Gretchen McNeil

Welcome to the near future, where good and honest citizens can enjoy watching the executions of society s most infamous convicted felons, streaming live on The Postman app from the suburbanized prison island Alcatraz 2.0.

#MurderTrending

Like a mix of The Purge and a Halloween maze, this book is as captivating as it is horrifying.

Charlie Winchester 

#Murdertrending

Anna Cashman

At pg 100ish, I really wasn’t interested in continuing it but i was reading it for the OWLs readathon so i pushed through. the last third of the book did have me hooked purely for the thrill of it all but i still felt a bit meh about it by the end. i didn’t feel anything for any of the characters and the plot just felt ridiculous. i had a really hard time suspending my disbelief especially since i didn’t feel like i could relate to any of the characters.

courtney garrison

Wow…this book. I started reading it and I just couldn’t put it down I read it in one sitting. I was so intrigued by the mystery of the story I just was left wanting more each chapter. I will warn though huge trigger warnings in this book for murder, stalking and gore. There are scenes throughout the book that could be somewhat very graphic with the deaths. If that is not the type of stuff you want to read about, I would definitely skip this one.

Your Mc is Dee she has been found guilty of murdering her stepsister and has now found herself at the start of a maze in Alcatraz 2.0 being broadcasted on the postman app for everyone to see. Gretchen did a fantastic job showing what a sick and twisted world full of reality television and wanting instant gratification from social media can do and how damaging it can be to society.

Alcatraz 2.0 is an offshore man-made island were convicts with no hope of escape go for their deaths to be Broadcast over the entire world. Alcatraz is ran by The Postman and his select picks of serial killers. No one knows who the postman or any of his killers are. Convicts are given homes and must work to earn food and live out their days in constant fear.

They are given no warning and have to be cautious and alert at all times, even going home every evening and doing sweeps of their homes or they are taken and put through mazes and very weird acts to eventually meet their end. Dee knows she’s innocent and now has to find a way to survive and prove that she is innocent.

You have a few side characters Nyles, Ethan, Griselda, Blaire, and Mara. Each of them is in for a variety of reasons, murdering parents, lovers, friends, etc. They all claim they are innocent, but on an island full of psychopaths and murders Dee does not know who she can trust or if she can even trust herself.

Ethan is my favorite of all of them because he fits the goofy jock stereotype perfectly, but he is also super sweet and stays positive about everything going on around them. Griselda is the tough girl, but really she’s just as afraid as everyone else. Mara has closed herself up in her hut and hasn’t come out till after Dee is there for a bit. Nyles is a sweet guy and always there for backup, he also has diplomatic immunity so the killers can’t touch him. Blaire is Dee’s boss and tries to give Dee tips on how to survive in this hell hole.

Parts of this book were so cringe-worthy and sad at the same time, especially to see people tortured and murdered. Dee goes through so much throughout this book and deals with PTSD from her kidnapping when she was younger. You watch her go from victim to badass saying if she’s going down, she’s going down fighting. That was a bit cringey how fast her perspective changed in just a few secs, but its also life and death so..

I enjoyed this book besides some of the gore, it would have been a 5 star read for me if some of the scenes were not so brutal. I thought some of them had their purpose in the book and some could have been left out. The writing in the book was well written and very descriptive. Since the island was being broadcast, you also got to see twitter feeds every few chapters to see what the fans were thinking. I thought that kind of added a unique aspect of the book.

Overall this was a 4 star read for me. I enjoyed this fun read and it very thrilling to see the mystery unravel and come together. The author while making it super gorey also made it fun and mysterious. I really didn’t expect to have fun reading this, but I did. I wonder if that makes me as bad as the postman?

Again the gore is what kept this from being a 5 star as I thought there were bits that could have been toned down. I still recommend this book, but just be cautious of your triggers. The ending was kind of a shocker to me because throughout the whole book you start to put the pieces together but I never expected what happened. The author had you wrapped up and paying attention to one thing while something else was happening behind you.

Librarian: Like many other librarians (and other professional readers) I will admit to the fact that I am getting slightly sick of YA Dystopias. There's just so many of them, and for the most part they're all quite similar. There's a few general types (ie corrupt government, people divided up into some type of social classes, protagonist thrown into prison for a crime they didn't commit, etc). This one is of the "protagonist in prison for a crime they didn't commit" type. In this case, the crime is murder, and the prison is a town where prisoners systematically hunt one another down, all while being live-streamed around the world. 
If that sounds like a Black Mirror episode, while it feels like one too. And that's part of why this YA Dystopia is a bit more fun and less formulaic than some others. It's not as heavy on the corrupt government thing as most examples of the genre, which may appeal to readers who feel like they see enough government corruption in the real world. (Not that there’s none, it’s just less prevalent.) This book also feels more mystery centered, and I think that might make it appeal to a slightly larger audience than it might otherwise.
Reader: As I said, this book feels like an episode of Black Mirror (and not the one with the two women who fell in love in the virtual reality world). As such, the dystopian aspects are more focused on the evils of technology than on the type of government who would find this a good idea in the first place. That's kind of nice. Also the story is fairly fast paced and enjoyable. It's a tad predictable at times, but then, what YA novel isn't? 3.5/5 Stars

Allie Herrington

篠田美月

You know what, I was all for hate-reading this book because the premise seemed so absurd… but it wasn’t really that bad? Probably more like 2,5 stars, really. It was bad but also good in this, classic slashers way, sort of like Final Destination, where yeah, it’s gore, but it’s so over the top it’s actually funny.

Krystal 

Tiffany Robinson

This book sounds really interesting and I loved the cover, but it was just alright. I didn't love it like I thought I was going to. The plot of this book just sounded amazing and there were some moments of this book that I really did enjoy, but overall it seemed to fall flat.

Candyce Kirk

#Murdertrending is a fast read and definitely unique. I can honestly say I've never read anything like it. Even though I did enjoy this book, even a week after finishing it, I'm still not sure what I read. If you're looking for a fast and interesting read with many twists and turns, this one is definitely for you.

Our main character Dee wakes up on Alcatraz 2.0 after being convicted of murdering her stepsister. It's clear from the start she says she's innocent and needs to figure out what's going on. Dee has to act fast, because Alcatraz 2.0 is a reality show filled with convicted murderers. Once you're here it's not clear how long you'll live and it's only a matter of time before you're murdered for everyone to see.

Alcatraz 2.0 is really one twisted reality show. It's actually really scary that someone would think of something like this and it would be expected by the government. The author did a great job making me feel the creepy vibe with this book. All of the characters live in houses and actually have work to eat. Reading this book definitely kept me on edge, because I couldn't predict when another character would be killed or who to trust. When Dee inspects her house (who knows who's waiting there to kill her), I definitely had goosebumps and checked my door a few extra times before going to bed. Reading this on a dark and rainy night would definitely not have been good for me, haha.

Dee is definitely a strong character. Even though she was just dropped in this scary reality show and followed by cameras constantly, she definitely stayed calmer than I ever would. All sense of security is gone, but she is determined to prove she's innocent and find out who's behind this whole mess.

We also meet some character along the way that are all rather quirky (whether they're actually like that or are just trying to survive, isn't always clear). Nyles, Ethan, Griselda, Blaire, and Mara are also all convicted of murdering someone and all claim to be innocent. Even though I wanted to trust some of these characters, I never was 100% sure I could. That definitely made reading this book interesting.

That being said, this book was brutal and gruesome. When some of the characters are murdered in this book it's described in detail. In all honesty, that had me wondering quite a few times if this should be classified as YA. #Murdertrending is a dark book and I wouldn't recommend it to the younger YA readers. On top of that, Dee is still dealing with PTSD from a traumatic event in her life. During the story we learn bits and pieces, but I think I would've liked to have seen just a little bit more of that.

Besides being really dark, this book does have some humor (there are quite a few pop culture references made by the characters, but also by the people hired to come kill the inmates at Alcatraz 2.0). Some of these were funny and had me laughing. Seeing how this is a reality show, we also get tiny parts of Twitter feeds and forum discussions. This was nice tough, but again, I would've liked to have just a few more of these.

The author did a great job at keeping me on my toes. This book has a few twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Even though this book is way out of my comfort zone, I did enjoy it (even though I'm still not sure how I feel about it, haha). I will definitely be picking up the sequel, because I'm curious how the author will continue.

Luna

idk why ya thrillers get so much shit when this was 100 times more well-written, interesting, and overall more fun than any adult thriller i’ve ever read

Aimee Kitching 

Really enjoyed the beginning, something a bit different, the middle kind of lacked lustre and the end was kind of predictable but I the twist did surprise me.
As a stand alone is was a good book but I won't be bothering with the next 2

Ruth Parker 

This book was reminiscent of The Hunger Games and the brand new Netflix show The I-Land.

I don’t want to spoil too much other than to say it’s a dystopian fiction set in a world that could easily became ours if we decide retribution isn’t working out. And that scares me.

Sofia Pereira

Pretty good book, super entertaining, great story, some really brutal deaths!

This was freaking fantastic. When I skimmed some of the lower reviews a lot of people were saying that the characters are fake and it wasn't deep... It's not meant to be. 

If you want something action-packed, gory, funny, and super easy to read this is the book. I will 100% be picking up the sequel.

#MurderTrending

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