Name: The Assassin Game
ISBN: 9781492632757

Kirsty McKay

Originally published in the United Kingdom by Chicken House in 2015 under title: Killer game.

The Assassin Game

Nicole Dykeman

I enjoyed this, but it wasn't exactly my favorite thing I've ever read. The plot was fantastic - as a thriller, it really did keep me on the edge of my seat. The suspenseful moments are well-crafted and well-written. The characters, however, left something to be desired. Cate wasn't a very memorable narrator, and the tall, dark, and handsome love interest, Vaughn, wasn't very well developed. Essentially, I enjoyed this book for the story, and I wish a bit more attention had been paid to developing the characters and their relationships.

Ley Stanton

** spoiler alert **
           I was really excited to read this book, the premise seemed really interesting. I loved the idea of an isolated prep school game gone wrong. However, the execution was just not what I was looking for in the slightest.
The characters reacted to situations in ways that just didn't make sense. Their interactions with each other just seems incredibly forced. They would jump from subject to subject, and their reactions during those conversations were either too much or too little of what they should have been. I found it to be all over the place. 
In addition, I found Cate's relationship with Mr. Flynn to be very uncomfortable from the beginning. It was odd that a teacher would be so close to a student and that the student was referring to him as Flynny. I thought that something more sinister would come out of this relationship and they even addressed this fact, but it never came to fruition. 
There were so many times when Cate thought she had figured out who the Killer was but each one was a let-down. The person that ends up being the Killer makes a lot of sense but I was so tired of it by then that I didn't even care about it anymore. The whole thing was way more dramatic than it should have been. Especially considering the fact that no one actually died during the book. Not going to lie, that's what I expected when it said the game Killer had gone wrong. Nope, just a bunch of near-death accidents. Also a huge let-down.
All together, this book was just a disappointment to me. I was so excited to read it but it ended up being nothing like what I was expecting. The premise and plot were awesome but the characters and dialogues were a let-down.

Kathryn 

** spoiler alert **
           While I enjoyed the plot of this book I just did not love the characters. I wasn’t really attached to them at all and when the plot really thickened and the real danger started I wasn’t really invested in what happened to them at all. The only character I had strong feelings on were Vaughn and it’s because I really disliked him. I didn’t think he was a great love interest he seemed really uninvested in Cate and I just did not love him. Also in a book called the assassins game for the LOVE OF GOD someone should die.

Lynn Braden

The Assassin Game begins with a fairly preposterous premise. A private school called Umfraville located on a small deserted island off the coast of Ireland is owned by Cate's family allowing her to reside at the school and take all of her high school classes there. Most of the students come from money or have some special talent. "The Game" is legendary at the school. Certain students are chosen to be initiated and become part of "The Game." The object is to survive "The Killer," who sets out to "kill" each of the other particpants before anybody guesses who he or she is. When Cate is finally initiated, a boy from her past reappears, and everything about "The Game" changes as real murder attempts start happening on the island. 

The book was very well written and kept my attention enough for me to read it in one sitting. The problem I had with the book was that I didn't really like any of the characters very well. Even Cate, who is the main character could have opted out of "The Game" at any point in the story, and possibly stopped what can only be called organized bullying that school officials turned their backs on even though they knew all about it. An interesting read, but not very much fun.

Wren Hardwick

THANK YOU SourceBooks Fire for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to help market your book and to also help fellow readers!

This book has an awesome idea. I wish it could be played at schools without, you know, the "too-far" that could and probably would happen.

Let me explain.

So There's this game: KILLER or ASSASSIN.

What it is: a group of kids that are trying to figure out who the "killer" is. A group of kids are picked to participate in... a series of pranks basically. You "poison" someone by putting vinegar in their drink, or you shoot them with a water gun and they are pronounced dead. 

Well, things start to get a little out of control (obviously) and start to actually hurt people instead of just embarrassing them in public.

And Cate is getting a lot of messages that could raise some eyebrows.

Could it be the childhood friend turned strange new boy that just showed up to school late? Or maybe the guy who you just friend zoned. What about the friend who has been acting weird? Or the teacher that people think you are too close with?

So, as much as I loved the concept and the book and wish I could have been apart of something so completely awesome... I didn't really like the writing or the story itself.

I felt as if the characters acted as if they were.. just written on paper, two dimensional characters with no depth. The story was slow at first and I felt as if the main character freaked out about a lot of smaller things and then all of a sudden she had a lot of things to freak out about but then didn't give it the amount of freaking out it deserved...

I am not sure. I am really picky with my writing styles; so this could be something that just doesn't fit with my personality and likes. I think it could have a lot of potential for some people.

The Assassin Game

Reviews

Highlights