  I liked Helen's character.  The story is told through her eyes, which was a great way to make sure you discover everything along with her.  I also really loved the romance.  It was very endearing and heartwarming.  I definitely recommend going into this book blind.  You won't be sorry.  

Review: Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall

Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 2021

Sophia's first memory is of drowning. She remembers the darkness of the water and the briny taste as it fills her throat. She remembers the cold shock of going under. She remembers her mother pulling her to safety before disappearing forever. But Sophia has never been in the ocean. And her mother died years ago in a hospital. Or so she has been told her whole life.

A series of clues have led Sophia to the island of Bitter Rock, Alaska, where she talked her way into a summer internship at the Landon Avian Research Center, the same center her mother worked at right before she died. There, she meets the disarmingly clever Liam, whose own mother runs the LARC, as well as Abby, who's following a mystery of her own: a series of unexplained disappearances. People have been vanishing from Bitter Rock for decades, leaving only their ghostly echoes behind. When it looks like their two mysteries might be one and the same, Sophia vows to dig up the truth, no matter how many lies she has to tell along the way. Even if it leads her to a truth she may not want to face.

I really enjoyed Rules for Vanishing, so I was looking forward to reading Our Last Echoes.  Unfortunately, my experience with this book was not as enjoyable.  To be honest, I can't really even tell you what was going on in a large majority of this book.   Read the synopsis above.  I did and the book I got was not what I was expecting.  I just found this book pretty confusing.   Toward the end, you do get somewhat of an explanation of what is going on, but I still have so many questions.  And it came a bit too late for me.  

This book took me forever to get through.  I probably should have DNF'd it.  The only reason that I finished it was that I had heard that it was loosely connected to Rules for Vanishing.  It has been a while since I read that book, so  I can't really say how they connect.   The characters were dull and forgettable. Especially the main character Sophia.  Except Abby, I did like her.  But she wasn't enough to save the book for me.  The ending, I think, left it up for a sequel to this one.  I'm not sure if I will read the next one.  I don't think I would really recommend this.

Review: Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 2019

Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her--and who won't make it out of the woods?

It's been exactly one year since Sara's sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn't know whether her former friends no longer like her...or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to "play the game" and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca--before she's lost forever. And even though she's hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends--and their cameras--following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.

I have been looking for a good YA horror/thriller for a while.  I definitely found it in Rules for Vanishing.  Honestly, it's best to go into the book not knowing a whole lot about the plot.  Basically, Sara's sister disappeared a year before.  Sara is convinced Becca disappeared on a mysterious road that only appears once a year.  Determined to find her, she and a group of friends set out to find the road.

This was a really creepy book.  I was on edge throughout the story.  There are a lot of twists and surprises.  I found myself questioning what was actually happening multiple times.  The characters were interesting and I genuinely cared about what happened to them. What I loved was that they were not the usual stereotypes of teens that we tend see in a lot of these types of books.  That was pretty refreshing.  I really liked how the story was told through multiple perspectives and interviews.  It made the story more interesting.  

I highly recommend this one if you are looking for a good thriller that will mess with your mind.