A shocking thriller about a group of friends who go to a cabin to play a murder mystery game…only to have the game turned against them, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends.FIVE friends go to a cabin.FOUR of them are hiding secrets.THREE years of history bind them.TWO are doomed from the start.ONE person wants to end this.NO ONE IS SAFE.Five friends take a trip … trip to a cabin. It’s supposed to be one last getaway before going their separate ways—a chance to say goodbye to each other, and to the game they’ve been playing for the past three years. But they’re all dealing with their own demons, and they’re all hiding secrets.And as they start to play the murder mystery game that brought them together in the first place, the lines between the game and reality blend, with deadly consequences. Someone knows their secrets. Someone wants to make them pay. Soon, it’s a race against time before it’s game over—forever.Are you ready to play?”Immersive and captivating. Thrilling in every sense of the word.”—KAREN M. MCMANUS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us is Lying and One of Us is NextPerfect for readers who love:teenage mystery books or YA horrorLGBT stories about intersectional groups of friendsKaren McManus, Gretchen McNeil, or Natasha PrestonPraise for Even If We Break:”The darkly twisted ode to self-discovery briskly whisks an intersectionally inclusive group through a reasonably stormy, emotionally charged scenario that considers the sometimes-steep price of growing up and growing apart.”—Publishers Weekly”An engaging read, providing readers with some solid suspense, and twists to sink their teeth into.”—Booklist “A fast-paced thriller that will leave you both gushing over the geekiness and gasping over the game.”—Rachel Strolle, Glenside Public Library DistrictMore Teen Thrillers by Marieke Nijkamp:This Is Where It EndsBefore I Let GoAt the End of Everything (Coming January 2022)
more
I just finished–just as in, this very morning–EVEN IF WE BREAK, by Marieke Nijkamp. It’s an incredible YA horror/thriller, set against the backdrop of a stormy, haunted mountain in the southwestern U.S. Five semi-estranged friends convene at one of their family’s luxury cabins for their last tabletop gaming night before college, internships, and adult jobs sink their teeth in. As their RPG characters unearth a fictional murder mystery, the teens–each hiding their own terrible secrets–begin to uncover a bloody plot that is entirely too real.
This is my first foray into one of Nijkamp’s gruesome, clever worlds, and boy did I enjoy it! Her characterization perfectly captures the heartache of new adulthood, and the pain of realizing you have outgrown dear friendships–or they have outgrown you. The confines of a hunted mountain, the game that binds the group together, and the secrets that drive them apart, all add a great modern gothic feel. I was thrilled to find two trans characters–nonbinary and a trans guy–plus an autistic character, and two others with physical disabilities, all of whom were thoughtfully written. While decidedly creepy, the real fear throughout the novel was whether each of the friends could remember to trust one another in time–or if they would be picked off when their time came.
For fans looking for a creepy, nerdy, yearning read! 5 stars!
I read this book in a day, listening to the audiobook while on a road trip. I’ll say right up front the mystery part of the novel isn’t all that difficult to figure out, in fact it was so obvious I found myself second guessing if it was tooo easy and I must be wrong. I wasn’t. But in the end it didn’t matter. The author made me care about these characters from the start and I wanted to see what happened to them. This is a very diverse book, featuring straight, gay, bisexual and trans main characters as well as an autistic main character as well. It was incredible to see so many different identities represented in one book and have it NOT be ABOUT those identities itself. It was refreshing to read a book where you’re told a main character is trans and presents as male but the story isn’t focused on his sole journey into finding himself, transitioning or needing acceptance. He just is, as are all the characters, and they have their little group of friends who do this role playing game together. Teens on the verge of adulthood in a cabin that can literally lock you inside automatically and someone is trying to kill them is a trope I’ll pick up any day and I am so glad I found this one to read during pride month.
I requested this one from Sourcebooks Fire because the blurb had me hooked. Who doesn’t want to see how a bunch of teens in the face of their secrets exposed?
I hadn’t read Nijkamp before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The cast of characters is inclusive, and while I think there’s good representation, at times, it felt forced. The first half was tedious for me, and a book I thought I would knock out quickly, turned into days of reading. It was interesting in that the kids were there to roleplay, and while that was present, the dynamics between the friends pushed the roleplay into the background. Exhaustive turmoil, recounting the past and their mistakes, or repeatedly explaining a person’s character is what slowed the book down.
But at the halfway mark, the action started, and that’s where I got drawn in. That you’re stuck in a cabin that can literally lock you inside is a great setting for things to go awry, and Nijkamp knocked the atmosphere out of the park in that. Because the storyline and pacing took such a drastic turn into exciting, I’ve pushed the rating to 4-stars. It doesn’t matter if you see who’s at fault well in advance because it’s a fun journey to get there. Overall, a fun read with a bit to like for everyone.